The Open Platform is the feeling between us when the horses invite me to be carried by them. In fact it is the sense of invitation in every way. Into their space, to hug them, groom them, care for them and just be with them. That sense of solidity, of trust, of openness. The way the energy radiates outward and embraces us. It is fun to find names for the new stages of our process as a herd. It also feels good to let those names be light and changeable, to come and go as we continue to grow.

When we are being the Open Platform, and merging within it, there is a knowing that one day we will have no barriers between us at all. Barrier is not really the right word, it is more of a vibrational separation between where we are now and where we will be. 

There is more to become, and the growth feels good. Sometimes it is challenging and other times it is magnificent

Our Partnership Vision

• Galloping within the herd, carried in security, whatever arises.
• Participating in a new form of equipment-free riding, in engagement, orchestrated by the horses. 
• Being able to merge and travel, to fully experience the herd from within, leaping on, resting with..

These physical possibilities feel so amazing vibrationally. And although we are not physically there yet we don’t feel that as lack. It feels more like flowing downstream and gathering more layers of understanding and connection and intimacy as we go. 

Body Love

We’re here in the winter barn. We’ve been doing grooming and really seeing the inherent love, the self-ness of the parts of the body. How they express that beauty, that light of contentedness. It’s so attractive. Quaramba and Honey and Aimée and Rafi are coming for grooming and arranging themselves and just feel so connected in this mutuality, this comfort place. So then I felt to tune in a bit deeper to this avenue. There is a sense that this is the avenue, building and building on this. Becoming more and more familiar in this.. everybody is licking and chewing now, with the physical nature of touch, with comfort, with appreciation, with being able to see the love as a shape in the body.  

Into the Physical

Like Aimée’s eyes, her beautifully folded eyelid, and the way her mane swirls around her head, and how her eyelid has such long eyelashes and she looks so young and so old at the same time.

So loving, so wise, and the way Quaramba’s wither looks with the hair that has been wet in the rain. So innocent and beautiful and sweet. Becoming this.

And then also feeling the importance of feeling that in me, in my connection with them, feeling that same feeling in my own body. Of un-selfconsciousness, but in that way of a child, just happy to be you in your body. Happy to have this body as your house for a while. And that feels really good. Feels really open and clear and honest. And this is who I am, and any kind of evolution will happen out of this. Out of this familiarity with our bodies, with being in our bodies with appreciating our bodies and who we are and how we feel.

March 10th 2022

The Question of Vaulting On

A few days later I was standing with Honey, and the idea popped into my head “why don’t you just jump on”. It was so simple and clear that I attributed it to her… And I remembered doing that when I was a child, how we would always jump on our pony, either from something or just slightly higher ground. I wasn’t really into pony games, so vaulting from the ground wasn’t something I practiced in a dedicated way.

But why not now? Putting aside being short and no longer twenty, there is no reason not to try. So we stabilised an old hay bale on its side in one of the barns to practice on. I’m not forcing it though, if it comes into being it will be another thread of freedom in our interactions. 

Introducing this Vibration to the Herd 

I hesitated to explore the feeling of what vaulting on would be with the whole herd. Maybe feeling that it was too forward, too disturbing or unacceptable. Standing here with Totti however, she feels very open and receptive. So I’m imagining the feeling of it, imagining the little jump and the leaping on. Being light, being agile, being springy. The feeling of being sucked in and held on. The feeling of solidity and acceptance. Here comes Quaramba to get her ears scratched, I feel like everyone’s hugging round me now. Quaramba has successfully asked the other girls to leave…

she’s quite pleased about that, maybe she wants to involve herself with this. Imagining vaulting with Quaramba, the amount of leap it would take, the possibility of that. Just giving myself permission to really be in that reality with her. It feels so familiar so easy, so possible, so joyful. Quaramba feels more than relaxed and that she would be more than relaxed if I did vault on her. That there is nothing hiding, no hidden layers, no tension and nothing negative would be triggered. In fact it would be welcomed, this collaboration.

13th March 2022

There is a feeling of being sucked in and taken on board and a feeling of this being delightful, of it being an honour for her and an honour for me, a mutual honour. That horses are great ships, ships that can carry us, because of their advanced capacity for flow and their ability to flow. 

Young Horses and Limiting Beliefs

I became aware in this session with Quaramba that I have some limiting beliefs about what is possible. In particular about young horses and how we expect them to behave. That to accept a rider they must be broken, backed or desensitised in some way.

