Light & Shadows

It has been a while dear reader, thank you for your patience. Despite the disturbing headlines, a rapidly changing natural world, the unexpected deaths of loved ones and brutally hard economic times; you will find that joy still remains a plentiful theme here, common ground for more than several blogs. 

Joy, the bright, warm light in a cold, dark world is like a new foal, prancing alongside its dam, every step airborne, as if the foal is trying hard not to float away, like a helium-filled balloon held by a string. The foal's tail, curved over its back, only adds to the joy-filled image.  Therefore, while thinking about this image makes us happy; joy is not equal to happiness, a fast and fleeting emotion, not meant to last.  Joy, on the other hand, runs deeper, a feeling that arises when we are content and fully connected to the thing itself which provides the joy we feel. Through joy, the Arabian horse inspires us to focus our attention solely upon him, instilling a desire to further develop the relationship with him.

The Arabian show ring can be an extraordinary experience, if we remain mindful of the accolade and the temptation to feed our insatiable hunger for recognition, power, riches, all of which eventually, take us further away from the horse than we want to be. If we succumb to these temptations, the horse becomes the means for something else, something darker, something which lacks the light of joy.  We must resist the distractions and remember why we chose the Arabian horse in the first place. 

***The photo above was taken by Christine Emmert of Princeton Maarena (Serr Maariner x Princeton Gamila). Christine's husband was also part of the photo and I used AI to remove him and create the smoky background which inspired today's blog.

***I love Substack! Matt Brown is a 5-star event rider and a pretty good author too. His Substack, The Woman in 34C, inspired me to write this blog too.