We Will Meet You At The Watering Hole

Another day with our guide, Ivana, and another chance to see the wild horses! We did some stretching together as a group after breakfast, and then we tacked up and mounted our horses. We offered them a good drink at the stream and headed out. We had talked about where we would go today and Ivana told us what we would see at our destination. We followed the wide dirt path out of camp. Then we joined the rabbitbrush, sage and pinyon. We made our way through the high desert, our legs often brushing up against the shrubs as we journeyed along the faint paths that wild horses had made. 

Yesterday Ivana had taken us to a place the wild horses frequent, but we didn’t see them. It is just by chance really. They come down from the rocky hills to get the water that sits just below the surface of the ground. The spot is boggy, but it looks like an area full of good green grass. Yesterday Ivana had pointed out their hoof prints and where they had dug at the ground with their hooves so they could get to the water below. Ivana also mentioned that the horses only stay there for about 10 minutes before heading back up. It is too risky to linger much longer with a potential lion lurking nearby.

We approached that same place near the beginning of our ride today and we were in luck this time! The horses we had lunch with yesterday were at the boggy, grass filled watering hole. We rode up silently, our horses flanks facing them and our horses noses facing onward to say we were just passing through. We stopped and let our horses graze; another way to tell the wild ones we were no threat. We watched them go for water, and we even watched one of the horses nearer us go down on the ground and roll! I was surprised at this display of trust in such a vulnerable act. I questioned Ivana later, asking her if it was possible that they felt more safe when we were with them, because with us there the lion would not approach. She said, “Yes, that’s right.” 

I was so moved when I watched that horse roll. I understood that the horse simply wanted to roll, a completely normal thing for a horse, and the horse felt safe enough in that moment to do so. Yet, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of a belonging as I watched the horse roll and as we stood there with all of them. All of us together at the watering hole. Hanging out together. The same horses we shared lunch with yesterday. I felt a sense of community with these wild horses. Domestic horses, wild horses and humans sharing space.

They were not at the watering hole for us yesterday, but they were today. Had they chosen to meet us here today? Had they picked up on our plans? Ivana had openly talked about horses communicating telepathically with each other. Had they picked up on our human telepathic communication as well? We had been sending messages to the horses long before we had arrived on our trip. We had asked for their majestic presence. We told them we would be honored if we could spend a little time with them. Ivana kept saying that it was highly unusual to see horses all three days, and that she has never been able to get as close to the wild horses before with a larger group such as ours. We were having a very unusual and special experience. Ivana wanted us to know that.

We moved on so that all the horses could get a drink. There were a few still on the rocky hill that were a little more shy about coming down with us there. We thanked them for the visit and continued on with our journey. The experience sat in my heart as we rode. How is it possible to feel more of a sense of belonging with wild horses than our own fellow humans? 

Our horses carried us up to our lunch spot. A place, Ivana said, that maybe only a couple hundred humans had seen. The middle of nowhere on BLM land. When we got there the place was full of hoof prints. The wild horses had been there this morning. Ivana believed that they knew we were planning to come to this place and had wanted to check it out. Our hearts and minds were now linked with these wild ones. Community in mind and heart. Somehow this notion that the horses knew we were planning to come here and had scouted the area out this morning seemed like the most common thing in the world now. After three days of seeing horses we were never guaranteed to see, and to have lunch with them and then commune with them at their watering hole, it now seemed unremarkable to know that they had read our minds and came to check out today’s lunch spot before we got there. We were part of the land with them for a few days in time. We shared a knowing. We were co-existing with the wild ones. It was very special. But, it felt so natural, too.

As if we didn’t have enough magic for a weekend, we noticed one single cloud in the sky as we got back on our horses. No other clouds. Just this one shaped as a horse galloping. We didn’t need any spiritual signs that all that we had experienced was destined and special and gifted to us from the horse gods. Yet, we got a confirmation anyway. The one lone cloud in a blue sky was a galloping horse. It took no imagination for any of us to see that. It was like a token of acknowledgement that dreams can come true; that the horse gods had heard us and honored our souls' cry.

If one wasn’t there participating in the experience, it is easy to say it all was just a coincidence. But, we knew it was much more than that. We all headed back to camp knowing that we had been chosen. The wild horses let us see them. The wild horses allowed us to share a meal with them. The wild horses chose to meet us at the watering hole.

From the wild,

Asha