I stood in the arena a couple of weeks ago judging the flat classes at a Hunter/Jumper Horse Show - the wind had started howling and I radioed to the management that it was "surreal down here"! It was! The sand was blowing in visible, serpentined, parallel strips that hovered about 18 inches above the ground! It felt like my feet were under the ground and I dare say the horses had similar weird feelings.
The horses pressed onward, obedient to their riders and squinting when they turned upwind. They amaze me. Not too long into the afternoon, the show was stopped for safety reasons and we all gathered up and made our way through the storm, heading home. The dirt was encrusted into my skin and in all the seams of my car's windows... one of my dearest friends told me her philosophy is to continue her teaching of lessons in the wind if it is blowing no worse than it would be at a show. Good plan. This is why her horses can be ridden in unpredictable situations without reacting in unsafe ways.
My horses face the wind well (so to speak!)... we all face less than ideal situations whether they are in our family life, our work, relationships or the weather. It is how we act during the storms that keeps us healthy or tears us down. Horses can serve as a great example.
