Horseback Riding At Night
What could it mean?
I found myself working construction at a site that was right next to a large barn that held many horses. I was told that every construction worker was assigned to a specific horse. I could not for the life of me understand why a modern day construction worker needed a horse but that was the rule. So I went into the barn to find the horse that I was assigned to take care of.
It turned out the horse did not like me very much. It kept snorting derisively at me, mocking me for not being a horse person. The horse could sense that I had not been on a horse in around thirty years and that I knew nothing about caring for a horse.
I admitted to the horse that I was not a horse person even though I had been one in at least two past-lives. The closest I had gotten in this life was when I was a young whippersnapper in my early twenties and was temporarily married to a woman who had countless rodeo trophies atop her bedroom dresser. She could be blindfolded with her wrists and ankles tied up and she could still ride a horse. That’s how good she was. When I went horseback riding with her I just told my horse to follow her and I held on for dear life.
I apologized to the horse for my equine ignorance and told her that I still wanted to be friends. She was not happy with that.
Eventually I realized that the horse was not happy because she never got to run. She spent most of her time in that stupid barn. So I decided to use my lunch breaks to saddle her up and take her for a quick run. After just a few days of doing this she agreed to be my friend.
Then one day the big boss man came from Washington to visit the site. Apparently the crew was way behind schedule so he asked me to stay on the job for an additional month. Originally the job was supposed to last for just six weeks. I’m a writer and don’t have time for any freaking jobs. I took the job because it was temporary and would allow me to catch up on my rent. The last thing I wanted was to extend the job. I didn’t say any of this to the boss man, though, and reluctantly agreed to work longer and the reason I did was because of the horse.
The next day when I arrived at work I was shocked to see that the construction site had morphed into a giant warehouse full of books. It was like some kind of publisher’s warehouse or Amazon fulfillment center or something. The barn was still at one end of the warehouse.
This was a very troubling development because to me books are like cocaine. They are very addictive. I get high just holding a book in my hands. Smelling it gets me even more stoned. If I was now working in a warehouse full of books I might end up getting stuck and never want to leave. What would happen to my writing?
Luckily, I still had my lunch breaks and I still took the horse running every day. When I was on her back racing through the adjacent countryside, my hair blowing in the wind, my mind was cleared of all its worry and anxiety. Those daily horse rides kept me sane.
Then one day the boss man from Washington showed up and pulled me aside. He said that he was impressed with my book knowledge and wanted to hire me full-time and promote me to manager. That’s when I blew up.
“No! No! No! No! I can’t do it. I won’t do it. I won’t give up my writing in order to work full-time as a human beast of burden for The Man.”
“Very well then, consider yourself terminated.”
I was about to jump for joy but I remembered something and quickly changed my demeanor, “Mr. Boss Man, can I ask you for one favor?”
“You can ask.”
“Before I go can I ride my horse one more time?”
“I’ll tell you what. Why don’t I sell you that horse?”
“But I live in a tiny apartment. I don’t have the room to keep a horse.”
“Okay, you can ride the horse one last time then you’re outta here!”
With great joy I ran to the barn and saddled up my friend. We went for a long two hour trek out into the country. We ran, we trotted, we walked. We stopped at a creek and together drank the sparkling water. We had the time of our lives. And I was free, I was free, I was free! I was bubbling with joy.
But as we headed back to the barn I started getting sad — really sad — that this was our last ride together. In the barn as I took off her saddle and fed her and brushed her I knew that she could tell that something was up. Finally, she put her massive head right in front of me and looked me in the eyes. I grabbed her cheeks with both hands and planted a big fat kiss right in the middle of her long face.
“I’m sorry horsey but this was our last ride together. I have to leave and I won’t be coming back. I am so very, very sorry. I will miss you so much!”
As a tear rolled down my cheek I turned and walked out of the barn.
As I woke up this morning I sat in bed for a long time remembering and reviewing the dream. I’m pretty sure I have never ridden a horse in my dreams before. The sensations were awesome!
But what the hell did the dream mean? I kept hearing the phrase, Get back on the horse, flit through my noggin but I was not sure what that was in reference to. Did that mean that it was time to give up my writing and go back to work? (Get back on the horse?) Or did I have it all wrong? Could the horse have been representative of my writing? Of freedom? Could I be free to keep writing like a crazy person without being sucked into homelessness? Was the horse some kind of muse? Is there such a thing as a horse muse?
I don’t know. All I know is that I haven’t been able to get that horse’s face out of my noggin all morning.
Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved.