Gratitude ~ Heavy Horses

Greetings Dear Reader,

Yesterday at Brat Fest I was privileged to see the Budweiser Clydesdale Team.  I have always loved heavy horses.  One does not truly grasp the power and majesty of these beautiful creatures until one sees them up close.

They tower above most animals are are strong hard-working creatures.  My experience with them is that they are intelligent and gentle.  My favorite of them is the Percheron, though the Shire, Suffolk, and Clydesdale all have my admiration and respect.  Were I free to do so I believe that I would have these great creatures to breed and care for.

I used to get to ride a beautiful Percheron named Athos when I was very young.  I knew that he liked to carry me across the fields and he always knew when to return me to the farm house for dinner.  I was too small to unsaddle him so I fed him whilst an adult cared for his tack.  I learned a great deal about respect for living things from Athos.

Every time I encounter heavy horses I feel great gratitude for the beauty of creation and specifically these noble creatures that work for us and carry our burdens.  They are a reminder of power wielded with grace and humility.  This gratitude leads me to greater thoughts on how we can learn from these creatures how to be our better selves.

It reminds me how often humility is necessary even when we are right, strong, and could force things to be the way we think they should.  It is the better course to use our power to remain silently strong and carry a little more for the sake of others.  “Now you’re down to the few,” Dear Reader.

Heavy Horses – Jethro Tull

Iron-clad feather-feet pounding the dust
An October's day, towards evening
Sweat-embossed veins standing proud to the plough
Salt on a deep chest seasoning
Last of the line at an honest day's toil
Turning the deep sod under
Flint at the fetlock, chasing the bone
Flies at the nostrils plunder

The Suffolk, the Clydesdale, the Percheron vie
With the Shire on his feathers floating
Hauling soft timber into the dusk
To bed on a warm straw coating

Heavy horses, move the land under me
Behind the plough gliding, slipping and sliding free
And now you're down to the few and there's no work to do
The tractor is on its way

Let me find you a filly for your proud stallion seed
To keep the old line going
And we'll stand you abreast at the back of the wood
Behind the young trees growing
To hide you from eyes that mock at your girth
Your eighteen hands at the shoulder
And one day when the oil barons have all dripped dry
And the nights are seen to draw colder
They'll beg for your strength, your gentle power
Your noble grace and your bearing
And you'll strain once again to the sound of the gulls
In the wake of the deep plough, sharing

Heavy horses, move the land under me
Behind the plough gliding, slipping and sliding free
And now you're down to the few and there's no work to do
The tractor is on its way

Standing like tanks on the brow of the hill
Up into the cold wind facing
In stiff battle harness, chained to the world
Against the low sun racing
Bring me a wheel of oaken wood
A rein of polished leather
A heavy horse and a tumbling sky
Brewing heavy weather

Bring a song for the evening
Clean brass to flash the dawn
Across these acres glistening
Like dew on a carpet lawn
In these dark towns folk lie sleeping
As the heavy horses thunder by
To wake the dying city
With the living horseman's cry

At once the old hands quicken
Bring pick and wisp and curry comb
Thrill to the sound of all the heavy horses coming home

Iron-clad feather-feet pounding the dust
An October's day, towards evening
Sweat-embossed veins standing proud to the plough
Salt on a deep chest seasoning
Bring me a wheel of oaken wood
A rein of polished leather
A heavy horse and a tumbling sky
Brewing heavy weather

Heavy horses, move the land under me
Behind the plough gliding, slipping and sliding free
And now you're down to the few and there's no work to do
The tractor is on its way

Oh, heavy horses, move the land under me
Behind the plough gliding, slipping and sliding free
And now you're down to the few and there's no work to do
The tractor is on its way

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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