Today I was out mulching, which means cutting up the undergrowth in the forest fine so that the energy and nutrients become available in the soil and, thus, become food for the trees. Similarly, I will prune some trees and coppice others, extending desired growth on the one hand and revitalizing growth on the other. Of course, this takes a lot of work and energy some of which is not renewable. So let's say there is a way to only use renewable energy – no machines or fuel AND make the process more efficient.
That is what horses do when they munch undergrowth, for they also add enzymes that speed up the decaying process and make nutrients available much faster. However, there is a catch: the undergrowth needs to be in a palatable form for the horses to eat; it must be no more than two years old and, thus, tender. Similarly, trees less than two years old are liable to be eaten. So you have to get the balance right: young undergrowth and old trees. Hence, next year, enter the horses: no more mulching, just munching – horsepower at its best.
You read that 'attitude' is the key that is turned by trust, respect, honesty, humility, integrity, and authenticity when it comes to horses. But these are simply by-products.
These are not the vision. It is much simpler. It is about organic transformation – a transcending horse power which permeates from the micro cellular level to macro
level of human consciousness, an emerging meeting of our souls into a new dimension of well being. We struggle to find it, but it moves and empowers us.
We are groping around in the dark, searching for the next paradigm shift. Just like the foal waiting to be born, but it will be born... And what is the next paradigm shift, but a throw-back to an earlier way of thinking that was successful but has been largely discarded. It is what I call Celtic or both/and-thinking. We have this peculiar expression which says, you can't have your cake and eat it: that choosing one thing excludes another. But what sense does that have in terms of a cake? Clearly, it is there to nourish and be nourishing.
Both/and thinking means, therefore, by choosing one thing, it permits you to benefit not only in terms of close options but other ones as well. Being yourself in a crowd, gives purpose to the collective, adding benefit to you and others and making possible other objectives as well. So rather than seeing specialization as fragmented thinking it becomes part of the big picture and life today as well as tomorrow.
Thinking like this, you don't feel alone; you don't feel the urge to fill yourself with everything possible and grab and hold as much around you as you can in a forever failing attempt to create a feeling of security. Instead, you choose not to drown in a materialist sea of things: you feel secure in your relationship to others, secure in the knowledge that you are part of the greater good, secure in a process of joyful expectation. Like the foal here about to be born.
When we first started out there were a lot of fields that needed to be mowed regularly. Hence, I invested in some 'fun' lawn mowers that were child's play to drive and work with. In fact, the idea was to make the task child's play and not something arduous. However, grass grows and keeps growing, and our mowers were often hard put to keeping up with it. In addition, the price of petrol (or gas) kept rising and not all our fields are flat and our bones were getting shaken apart. And what about the countless hours spent mowing!
Well, things have changed. Enter horses! No need to mow, no need to spend enormous sums of time and money. We have put the lawn mowers out to pasture!
Did you know that an upright horse shoe is a sign of luck in England and an upside down horse shoe denotes luck in Portugal? However, to my mind, both cultures have got it wrong. Luck is brought to you by the horse rather than the shoe! That is what we are discovering hereabouts. Inspired by the beauty and well being our horses have brought us, my neighbour, Carlos, has taken in this mare who is about to transform his life, for she will become the horse she was created to be. You see, horses transpose a loving environment into the greatest prosperity you can imagine.... as she started to gallop and play today, I saw this reflected in the tears of joy in his eyes.
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