I'm probably the luckiest person in the world in terms beautiful places to live. My home before was a lake house. I loved it. My home now is a horse farm in the beautiful Kentucky Bluegrass. It is the most wonderful place you can imagine. Every morning I wake up to all sorts of "horse" events....mares teaching their little ones to run and take care of themselves, horses just "horsing around," horses that are just standing as if to say, "I know I'm gorgeous. Take a look." They eat, and eat, and eat, but they really do seem to enjoy their day and their "community." Just the other morning, when one of the horses was returned to the pasture, they all came running to see the new guy...to ask him to join them in their community for the day. It sort of sounds like a choir, huh? A new person comes in, and we want to have our students greet them and bring them into the group. "Be one of us. We need you in this group."
The thing I like best about the place where I live is the road on the farm that leads to the exit. It is long and winding, and believe it or not...I get to think about life as I drive out "into the world." I love it. I see beauty all around me...particularly in the fall. The leaves are actually gone now, but I won't forget the beauty of fall. I won't forget that journey every day...well...at least until that big wind came along and "did its thing."
Horses are so much like students in our choirs...if they get bored, they start doing "other things" to occupy their time. It is really being "off task," but...what is the task of a thoroughbred anyway? You stand there and look beautiful, and sometimes you just live in a beautiful place all of your life. Some thoroughbreds are sold to become race horses, but the focus of this place is primarily to bring horses into the world as foals, then sell them to someone who will develop the potential. There are 60 or so new foals brought into the world annually. To see a horse foaling is a beautiful thing...and it's an education as well.
Do I ride? No. At this point in my life, I'm afraid that would be a poor choice for me (traction, body cast, etc.). My job? I feed the horses peppermints. Yes...I'm the "Peppermint Waitress." They love their peppermints. Apples and carrots are good, too, but they love peppermints. They gently eat them from my hand, and they patiently wait on "their turn." The wait is nothing compared to the sweet taste of peppermint. And...they never know if they are going to get them. Sometimes yes...sometimes no.
At times I wonder, "Do horses worry about their fate on the farm?" Do they worry that they might be separated eventually from their friends and foals? The journey of their lives is determined by trusted caregivers on the farm, and eventually, no matter the fate, everyone seems to adjust. However, there is a "journey of the unknown" for the horses, and they aren't totally sure about how it is going to turn out. I wonder if they worry...
All of this sort of sounds like life, huh? There is a road to follow, a journey of life that no one really can determine in its purest state...not even the participant. There are some "detours" that come in the form of diagnoses, change of location, loss of friends, etc. The journey gets bumpy at times. It is a path that some would argue might be "predestined." No matter the source or development, we try to follow the path "assigned" to us with grace, dignity, and with an understanding that someone out there is overseeing the process to see that we are okay. It is an awesome realization.
Sometimes the road is winding...
Sometimes it is a distant goal...
But it's always there, beckoning us to travel on...with grace.
