Part of what is becoming evident from people’s experiences so far is that this year of the horse is a thrill ride. So here’s some of the wisdom that Horse is supplying: Horse can move blazingly fast over shortish distances and flat ground, but our lives are rarely flat vistas with everything visible and laid out before us. And they aren’t short runs that we can sprint through. This means that Horse is walking/trotting over either mountainous terrain or rolling hills. In either case it’s going to get where it’s going. That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily going to take you where you planned to go or where you’d even like to go. You can lead a horse to water and alla that.
When riding a horse you become quickly aware of the fact that you are just one factor in the transportation equation. Most of the time the other half actually wants to be a partner with you and will listen to your suggestions of where to go. Sometimes that’s not the case. Sometimes the other partner knows better than the rider, sometimes it’s spooked by something or gets a notion in its head and the rider gets a detour into the unknown that they then must figure out how to get back on track from. Seem like an extended metaphor? Well, yes and no, because most of us are experiencing these things in real time this year. So here’s some more wisdom for you:
If you’re climbing up mountainous terrain, as a rider you want to lean into the saddle (lean forward) or even stand up and lean into it. That takes the pressure off the horse’s kidneys, helps it keep its balance, and allows it to use its powerful hind legs to keep the forward/upward momentum going. If you’re trotting over rolling hill country, you need to be fluid in the saddle. That means instead of sitting heavily in the seat and letting the horse bounce you all over the place like you’re riding a jack hammer, you crouch over the saddle letting your legs act like pistons or shock absorbers. It takes a huge amount of leg strength to do it and you have to have flexibility to go with the flow of what’s happening, but if you do then everything becomes much easier and you can see the adventure ahead as you top each rise instead of being afraid of each impending valley.
The one thing we truly have control of is our participation in the year that’s ahead of us. We can go with it, struggle against it, encourage it, resist it, or try to avoid it. But it’s happening whether we like it or not. In the end it’s up to us where we end up and in what condition. Here’s to a smooth ride.