Ever Watchful Print

Horses embody sensitivity; physically, emotionally, and spiritually. In the wild the horse is in absolute balance with its environment. In fact, it seeks nourishment from some plants that other animals might not survive on. Horses balance their grazing territories, choosing to leave the sources of water and traveling miles away in order to sustain their habitat. Nomadic travelers, they must integrate new experiences—an instinctive sense of direction, awareness of predators and natural dangers, balance, slope, footing, speed, timing, the world of the senses and right relationship. Their relationships are based on a co-creation of love and learning for each herd member. They have a complex society and culture and they take turns being the lookout. Horses define the importance of depending upon one another for survival and connection.

The language of horses is only rarely vocal, and is primarily a dynamic blending of body expression and movement, emotional arousal, and subtle energy dynamics that are invisible to the human eye. How horses communicate is still a subject of much study, yet even people who have never been around horses can look at a painting or photograph and usually be able to tell what emotion a horse was expressing. This is because humans and horses have been together for centuries. They are a powerful part of our history and our psyche, and they represent the qualities we most admire; freedom, loyalty, pride, beauty, and joy in motion.

Many people hearken to horses as a beacon, a homecoming, an unspoken longing for something we can’t define. For these people, horses are in their earliest expressions, their wishes and their words. Horses appear in their drawings and dreams. For those that are drawn to horses, it is important to embrace the gifts that horses offer both symbolically and in life, for they have much to teach us.

artwork and text by Kim McElroy © 2008