Morning Feed: Thursday, February 16

Good morning to all of you out there who are tangled up in this great web of craziness called Horse Nation!

You know, since this project started, I’ve not been sleeping so well. I have a recurring nightmare that this wellspring of amazing writing and enthusiasm, which has thus far been flowing freely through our website, suddenly dries up. The stories stop coming in, the writers quit responding to my emails, and I get a phone call from John informing me that he’s decided to pull the plug.

Then I wake up and check my inbox, and it’s once again filled with great stories and promising pitches. And the thing I have to remind myself, for the umpteenth time, is that Horse Nation is NEVER going to run out of stories. In fact, that’s what Horse Nation is made of–millions of stories, all stored up inside us and ready to be shared. A life with horses is a life spilling over at the edges with memories and awakenings. The language we share runs much, much deeper than words.

A passage from the introduction of She Had Some Horses, a book by the Native American poet Joy Harjo: “I come from a people who are taught to forget nothing. I believe that every thought, every word, every song or horse that existed makes a mural of existence that gives form to this one we find ourselves in. The construction of a word will draw forth the thing itself. The flank of a horse or the nicker will bring the horse into view. One horse will evoke the history and mythical contruct of horses. The love of horses will make horses appear, as will the fear of them. The heart is the generator of all manner of ideas, including horses.”

Horse Nation is more than just another horse publication cobbled together from the experiences of a handful of writers. My dream is that it grows into a community-built web that wraps around the world.

The door is always open here for your stories–email me at wylie@horsenation. And, of course, Go Riding.

Bensington Bluestone, a 6-year-old Cleveland Bay stallion. Photo: HN