Day Six

The breakthrough I was so desperately lacking yesterday came today, and I'm sure the expression on my face betrayed the feelings I had inside. I was able to touch, pet, rub and scratch (nameless bay, who I've begun to call Bob Marley). Excitement?! You betcha. His muscles were tense and coiled like mine just before the gun goes off in a cross-country race, only his were tense because he believes he's fighting for his life.

Many times during this process I've thought, "If only I could speak to you and rationalize with you. If I haven't tried to kill you yet, I'm probably not a cougar." But then if he could rationalize he wouldn't be a horse, he'd be a human, and we like horses because they're horses. If we were tired of training horses in the way they must be trained, we'd do away with them and ride the only animal capable of true rationalization: humans. Since I don't see that happening anytime soon, my wishes that I could rationalize with Bob Marley are inane.

Touching him gave me that feeling that learning I got accepted to the Woods did. I glowed and all of the frustrations of the previous day melted away in his soft hair. I realize that with horses its 'Two steps forward, one step backward,' and tomorrow a new challenge will be presented, but for now, I'm amped about today's progress.