The year 2014 is the year of the horse. Horses are beautiful as they are. But not only do they have a beautiful appearance, horses teach us many things.
The horse is a gentle herbivore, but when running, it gives us a more dynamic and tenacious impression than any other animal.
Horses have been with mankind for many, many years. They help farming by delivering heavy loads. Before cars were invented, horses always transported people long distances. They also helped with hunting and always took a role, fighting bravely, in battles. Horses were one of the closest animals to human beings and stayed with people silently all the time in human history. That’s why horses are one of the best animals that can possibly show feelings with humans.
You can see their utmost loyalty to humans from their deep eyes. Horses are only loyal to their owners. It has been widely talked about in Mongolia that a horse brought a wounded owner with his mouth out of the battlefield. It is also a well-known story from the oriental classic literature, The Three Kingdoms, that ‘Jeoktoma’ (the name of the horse which literally means Red Clay Horse) was so loyal, he refused to eat and also died after his owner died.
Because horses have been with humans for such a long time, how horses have been depicted through ancient relics or myths are special. It was acknowledged as a miraculous animal that connects this world and the next. It was also acknowledged as a sacred animal that communicates with the supernatural world. Pegasus from Greek mythology was described as a horse that had wings so he could fly in the sky, and that he belonged to the god Apollo. A horse has been recognized as a mystical being that can rapidly go back and forth between the Earth and the kingdom of heaven, with quickness and tenacity. From such recognition, we see how horses have taken a crucial position in human history.
Moreover, horses do not like being alone but being together with many. In this modern society where individualism is growing more strongly, it would be beautiful to learn ‘coexistence’ from the habits of horses.
Horses intuitively like running. Just by looking at horses kicking off from the ground, their flapping mane and their harsh breaths, our hearts also beat with theirs. Horses only look forward and run hard. They show us what it is to live fabulously.
Horses do their own work silently and always like running strenuously with surging energy. Horses are loyal only to their owner and easily adapt to a group life. If you imagine this kind of person around you, wouldn’t you naturally work with him? Let’s become such a person – me first, this year. Let’s become a person who does his own role diligently wherever he is, a person who always runs here and there for others with bright energy.
Like a horse in the legend that was flying in the sky, let’s spend the year of a healthy horse that works joyfully going everywhere in the universe. Run, like a horse! Let’s go~!
Photography: xiapp
