You see the bumper stickers all the time. “Who Rescued Who?” referring to adopting a rescue animal and finding that they’ve done as much (or more) to restore us as we have in our attempts to keep them alive.
Axel is a rescue that I picked up as a just-weaned foal. He did not have a terrible life, but his mother did. He, thankfully, came into the world unaware that just beyond the cozy ensconcement in his momma’s belly waited an agonizing and cruel death. May we all skirt evil so closely and escape, blissfully unaware it ever existed.
I took some video to market a Horse Connection Class that I teach here on the ranchito. I tried to capture special moments, and I tried narrating it.
Ick.
The “B-roll” footage captures everything you need to know about the Horse Connection Class. It IS the connection. Axel and I reaching for each other, sharing little glances and scritches, his easy way of moving and being with me even from a distance as we work in the round pen.
It is everything I ever dreamed of as a kid, to have a horse choose to be with me. We can halter them, tug on their heads, cuddle them ad nauseum, and manufacture their tolerance for us. But when they choose us, and choose to be with us in moments of rest, that is the connection. It’s in these small moments when I was trying to capture video for a Big Fat Marketing Production (which I hate to try to put together, but see as a necessary evil of the business side of things) that are the essence of the Horse Connection Class.
In the marketing video I planned, there was narrative, perfect shots, and lots of ‘splaining. Just like trying to manufacture a connection with a horse, I was trying to manufacture a story for y’all to convey how special it is to share a bond with a horse.
The bond tells the whole story.
And just as evil was walled off by nothing more than a membrane that held Axel as a foal, maybe we are also just on the other side of a curtain that separates us from a beautiful connection.
Horses have saved my life so many times, in so many ways. We all probably have an idea of how our lives might have turned out if we’d made certain poor decisions. Mine would’ve involved a lot of alcohol abuse, self-loathing, physical and emotional pain. Just being honest.
Some horses have physically saved my life — literally protecting me from attackers (Yukon fought off an escaped stallion that was hell-bent on attacking me and my string). Others have done powerful work just keeping me grounded.
None of that is because I’m special. It’s because horses are special. Anyone can have that. In the connection class, I’m more of a facilitator helping you get past your own self so you can tap in to the connection the horse is so eager to offer. They have already chosen you.
This isn’t the marketing schpiel that I’d planned on rattling on about, at all. It’s maybe a bit esoteric and “woo woo”.
But, if you’re still reading this, I invite you to sign up for a Horse Connection class. Axel (or any of the horses) will explain it all for you.
Thanks!
You can sign up for the class here: Horse Connection Class.
Love,
Teresa