Leaving aside more forceful approaches, it is still expected that a young horse must be familiarised in controlled circumstances to be able to cope with a rider. This belief is rooted in the assumption that horses don’t choose to allow us to get on them and be carried by them.

That in order to safely ride them, the responsibility for bringing that about is all on us. This has proven to be true time and time again in our experience. When you rush and push, a frightened horse will react to liberate themselves of a rider.

What about if a process was undertaken to ask, to discuss, and do everything according to that dialogue? That instead of believing we need to leverage the procedure and the results, there would be an authentic sharing of responsibility so horses would not feel compelled to defend themselves. What if a horse who had not experienced a rider before would be no more likely to object that any other horse? And if their response depended entirely on the relationship itself, in the trust inherent in every previous interaction? What if ultimately it is all about what we believe, and if we believe in the young horse’s acceptance it will exist? I have no doubt this is the case, yet the old beliefs are deeply ingrained and must be gradually replaced with new ones. This is our path.

Relating to Horses

I have made quite a major shift in perception about horses and humans and how we fit into our world together. As humans we tend to make an assumption that if there is a scale of anything, we are at the top. Whether it is predators or spiritual leaders, language or science, humans are clearly the top of the pyramid. The first shift for me was to move on from seeing a pyramid and understand that our world is more of a web or interlinking energies. That there isn’t a top or a bottom in terms of power unless we wish to see it that way, and there isn’t a scale of value either.

In accepting this, as humans, we are able to step away from the assumption that horses are our property, and consequently exist for our pleasure. This new perspective brings some space, some freedom with it. Even the idea that horses are here for their own purposes, and that we might not yet comprehend what those are.

Subsequent to that it is possible to see that horses may be choosing, in their full soul awareness, to experience this interaction with us in order to further their own spiritual expansion. In those moments of utter presence in merging with the herd, I can feel the nature of this. And the wisdom of these creatures we have learned to see as simple domesticated animals takes my breath away.

The Horse Channellers

Into the Source

Everyone came into the winter barn and things are feeling really good. I have been reminding myself that there isn’t a goal. The goal is the pleasure in the journey itself. How good we feel together, how connected we feel, and there’s a new feeling of welcome energy recently. So when the horses see me, one or two ponies will come and say hello and there’s a real sense of joy in being in that place together, of mutuality.

Sometimes I get into thinking about others and what are we doing, what are we achieving, what can we show. So I need to remember that it’s about enjoyment, having fun, trusting that desires are opening out for us. It’s okay to want, to bring something into reality, to wish to create. It’s okay to create and creation is not designated or controlled, it doesn’t have to fit into any shape. Creation is born from pure potential, and what feels good, inspires, gives joy. And that’s all that matters with the horses. Being in joy.

Welcome Energy

And the Open Platform Vibration

Just feeling that bounty, of abundance, expansion, delight. The Invitation vibration we were exploring recently and how that unfolded into the Open Platform. The feeling of reception in the horse, of being received, visiting their house, walking on their carpet, what that feels like. Very comforting, comfortable, secure, loving, embracing. There’s also an element of this being an opportunity to expand to grow, to learn.

Feeling into how the general sense of abundance and well-being associates with the feeling of the Open Platform in a vibrational way. Not thinking about it, not figuring it out, just feeling the two shapes, the two energies, the two vibrations. One is a sophistication of the other, a running downstream into a particular channel, that this is where we can channel that joy. Into the Open Platform. It feels very downstream in the general well-being, there’s this big pool of energy, of swirling potential, and from there we can dive down, we can channel, flow, sweep, follow down into the open platform.

Who Horses Are

There’s a real whoosh of good feeling in that, wow this feels good, and Aimée’s kind of turning away from the hay, almost like she’s awakening to something for a second. It feels like  a journey downstream, an opening, things opening out easily. Not necessarily physically, but in terms of what feels good. What feels inspiring, without struggle. No struggle against what feels bad or what feels tight or pushing or grasping or forcing. It feels good this opening out, this blossoming, this discovering. And we don’t need to focus on the action, we just focus on this feeling of receiving these ideas, receiving these vibrations.

And the horses are so absorbent, so empty, but only in the sense of channeling. They are channellers, like drains, they’re always open to allow the flow. It’s a real feeling of energetic attraction, that they are opening themselves to what can flow through. It’s a thing, it really feels like an actual thing to open yourself up like that. Feeling it now in myself, it’s exhilarating, becoming smooth sided, like steel. Feeling the smoothness that can allow everything, allow the Universe to flow through.

