On the farm I have been working with
horses, learning how to take care of them and interact and communicate with
them. Anyone who spends some time with these animals will realize pretty
quickly that these animals are quite aware of themselves and you and their
environment, often more so than the human. What’s fascinating is how one is
able to communicate with them, without even using words.
This proves beyond any shadow of a doubt
that animals are not stupid, as they’ve shown us time and again that they are
really aware of what is going on, more so than humans, and it is often the
human that completely disregards this, proving that the human is the ignorant
one.
I have had but a little experience with
horses in my past, I took some lessons briefly when I was 11, and helped a
friend who worked in the stables a few times. So working with horses on the
farm now for about 6 months has been the bulk of my experience working with
horses. At the farm we practice natural horsemanship techniques for interacting
and working with the horses. Bits haven’t been used the whole time I’ve been
here, and we trim hooves ourselves and don’t use horseshoes. When we lead
horses to pasture, many of them we only put a lead lightly around their neck,
and some of them don’t need a lead at all, it depends on their temperament.
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| Cerise Poolman filing the hooves of the horse 'Fats' |
You really get to form a communication with
the horses you work with, and it’s fascinating how you actually build the
communication between you and the being that is the horse, where you can use
gestures to communicate to the horse how to move, and together you form this
communication, of ‘this gesture means do this’ and ‘this gesture means do
that’. And the horse has a fun time learning new ways to move himself. Today, I
learned how to communicate to the horse to walk toward me, and he responded
right away and it was fascinating. And what’s cool is that none of this is done
with any kind of rope or forcing the horse in any way, or by using rewards to
coerce him. The horse is simply enjoying himself moving around as a physical
being and communicating with you, and I quite enjoyed it as well. It really
gets you here working and participating within and as the physical.
It is really supportive to work and communicate
this way with the horses, as they will literally act as a mirror and reflect
you back to you, as they are following your lead, and thus if you are being
distracted, they will be distracted and you won’t get a direct clear response
from them, and depending on their temperament they may take advantage of your
distraction and act out and challenge you. Thus, whatever you are living as
yourself becomes magnified by hundreds of pounds into this big mass of a
physical being, literally showing you who you are and that they are actually
more aware of your physical than you are, as they are responding to where your
attention is focused, and how you’re holding yourself, if you’re slouching or
if you’re standing upright, if you’re walking ahead with direction or if your
just lolly-gagging around.
But what really struck me, is when I was
doing research on the internet to learn more about natural horsemanship, very
little turned up. And that’s when I realized that this way of doing things is
still incredibly rare, that most horses are worked with in traditional ways
with bits and ropes, in many cases where the horse is not considered equally to
the human at all, but is seen as less than the human, and just something for
the human to use, or even as nice pet but with the human still perceiving
itself as more than the horse, as the ‘owner’ of the horse, where an actual
equal and one relationship with the horse is not considered.
That’s not to say or suggest that anyone
and everyone can or should start doing natural horsemanship techniques right
away, because you have to actually develop that relationship and communication
with the horse, and the relationship between horses and human currently is
ruled by money, as humans themselves are ruled by money, and thus extensive
abuse happens to horses within using them to generate money in the current
system, such as with horse racing, rodeos, bullfighting, for show, and using them for labor, without any regard for
their well-being.
This is why we require an Equal Money System, so that we can stop being ruled by the pursuit for money as security of
a dignified life, and instead give everyone the right to a dignified life,
animals included, and free ourselves and all of existence from enslavement to a
money system that is not actually supporting us as humanity or the earth as the
environment/nature and the animals, and actually being to re-establish
effective communication between ourselves and what is here as this physical
reality.
I forgive myself that I have accepted and
allowed a world in which that which is here as the physical forms and
manifestations, as nature and the animals, are disregarded and abused for the
sake of a few beings to accumulate money, while most of humanity is not able to
afford a dignified life, and must turn to abusing what is here as nature and
the animals for the means to survive.
I commit myself to doing what it takes to
bring forth an Equal Money System, so that we can begin to correct our
relationships so that we can live in oneness and equality with that which is
here, and explore the full potential of what may be possible when all life
lives and exists in oneness and equality.
