Peaceful Interlude

It was a hectic week. I felt as if I were running in circles as I worked to clear my plate and got ready to leave town for a spell of kid-watching in California. Dealing with the pile of to-dos and not-going-to-get-dones, followed by a completely full (though thankfully uneventful) airplane flight left me feeling a bit unbalanced by the time I safely arrived at Kate's home.

Glad to be here nonetheless, I happily rode along on Sunday morning to drop Lexi off at her volunteer gig. She works at a horse ranch nearby for a couple of hours each week; she mucks out corrals and does whatever else Kiki needs done, in exchange for the chance to spend time near her beloved horses.

We got to the meeting spot a few minutes before Kiki came down from the house. As soon as we arrived, Lexi hopped out of the car and immediately went to find a bucket and rake, then started cleaning piles of dung from the front corral without waiting for instructions. (Would I have been so responsible at 11?  probably not?)

Kiki's ranch is a healing place for horses, a safe place.

As we stood waiting for her, a flock of green parrots streamed overhead. In the distance, a large bird of prey lazily rode the air currents. There was a very faint hum of traffic from the freeway a mile or two away, the only other sounds came from the horses and a donkey somewhere nearby. The air was refreshing, the warm side of cool, and smelled of pine and eucalyptus. 

I breathed slowly, deeply, drinking in as much of the air as I could, knowing I'd be there for just a short time. Sure enough, Kiki arrived just a few minutes later, and Kate and I left to continue dealing with necessary weekend mundanities.

When we returned to pick Lexi up a couple of hours later, she was still busy working away. We could see Kiki working with one of the horses in the back corral, so walked over, leaned against the fence, and waited for her to finish walking near her charge, watching as she worked to teach him...  something beyond my ken.

When she came over to us, I asked her what she'd been doing. She kindly took a few minutes to explain she'd been teaching the horse to walk in a way that would better utilize his core muscles and thus increase his agility. She said horses are like people, and don't always use their core muscles as they should. She continued her explanation, telling us ways people-yoga principles around breathing and posture and core strength can be readily applied to horses. (who knew??) 

As she talked, the horse, Buddy, came near and nuzzled her ear. She works not through fear and intimidation, but rather has earned her place as herd-leader by learning to speak the horse's language. 

Impressive.

Despite the grim news of the day, she has managed to create an oasis of Peace. I am grateful to know places of safety like hers exist; grateful for the chance to stop for a few minutes and breathe; grateful for the chance to carry a small bit of that Peace with me as we drove away. 

Good Is.