"We Herd You."When I closed my eyes to ask if anyone wanted to talk, I got a visual of a herd of white horses barreling toward me from the other end of a sidewalk. The scene played out in slow motion. When they got to me, they kept going, trampling me. I asked, "Why did you run right over me?" "You didn't move out of the way," they answered. "You could have gone around me," I shot back. "We wanted to get your attention." I asked, "Am I supposed to talk to a white horse today?" "Yes," they said as one. "From the Speak! Good Human. site?" I pushed for specifics. "Yes." I went to the Freestyle gallery and it turns out, there are four white horses there! That explains the herd I experienced. "How will I know which of you to talk to?" I asked. No answer. "Any hints?" I wondered again to the horses. No answer. I looked at the names of the white horses, and even looked up some of the meanings of the names in case there was a clue as to which I should speak to. It was turning into more work than necessary. So I said, "If I'm to talk to just one of you, why did you all show up in my vision?" "There's strength in numbers," they answered. Basically, they wanted to get noticed and thought if they did a "groupie," I would be sure to pick at least one of them. In the end, I settled on Huyaku, a male cross-breed gelding. When I first tried to tune into him, I could see the steamy breath coming from his nostrils. He began nodding his head over and over and over, in a very animated way. I introduced myself and asked if he wanted to talk. He said yes. I opened with the question, "Why did you and your friends trample me before?" "It wasn't my idea," he answered. "But you went along with it." "Herd mentality," he said flatly. "How does that work?" I inquired. "We just get caught up in the moment. We trust our instincts and follow the dominant horse. It would be important if we ever were in real danger." "Then I guess it would be important to have a lead horse who makes good decisions," I opined. "Very important," he agreed. "So, you're not the lead horse?" "No. That's a lot of pressure. I'm okay with who I am." "What place do you have?" I wondered. I felt he was kind of middle-of-the-road in standing. He clarified (or compensated), "I'm known as competent. I try to get along with everyone — it doesn't always work. I try to be easy-going — it doesn't always work." "What do you enjoy doing?" I thought I would change the subject. "Free-grazing. Talking with the other horses. Visits" (with his people). When I wondered about having a rider and pictured that, the visual I got back was a tenseness and kind of buckling under the weight a bit. It felt like it's difficult for him. "Do you like where you are?" I asked. "Yes, but it's a bit restricting. I'd rather just roam freely." I could see his point, but wanted to offer him some reasoning. "Probably all horses would want that. I think it's a matter of space, circumstances, logistics." To which he countered, "Ease, money, convenience. Don't get me started." "I'm so sorry," was all I could reply. I was thinking of all the animals in captivity who couldn't experience the freedoms that used to be natural to them or their species. Again, I tried to look at some of the positives. "You do get some good advantages. Like food, shelter, grooming, companionship." "All true," he agreed. "How about we change the subject?" "Okay. What else would you like to talk about?" "Let me show you. Hop on." Trailblazin' with Huyaku.He wanted me to get on and ride with him. "But I thought that hurts sometimes?" "In real life, yes. Now we're just playing, right?" So I got on and he walked slowly out of a stable area along a narrow dirt path up into the green grass hills. When we reached the first summit, he stopped and said, "This is my favorite place. The views are tremendous." I could see green hills extending to the distance on one side and homes and city stuff on another. "I can see why you like it up here," I remarked. "So you come here alone?" "Sometimes I ride with a friend." I see a bigger brown (red chestnut) horse. Named Buck? I could feel his sense of freedom up here. "Anything else you want to show me, Huyaku?" "I can come across as a little stubborn and standoffish, but I'm really sensitive inside." He answered the offer to show me something with this information because he wanted me (and others) to see that in him, not just hear it. I feel a bit of a sadness in him about being misunderstood or misinterpreted sometimes due to his outward persona. "Have you tried to express this to your people? Show them your sensitive side?" "I try but the stubbornness kicks in before I know it." "Well, maybe just by having this talk, things will change a bit for you," I said hopefully. I got a hopeful feeling back from him. "Should we head back?" I asked. Huyaku started back down without a word, but with an enthusiastic step in his stride. "This is it," he said when we got there. "Thank you for the ride and talk today!" I told him. "You're very welcome. Come back any time. And sorry about the trampling. We just wanted to make sure you 'herd' us. "Hmmm. Okay, I'll forgive and forget because I appreciate the word play," I said. I added, "I enjoyed our time together and hope to visit again soon." He nodded hopefully.
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