If you have spent any length of time wandering the dust-ridden halls of this blog, then you might just know that I spend a decent amount of my time in the saddle. Especially during the summer months – odd considering that I live in Texas where the summer months are known for the blazing sun, triple digits, and mud cracks large enough to be portals to distant lands . . . or at least, the center of the earth.
Having spent so many hours in the saddle, I’ve come to realize that riding is like music.
Each horse has a distinct rhythm. The beat of their hooves, the varying pace, the distinct walk, jog, lope, and run that is all their own, contributes to their unique melody.
Each saddle sings its own song. An old saddle with its well worn leather skirt, wooden tree, and metal pieces frosted with rust creaks a different ballad, a tale of miles already traveled, than the squeak of a new saddle with leather stiff and unbroken, and metal pieces still jangling to find their proper place.
Each landscape offers a different harmony. The drum of hooves over hard packed earth differs from the harsh scuffling through dead leaves lining the forest floor or the soft thudding through the arena sand.
For me, part of the joy in riding is discovering the beautiful melody that each different horse, saddle, and landscape affords. Finding the horse’s rhythm so that horse and rider can move as one. Hearkening to the ballad of the saddle and listening to the tale it unfolds.
There is a sort of grand symphony present in the world around us, if we just have ears to hear it. The whisper of a turning page. The orchestral chirping of crickets in the night. The blazing glory of a sunrise. Each is a song in itself, an offering to the praise of the One who created it all, the Singer who set the song in place.
So, when I weary of writing and the formerly pleasant clacking of the keys as I type becomes only slightly less grating than the scraping of nails across a chalkboard (one of the worst sounds in the world!), then I take to the saddle once more, lose myself in the rhythm of hooves, and allow the cares and worries of the world to fall from my shoulders, borne away upon a fleeing wind.
Are there any sounds that seem to bear more melody than others to you? Have any others become enchanted, as I, by the song of the saddle?
*sigh* I miss riding. I used to do it a lot, but with boarding school and no access to a stable either here or at home, I miss it. I used to love getting to know the quirks of the horses, and nothing made me happier than a friendly reception from a favourite beastie after a tiring day.
I like most sounds, really, but wind in trees, or just natural stillness in forests and mountains is my favourite. And pipes. Bagpipes, pan pipes, even flutes. I love the soaring notes and evocative sounds.
Charley – one of these days, I'm going to have to meet you! Because I'm sure we would be great friends! ;) I absolutely love bagpipe and pan pipe music! So incredibly beautiful!
Some of the most beautiful "music" I've ever heard was at Mealt Falls and Kilt Rock on the Island of Skye. The fencing surrounding the lookout point has tiny holes bored into all the pipes, and the wind blowing off the ocean hits the holes and creates this high floating ethereal music! It feels like you've stumbled into a fairy land! :)
A sound I hear almost all day, every day, is the distant sighing of the ocean. It holds and endless rhythm, one I could listen to for hours – or minutes, at least. ;)
As for horses, I've touched only two in my life, much less ridden them. XD
Yes! The ocean! I am envious. The sea is another one of my great loves…