The Law of Attraction

Aimée has come to stand now into the deep awareness of the meditation. She’s coming to help me focus, to access that perception. To become the channel myself. I’m getting the sense of letting go of the sides of it all, sweeping away, being swept away. The sense that this sweeping away is actually taking control. Being controlled by the flow, by the laws of the Universe, and then there’s this infusion of light, of desire, of choice. That you are delivered to your choice, to your desire, by that flow to which you give yourself.

So you’re not letting go of anything, you’re letting go of holding yourself back from where you want to be. Which sounds like it’s been said a million times but in this sense picture is making so much sense. This feeling that everything opens up for you, you just have to keep your light on. And your light is your vibration of choice, your desire, your wish. Your light is what draws you to where you wish to go, and that’s shining bright, and then you let go and allow yourself to be swept towards it. Of course you can’t see what the road is because you’re just a part of it, only the whole knows the path. 

Miracles are Close

Aimée has come to stand now into the deep awareness of the meditation. She’s coming to help me focus, to access that perception. To become the channel myself. I’m getting the sense of letting go of the sides of it all, sweeping away, being swept away.

The sense that this sweeping away is actually taking control. Being controlled by the flow, by the laws of the Universe, and then there’s this infusion of light, of desire, of choice. That you are delivered to your choice, to your desire, by that flow to which you give yourself.

The horses feel understood, they feel seen, I feel this channeling is becoming more familiar, holding on less, shining my light more brightly, more consistently. There’s a feeling of the veil, the solidity of this world, the apparent solidity becoming less fixed, less determined, less held. And there’s a sense of possibilities, of what we might call miracles which are natural really. There’s a sense of them, very close. 

13th of March 2022

The Fountain of Desire

Sitting in the field with the herd, attuning to them, and to my Source, I began to experience the clearest vibrational experience of my desire I can remember. I felt able to let go of past conditioning, outdated beliefs, and just revel in the wonder of it. Imagine a source, high in the mountains, so pure, bubbling right up out of the ground. This crystalline fountain of joy and creation, and greenness expanding out in all directions. To feel it there, within the herd, there seems to be no gap or space between us here in pure energy itself.  

A few days later I was with the herd in the barn, we were exploring the body-love feeling. At some point I could feel that we were becoming One Being in energy. It was a calling and a receiving at the same time. Becoming aware of the rhythm of well-being and the depth of it. And expressing that into the physical. This first time of feeling this so clearly was quite intense. The horses were feeling it and it was almost too much to contain without dissipating some of the power of it into grooming. If I stood just to feel it and Be it, they would grow uncomfortable, first Quaramba and then Aimée. One by one moving on until Totti became the open platform with me.

Our First Open Platform

One moment we were standing and feeling, and grooming and then she began to step backwards, firmly placing her body alongside me, clearly inviting me to get on her. I did and we walked gently out of the barn to join the others, followed by Marie and then Gorrion. It was so easy and natural, so open in comparison to the energy of mounting a horse I have experienced in the past. The difference was in the sharing of responsibility, the willingness, the perfection of togetherness. I was not so much aware of how she felt when I was on her back, but how we both felt in ourselves. There was no separation at all, no barrier, no vibrational difference at all between us. It was a miracle.

Building the Open Platform

After this brief glimpse of what can be, some days later when I returned to this same body-love, open platform doorway, again there was a sense of the challenge for the horses in dwelling purely in the vibrational awareness. When I sensed the magnetic draw of the Oneness and began to slow into it, Honey and Aimée indicated they wanted to continue with grooming. There was a feeling of filling in the spaces, weaving the energy, raising the vibration and allowing each incremental rise to be fully processed into the physical realm.

The processing was creating physical changes.. like a ripple of energy flowing out into our bodies and aligning our cells in some way. I felt I needed to rest into it, and the horses felt they needed to move with it. Finally Totti was expanded herself, and fully absorbing the process she came into a perfect stillness. Then the stillness itself was magnifying and amplifying and there was not even a hint of a feeling that we were ready to go into action yet.

This was the building of the open platform itself. These experiences make it so clear that all creation begins in energy, and physical manifestation is the very end point. Are we unaware, in general, of the full process of creation? This creation with the herd certainly feels like a gift of the New Earth.

