I was in love with the romance and beauty of the dancing white horses of Spain and Portugal and the artistry of Baroque Classical riding. When my young Lusitano colt arrived from Portugal, his purity and intelligence deeply affected me. His joy and precociousness was captivating.

Yet, if I was to turn him into a riding horse, how was I to achieve this without affecting all the connection and engagement I already felt with him? I was in a dilemma, and I began to realize I wanted more than the prescribed horsemanship offered for Unico within its lens of goals and competitiveness. Deep inside me, a shift in started to take place. Little did I know I was to find myself on a myself on a journey of discovery that would challenge and change my approach and perspective to life and horsemanship completely.

As I listened to my heart and intuition, outside any conventional methods, I knew a place of intuitive, creative learning began to materialize between Unico and I. It was as if Unico directly distilled into my mind and heart that he wished me to know. A request to pick up a hoof, unlocking a catch on a gate, just quietly walking, the smallest of acts became charged with a resonance of quality and beauty that became the dharma I practised.

It was a place not bound by words or thoughts, yet its unifying connectedness radiated through the relationship with Unico. In this place, we far overstepped the boundaries of practice that horsemanship has been traditionally espoused and executed by. My objective external perspective completely swung around. Unico became my ultimate referent as I became both subject and object with my horse.

My work as a teacher had been predicated on exhorting the mind and thinking and knowing in this way. But in this place with Unico, my mind chatter stilled, and a new level of understanding that was somehow deeper than mere thought opened up. In this place, I have found a sense of connectedness to my own energy and presence—the calm still at the center of my true self and totality. In a strange way, I have lost my life, yet I have found it.