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Maleny
Pauline Cameron March 2011
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TIMELESS WISDOM, FUTURE FREEDOM
In south east Queensland just near the Sunshine Coast there is a quiet but determined battle being fought. This battle is for the lives of some very special teenage girls. The girls are part of a programme established by Karen and Bill Fowles, under the auspices of Queensland Education, called Shekinah which amongst other things provides Equine facilitated learning at Tekki Park Riding Centre under the guidance of Margaret Green.
While Carlos was on a recent trip north he was generous enough to take the time to spend an afternoon with the girls at Tekki Park to share his extensive knowledge of the horse with them.
Carlos began with a ground work demonstration with one of the resident horses and followed up with some 'hands on' instruction with the girls and the horses they regularly work with.
What became increasingly apparent as Carlos expanded on his philosophy of horses was the parallels with the girls on the programme and the human condition in general. When dealing with any horse Carlos maintains an open heart and mind. He doesn’t label or pigeonhole the horse in anyway – he's a bucker, a biter, she’s aggressive, skittish – because none of this matters. Of course, if nothing is done to remedy the situation established patterns of behaviour will tend to harden or calcify over time. But we must remember they are just that, patterns of behaviour, and not an indication of intrinsic value or worth.
Carlos sees the perfection in every horse. He understands that any issues that may be present are likely a result of the path this horse has taken in his life so far, the hands through which he has passed, the choices made for him, the burdens laid on him because some of the people in his life may have not yet learned to see past their egos and personalities, their false selves, and so tend to make everything the horses fault. Oh, that we were all blessed with the ability to see past each other’s behaviours, the roles we hide behind, to the beautiful being that we bury beneath the facades we create in order to protect ourselves.
By working with horses the way he does, not with tools or a step programme, but from the very centre of his being Carlos is, in essence, demonstrating, through the horse and the changes that his sensitive and empathetic approach engenders in their behaviour that, with a little love, understanding and support, we can all step from the shadows of the circumstances and influences of our life to date.
When the girls work with the horses they then are afforded the opportunity to claim that hidden aspect of themselves, the aspect that is eternal and without limit. When they ask the horse to walk or trot around them in a circle, using only their energy for impulsion or twirling the lead rope to generate a little more energy, and they stop, relax and drop their energy the horse does the same. This simple exercise is profoundly empowering, not only have we freed the horse from the compulsion of being lunged with a whip chasing him along from behind but the person working with the horse is afforded a glimpse of the power within themselves, a power grounded in harmony, a power that neither pushes nor pulls but simply holds its own sacred space.
In allowing the horse to remain true to its innate nature Carlos provides an opportunity for all of us to see the true nature of our world and ourselves, because horses are the purest of mirrors, without ego or ulterior motive. Their gift lies in offering those that work with them the opportunity to get in
touch with their real selves and the power and beauty within. For those that choose to listen, to see, to take responsibility for the choices they make, to understand that our world view is created in the small clearing of our own hearts, we open to the reality that we are all able to claim our heritage to know beyond all doubt that our destiny is absolutely within our power to change.
The advantage of this process is that the learning is not intellectual but experiential, the nature of life, felt, at the most fundamental level. The horse has never forgotten who he is, and neither has Carlos, and the horse in turn helps those working with them to remember who they are.
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