Reverend Horse

Once whilst on a train in England I was looking out of the window. The grazing horse in the field that came into my view presented such beauty that I felt too shy even to continue looking.

Men are creatures as much as horses are. Janet L. Jones’ Horse Brain, Human Brain: The Neuroscience of Horsemanship is for me the ultimate book most powerful for spiritual growth.

It is all in the way we relate with fellow creatures. It takes the tragic death of a young tourist on a horse-drawn carriage for folks to finally stop and finally think.

How would Francis of Assisi say?

Immediately following the accident, news from Central Park reports,

The horse will be retired from the business.

Reverend Horse!

If a runaway horse ought to be retired, we would have no horse left to ride or to relate with. Almost every horse runs away that every now and then, when triggered. Most of the time we can’t make out what was the trigger. Horses are flight animals.

Will the same family go on horse-drawn carriages again? Probably not.

Shaken by the news, will other tourists dare going on horse-drawn carriages again? Probably not.

Horsemen get thrown off horses all the time. Do they ride again? Of course. Too many do.

Injuries are sometimes less serious compared to other times e.g. Superman Christopher Reeve’s.

Horsemen witness fellow riders fall, some very severely injured. Do they continue riding? Of course. Too many do.

The key lies in the human-horse relation. Horsemen on horsebacks versus tourists on horse-drawn carriages: the human-horse relation is totally different. That’s why horsemen return to horsebacks after being thrown off.

It is just better to relate with reverence and appreciation.