This story just came out in one 20 minute session. I hope you enjoy it.
There once was a man with two horses.
One was Golden and Beautiful, with glowing mane and bright tail, all dancing and frisking with a delight in running. This horse loved to run so much, that as soon as she knew the man was going to ride her hard and fast over the golden morning hillsides or into the purple cloak of evening meadows, she would prance and clatter her hooves on the barn floor in anxious anticipation.
For many years the man and the horse had a running love affair, with an understanding beyond words.
But then one day this horse began to break down. First it was a split hoof, then it was tendinitis. The man could no longer ride the beautiful horse without causing her much pain, and just thinking of it caused him pain as well. Clearly, he would have to give her a rest for some length of time for her injuries to heal.
So his attention shifted to the other horse. Rather dingy and dull, he had kept this horse in his stable for a long time. For even though it wasn’t in the front of his mind, he knew this was a special horse. As long as the Golden had been sound, he felt satisfied and had no need to come calling. But on this day he did. He was feeling sad and he needed companionship.
Now this dusky bay had no special outward features, but she had a calm and quiet that the man had always felt and always liked.
He heard himself saying, as he came into her stall, “Well now, sweetheart. How have you been all these years?”
The dark mare looked over at the man and whinnied softly. She had been waiting.
So they went riding, and for a while the man went through a period of comparing the new ride to the old familiar one. For a long time he hadn’t had to think while riding. In fact, that was what he loved about it with the Golden mare - he never had to think with her. He could be a thousand miles away in his mind, and she would take him just where he expected to go with no effort from him.
This horse, however, seemed unfamiliar and stiff. She forced his attention to the task at hand so that he could not think of past days or future possibilities. No, this horse had him focused completely on how to keep her from stepping into the next gopher hole, or how to get up into a little better tempo with her gait
Nevertheless, he soon he forgot his sorrow over the golden horse, because he was intent upon training the long forgotten mare and making something beautiful of her, for he had seen the potential in her calm and her certainty. He was having to find new depths within himself to give her what she needed, and he was a good man who knew the value of such things. But it was she who was training him.
One day the golden horse was ready to be ridden again and tossed her head in her stall, speaking her language to the man as he did his chores in the barn. And so the man did take her out for a short session, not for very long though, for he was not wanting to cause further damage. He didn’t have the same joy in the ride. She kept looking over her shoulder at him, as if to say, “Let’s Go…let’s go fast!”
But the man knew it would be painful for them both, so he did not. He went to the dark horse, who had grown glossy and whose eyes had the luster of love and devotion – something the man had never noticed before, and took her out for their customary morning canter. She was still and patient as he went into the tackroom. Gently she let him tighten the girth, but he could feel the fullness of her heart and it made his heart swell with a deep love such as he hadn’t known. He marveled at how,now he wanted to ride this quieter mare more than the golden – the one by whom he had been so dazzled.
As they began their journey, they could both feel that this day was different somehow. The horse was even more certain and solid, but the man felt lighter, airy. Was it the Morning? The Air? The Anticipation?
Soon they were off and into a BaDaDum, BaDaDum, BaDaDum of a strong canter, when something came up from behind. Instantly the man was pulled from the old familiar dream and into a Moment of Terror! Something was overtaking them from behind! The dark, solid mare turned her head and with one look from a liquid eye, she calmly told the man she knew…Now Hold On!
Suddenly, the Golden came pounding up from behind – mane flared, foam flying from her nostrils, and even as she came closer, closer, she was not slowing down, no, the Dark Beauty was going ever faster, and faster!!! The man was terrified and feared for his life – if these horses collided he would be injured or killed!
The Golden seemed to glow with an inner light. Her hooves barely touching the ground came alongside the Dark One. They come in tight, eye to eye, and what a look they gave each other!… And then, in a glorious instant, both mares lifted off the ground and became one horse!
The man had no words, no thoughts that could come to his aid – he was completely transported. Suddenly there was no sound, only quiet…no more hooves pounding, horses breathing strong… just quiet…a soft sound of moving up in the sky was all.
He should have been afraid, but all he could feel was love.
He should have been worrying about how to get back on solid ground, but he was himself now, one thought with the one horse and he was moving up into the fiery sky, all full of scarlet and orange-gold light, and he could only marvel at the beauty, oh! The beauty all around him. He suddenly realized he could understand things now…things about himself. The golden had been his animal nature, and had served him well, those many years. But she was never meant to be the one that would take him all the way to the place of his destiny. She had always been waiting for him to fall in love with the dark, ignored horse. This was his Divine Nature, and she was patient, always knowing he would come to her in the end. And when he did, both horses knew that they would all be united in the greatest ride, to their only natural Home, with all their love and passion passing together into a completely new realm…
…the Realm of No Boundaries.
Tue, Jul 29, 2008
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