Zen and the Art of Horse Grooming

It took me a few lessons to understand the connection between natural horsemanship and grooming. After all, if I was buying an hour of horseback riding lessons, wouldn’t it stand to reason that I should spend the greater part of the hour on the back of a horse? 

And yet, my instructor insisted that I take twenty minutes before each lesson to groom the horse I would ride. Being a fairly good sport, I received my marching orders and a cursory explanation of basic tools and best practices, and set about grooming the dusty Palomino mare who was cross-tied and gazing at me with a wary, liquid eye.

I quickly discovered that a curry comb is like a martini. Only better. The slow, gentle rhythm of circles over circles traveling length and girth while being attentive only to the circle I was in at that very moment was positively transcendent. Only I didn’t know just what to make of it at the time.  After all, I was a woman on a mission, bound and determined to learn how to ride a horse so that I could attack my writing project with greater authenticity.

Enter the thing that looks like a shoe buffing brush. I still don’t know its name, but there’s a stiff one and a soft one.  My instructor taught me to use the stiff brush in forceful, little sweeps over the horse like a broom; and with each sweep I stirred up the dust of family strife and worrisome thoughts that had accumulated in dim corners of my consciousness… then allowed them to rise and float away, paying them no further mind.

Thereafter came a soft, tender brushing that polished the horse’s hair, and in doing so, created light. And I was immersed in it.

The best part of grooming was not the final presentation – but in finally being present.  I stood there with my horse, without distractions, without the wall of human consciousness and ego between us. Zen is the horse’s natural state of being. And it is mine -- at least for twenty minutes on riding days.

I could get used to this.

Seeking from the saddle,

MidLife Rider