Merging Boundaries
Groundwork posts involve my training journey with individual horses in the arena. We are relating to each other on the ground, using the energetic connection to communicate. We do this within the wellbeing dialogue, so it is always a mutual choice and agreement in the ‘doing process’. My intention is always therapeutic i.e, seeking a closer bond, perhaps supporting a physical healing or an emotional release.
As I awakened to the language in energy between the horses and me, it was important to follow that and see where it too us. For several years we spent time together in herd meditation and it became clear that there was a new way we could train together, in partnership, exploring engagement again. At this stage we are exploring our relationship through groundwork and will see what unfolds with the process.
It becomes clearer and clearer to me how clinging on to attachments is a state of being. It is a fearful perception of the world which happens almost without being seen. Yet to discover even a moment of being attachment free is such a profound challenge. And the only way to experience what actually is there in each moment is to let go and let the current sweep us away.
I asked myself, why am I so passionate about the quality of my relationship with horses? Why has it become the deepest, most precious heart of everything? The only way to answer that is to describe what it is. How we connect, the energy between us, our partnership, this is our oxygen. It is all that exists. The relationship is the place in-between us that becomes us. Without the relationship, there are no horses, because without the relationship I can’t see or feel them, and they can’t see me.
Anything and everything we do filters through our relationship… is formed by it. Without the dialogue, there is no meaningful doing. Trust, vulnerability and unconditional love, this is partnership.
Reaching the stillpoint of giving and receiving has been the process this week with the horses. It is so wondrous to look back at how one doorway opened to the next, and how the message came through so subtly and yet with such clarity.
Cheyenne and I were able to experience a perfect trim together when it was no longer my duty to get it done. She had taken responsibility for her own feet, when I realised I could give it to her, and what had previously been such a trial became easy.
Therapeutic grooming is an exercise in mindfulness. It is an opportunity to express our willingness to listen to and comprehend the horse. There is no agenda other than the horse’s well-being.