I remember times when being around horses was both beautiful and agonizing for me. I was addicted to horses, I needed them and couldn't live without them, but at the same time, working with them was very frustrating. They were difficult for me to read, I couldn't trust them, and I was afraid on their backs. I felt I had no control over anything, which for me, as a person who constantly tried to have everything under control, was terrifying. Horses ignored me, we didn't understand each other, yet I longed for harmony so much!

But the path to mutual understanding was long and full of twists and errors. It wasn't until a life lesson from Bon Voyage (half brother of famous Totilas). This Trakhener gelding, a horse who wasn't content with merely ignoring me, but instead decided to confront me every time I wanted to have my way, sent me on the right path. In a way that couldn't be doubted, he told me that the only thing we can really gain control over in life is ourselves. We can't, don't know how to, and shouldn't control anything else. The realization that it's not necessary to have everything under control was scary for me at first, but over time it became intoxicatingly liberating. What I had been clinging to, I could suddenly let go. It was as if I was releasing all my cramps, opening my eyes, starting to see the world in its colorfulness.

I started to understand horses as well. I'm learning to perceive them and understand why they don't want to do what we ask of them. I realized that we often fail at an absolutely crucial point. We evaluate whether a rider understands the horse based on its performance. Based on whether their horse can reliably follow commands. But what if the most important thing isn't to make the horse obedient, but rather to learn to respect its wishes and perspective as well? What if learning to understand horses also means accepting messages we don't want to hear?

It sounds tempting - to understand horse language. It's not even as difficult as it might seem. Moreover, we have all the necessary tools, we've just forgotten how to use them. 

However, before we delve into uncovering these wonders, allow me to warn you:

Do we want to talk to horses, hear them, perceive them because we are deeply and truly interested in their thoughts, or do we hope that thanks to this ability we will be able to manipulate them better? That they will be more obedient, more efficient, and that we will subdue them more easily? Then we don't want to understand horses, we want to control them. Communication with animals works only if we don't set conditions and don't expect anything.

Truly open communication means that we express our feelings honestly, openly, and without embellishment. Horses are very direct and will tell us everything about our qualities and inabilities. But are we ready to hear it? What if the horse tells us that it doesn't want to be ridden? That it doesn't feel happy, that it doesn't like the life it has with us? Can we find enough courage within ourselves to listen to it?

To be able to understand horses and perceive them, we must first understand ourselves and learn to perceive ourselves. The answers to our questions lie within us, only we ourselves have the recipe for happiness. And - this may surprise you - we own all the necessary ingredients. We just need to mix them correctly and not burn them.