Mind, soul and change …
Lately, I’ve been spending more time reading than writing and in between times I’ve been packing up the papers and notebooks of the Daughters of the Wind series. Going through one of the piles of material I came across several pages about legends associated with the Arabian horse and I found one I particularly loved: “The Sixth Sense of the Arabian mare.” I’m not sure if I’ve blogged about this before but for any who have not read the words previously it’s well worth putting up again.
When it comes to the Arabian horse it appears the demands of show ring success and competition carries an enormous amount of weight when it comes to the assessment of the Arabian horse’s value. So I ask a long discussed question. Does the art of showmanship take the place of natural beauty?
The connection between people and horses is a touching one but this beautiful legend illustrates so clearly the gift we have in the Arabian horse. Every breeder loves these legends; but often the reality of day to day life can change motivation which in turn causes responsibilities to be forgotten.
When it comes to the Arabian horse it appears the demands of show ring success and competition carries an enormous amount of weight when it comes to the assessment of the Arabian horse’s value. So I ask a long discussed question. Does the art of showmanship take the place of natural beauty?
While we all love the beauty of the Arabian, and I watch with curiosity as this obsession with extreme beauty continues to gain momentum. Just like a runaway train, the father of most man made horse breeds continues to be labelled as an unmanageable, flighty creature owned mostly by people who cannot ride and are only interested in running their horses around a show ring. While many of us who own Arabians know this is not altogether true, it’s this perceived idea which does so much damage. The saddest thing being that this and many other topics have been bandied around with no conclusion for as long as I can remember. We began breeding purebred Arabian horses in 1975; most of the topics discussed now were discussed then, and they continued to be debated during all the time in between.
As for a solution, taking responsibility and some common sense could be a start but you only have to watch the news each night to understand the state of the human psyche. I wish one didn’t have to keep battering an already bruised head against a brick wall, so I shrug my shoulders turn off the television and plot my next book! Book world problems are much, much easier to solve.
Mind you, the one fact any Arabian horse owner knows and that’s how uniquely responsive and sensitive the Arabian horse is to his owner, if he’s allowed to be man’s friend.
In the end, life is to be lived but it does require our very best. Once you’ve experienced life with horses you would never settle for anything less. Enjoy this lovely legend, enjoy your horses and remember everything the Arabian breed symbolises …
The sixth sense of the Arabian mare
The wild mare of Arabia was the ultimate achievement of nature. According to the Bedouin she was a mature and perfect creature with the gift of an intelligent spirit. This gift was bestowed upon the mare of Ishmael along with an intuitive soul to dwell within her beautiful, strong, and symmetrical body. The psychic powers of her animal spirit were gifts of God, just as her conscious mind developed through her intimate human association.
The Arab’s believed that psychic power is never transmitted through stallions, though they posses it as much as the mares. An Arabian sire communicates physical qualities and nervous energies, but never the elements of mind and soul, which are outside the domain of physical laws. The elements of mind and soul were a spiritual gift to the first mare – Ishmael’s mare – who, the Arab’s insist, was not only special, but a twofold creation of God.
She was brought into existence with an image of herself in her womb: a son who was only to serve later as a means of helping to reproduce her semblance on this earth. A perfectly developed male was born in Ishmael’s tent in the morning of her creation in the desert. For this mystical reason, the mare is always considered supremely important among the Bedouins. A stallion can only take secondary place.
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