The Project:
One Mustang directly off the range, One Trainer, Many Students, Communication through body language, Tools used only for safety, never to train
The Goal:
To discover how far Equestrian Art can be developed solely using body language.
Step and Wait
This evening I sat in the gravel against the side of the barn, tucked into the twilight shadow of Cleo. Her herd had left for pasture and the lush spring grass, and shortly after everyone left Cleo had come back, seemingly just to be with me.
I sifted gravel through my fingers and felt her nuzzle my cheek and blow in my hair. The weight of the world resting on us together for a moment, in this moment it was our world together.
My big bay Mustang mare, quiet of temperament, slow to find comfort, slow to reach out, slow to adjust to new situations – The deepest rivers flow with the least sound.
She is deep, so very deep, with a complex clarity of being I wish I more fully understood, as I wish I more fully understood my own complexity.
Myrnah seemed to choose me in her bold forthright manner, and taught me more than any horse I have every known as we did the project and made the movie “Taming Wild”.
Cleo and I ended up together almost by accident; in a torrent of events and amidst a sea of other stories, we found each other and fit together like matching puzzle pieces. We feel at home in each other’s complexity.
We both need time. Perhaps more time than anyone else can understand. We feel too much and drown in the currents of our emotions. We are capable and strong. We are intelligent and savvy.
Our strength lies in our ability to wait.
There is a right time for everything, and waiting for that rightness is a skill.
I say in training all the time, it is not so much what you do…. It is when you do it. Timing is everything.
Take a step toward where you aim, and then wait.
Take a side step so you can see your aim from a different angle, and then wait.
Take a step back and see your goals from a different perspective, and then wait.
Step and wait, step and wait, step and wait.
I talked about this in the movie with Myrnah. Those still moments are where we feel safe. Those still moments are the moments that bond us together.
When you find one of those still moments. Wait, and soak it in.
All together too soon life will flood your experience with a torrent of activity, energy, and chaos because that is life. It can be counted on to change perpetually and constantly.
Waiting is where we build our strength for our next step. Don’t worry, we can’t wait forever. We just need a little more time, a little more time to feel bonded and safe and together.
Here is the key.
Waiting is not about distraction. Waiting is about being in the moment. Waiting is about feeling every grain of sand slip through the hourglass – feeling time pass and being aware of when it is time to take the next step.
There is no hurry, but we do need to show up.
I ride ten miles with Cleo every morning. We put aside three hours for this, even if I have to get her out of the pasture at four in the morning to take that kind of time. We don’t need three hours, but we need to think we have it if we want it. Cleo and I need time to build our strength, to feel our partnership, to be together.
I promise the book is being written, the online course that follows the movie is in development, there are clinics being planned, and a whole amazing community of people drawing together around the seed of the ideas that Myrnah planted for us in “Taming Wild”.
The steps keep getting taken, yet their power is in the waiting.
Cleo is helping me with that as she comes back to me and reminds me it’s OK to just be here, right now.
I encourage you, try it out in your own life, with your horses, and with your partners.
Find your strength in your still moments.
Elsa Sinclair