Patience and Appreciation

In embracing this journey with the herd I have remembered and learned so many things. And it can all be distilled into one simple thing, being happy. Happiness is a feeling, an energetic vibration, and although it can come from what is happening around me, what I do and see, that is largely out of my control. The horses have demonstrated time and time again that we are energetic creators, we are vibrational inventors, and we can feel any way we wish to.

It is certainly a choice to feel happy, as feeling lack can be familiar and even comforting in a strange way. But when we realise that we really do have the power to choose our own state of being, regardless of surroundings, well-being can be felt at the core of everything. And in discovering a particularly pleasing vibration, the vast abundance that is already there at our centre is triggered again, and the limitless spiral of happiness expands. Every moment is a choice to listen within or judge without. 

In the days following our latest Becoming One session I made a powerful emotional discovery that I can give myself everything I need. If I feel un-loved, not special or uncared for, then I can summon those feelings for myself.  They don’t need to come from outside. Just tuning into those vibrations is incredibly liberating. And so I came the realisation that I can become the Open Platform myself.

Staying Downstream

I’m here beside the milk parlour with the herd, it’s quite a windy wild day, but we’re resting here. I wanted to go deeper into this realisation I had the other day of being the open platform. As my role or my side of the dialogue.

Feeling into the herd first. Honey is biting my foot, Aimée has come to take over from Honey, she’s feeling that way she is when she’s ready to go into something. And now Totti is coming, checking me out. Now Aimée is going away purposefully, on her way to summer barn… that’s okay. Just feeling into the herd. Now Quaramba is coming, and Honey is going away.

Maybe they’re just validating what I already sensed, that we weren’t ready yet to take this a step further, that we’re still growing it. It’s such a huge process. Doubt doesn’t feel good, hurrying doesn’t feel good… nor translating into action yet. Forcing doesn’t feel good. I think they’re telling me, all is well, don’t rush, you don’t have to Become it instantly. It doesn’t have to produce or accomplish or Be before it is. Only Rafi is left now and he says being the open platform is about being an enabler. 

March 31st 2022

Being The Open Platform

The perfect time arrived. The herd were out in the sun relaxing and it felt great to sit out with them and go into the next phase. 

Tuning into being the Open Platform feels like absorbing the horses themselves. Their feet, power, dirt, intensity, ability to react, high tension… and at first there was a sense  almost of violation, like accepting something I was not attuned to. In going deeper I am sensing a barrier, in myself? or more of a natural gap between species? It feels impermeable like rubber.

Now embracing this with love, unconditional love, and support, and there is a gradual shifting. Seeking common ground, translating the differences and building an infrastructure between us. Yes, this infrastructure is able to translate, to align and harmonise a true connection. There is a gradual shift from rubber into grains… like sand, tiny enough particles to find mutuality. This is forming mutuality itself! Oneness in this physical realm. It is an interface, a translator… creating itself.

April 2nd 2022

The Heart and the Mind

How deeply the vibrational nature of words can be transmitted to others depends on the individual reader. There is a skill in weaving the words together, but ultimately the extent a person can receive will depends on allowing their heart to interpret rather than their mind. This is the perfect parallel with my journey with the herd. My mind imagines it is about what we express through our bodies, how it looks, how it can be described in action. Yet my heart knows it is about who we are becoming, the energy between us, and the way that feels. Both aspects do exist, and play with each other, weaving in and out. 

And yet the who we are becoming does show in so many ways. How Honey will come up behind me and press her muzzle into my side, close her eyes and stay like that for long magical minutes.

The fiery, expansive welcome from Marie with flying mane and dancing feet as she opens her heart and swings deep into my personal space, knowing I will envelop her with the same trust and love.

The sense of eternity in the way Quaramba stills her whole body to receive some green clay on a wound on her leg. Utterly accepting, and gazing into my eyes, mirroring my concern with a touch of horse humour.

And of course the delightful way Totti stepped her body so clearly into place for me to get on her back, this momentous pinnacle of all we have become. It seems so special from the mind perspective, and yet from the heart it is only another natural expression of the fundamental all-is-well-ness of where we are.

The Magic of Re-Alignment

The magic of it is that without our individuality, our differences, there would be no potential for alignment. Alignment is how we can change to meet the horses, and how they can change to meet us. So we share this new miraculous vibration that is Ours as one together.