The Love of Riding

My name is Sharon Wajswol and I am a Quantum-Touch practitioner. When I was in my teens I took a few horseback riding lessons as we lived in the suburbs and there was a great riding stable and teaching facility very close to our home.  I rode for a couple of years and left off at trotting on a Western saddle. I did not get to the point where I learned to canter.  I had to stop the lessons because my parents were divorcing and life started happening fast and furious and I completely forgot about horses shortly after that. 

Fast forward 40 plus years when I took a trip to Ireland.  Anyone who knows Ireland knows that the Irish are big into horses, racing, showing, training, dressage, and any other equine related occupation.  And so I booked myself a ride on the beach at Connemara.  After a 3-hour magical trot on a large Irish Cob on a windy and rainy grey deserted beach, the love of riding resurrected in me full force.  I booked myself a couple of more horseback riding adventures in Ireland, and now I was determined to more fully explore this newfound hobby once again.

I was a woman on a mission - to learn how to canter.  When I got back from Ireland I began the search for a riding/training facility that was nearby, one that I could travel to by subway.  Living in NYC and trying to ride horses on a regular basis is not an easy task unless you have lots and lots of disposable cash lying around. 

Discovering Another New Passion

The timing of this rediscovered passion for riding came at around the same time as I was developing another new passion – for energy healing.  I had just finished taking all the Quantum-Touch classes I needed in order to become a practitioner.  In fact I had not even started my practice hours yet working on clients.  But I was practicing the breathing techniques I had learned in class and I was also completely energized from 6 days straight of practicing Quantum-Touch and giving and receiving healing sessions.

I found the nearest riding facility to where I live and I was starting to go for weekly rides.  Sadly, the place was not well organized and I did not have much of a choice on any given week as to which horse I would be riding or which instructor would be working with me. 

A Horse Named Virginia

One Saturday afternoon in October, they put me on a large chestnut mare named Virginia.  The horse was nearly 40 years old which is extremely old for a horse.  In human years it would be the equivalent of 108 to 110 years.  But this beautiful mare was a former race and show horse, and she picked up speed very quickly.  She also had a fast response rate to any signal I would give her – the sign of a well-trained experienced horse. I was able to handle her at a trot since the “trot” was still in my muscle memory from my teenage years.  They did not want to put young new riders on Virginia because of how fast she reacted and picked up speed, so they encouraged me to stay with the horse.

I was re-educating myself on equine behavior and I came to learn quickly that horses “spook” very easily.  Anything from a falling branch to a flying plastic bag can set them off.  The second time I rode Virginia was a chilly rainy afternoon in October.  Chestnuts were falling on the roof of the riding arena, and the instructor quickly ran over and put foam rubber earplugs in Virginia’s ears to muffle the noise.  She did not seem to appreciate this at all.  Besides this, there were about 6 horses in the not-so-large riding arena.  Each of the six horses varied in age, size, and riding level, and the same for the students, and apparently the instructors as well.  So there was a slight bit of chaos in the ring, and this is neither beneficial to the students nor to the horses.

Signs of Stress

So I was riding, or attempting to ride around the ring while a group of instructors were huddled in the center of the arena, each one shouting out some sort of direction to the students.  My mare was already starting to show signs of stress.  It was like being trained to ride on the Long Island Expressway.  It was constant stopping and starting and turning and avoiding other horses, and more. To add to all this madness, one of the instructors decided to pick up some horse manure at one of the corners of the riding arena – with a pitchfork.  This happened right after Virginia and I rounded that corner.  Virginia was so flipped out by the proximity of the pitchfork to her rear-end that she jumped up with all 4 legs.  I flew up off the horse like a cartoon character, as Virginia bolted into the far corner.  She was petrified and I was lying on the ground dazed and confused as to what just took place.

Following that incident, I requested that I be given another horse to ride.  While I loved Virginia, it seemed that maybe this horse was one step past retirement, and I didn’t want to learn how to canter on a 1,600 lb. animal under such unpredictable and dangerous conditions.

A Different Sort of Lesson

When I arrived the next time at the facility for my lesson, the receptionist told me I would be riding Virginia.  It did not matter how much I begged and pleaded for another horse.  They were understaffed with not enough horses, and I suspect nobody wanted to ride poor Virginia.

Fortunately I had just completed a week long Quantum-Touch class.  I did not care if I learned how to canter that day.  I just wanted to stay on Virginia’s back for the hour lesson.  I had to first establish a peaceful frequency in myself.  I received the first “jolt” which was the fact that after that fall I took and my request for a different horse, they still put me on Virginia.  Horses themselves are natural healers.  In fact there are horse therapy clinics where children with disabilities, to war veterans with PTS Syndrome, to prisoners benefit from the energy a horse emits.  A horse can feel a man’s heart beat from more than 4 feet away.  So now the shoe was on the other foot.  Now I had to calm the horse down, and this had to start from the ground even before I mounted the mare.

I noticed I had 15 minutes before the lesson started.  It wasn’t a lot of time, but it was enough to go into the bathroom and start my fire breathing, which is a technique used to amplify the intake of breath or “life force energy.”  I got myself to a point of calmness where I felt I was ready to approach Virginia.  She was still in her stable.  I walked up to her imposing massive body and just stood across from her and expanded my heart field so that it intermingled with her enormous heart field to establish a connection.  The trainer helped me to bridle her and I gently walked Virginia into the arena. The entire time I made sure to never lose the heart-to-heart connection I established with the horse in the stable.  Either way, this horse needed love sent to her, so it was a win-win situation.

Dancing with Virginia

I mounted her and we began walking around the ring, which was less crowded this time. We circled the arena at a trot two times, nice and easy.  This time my entire focus was not on the instructor, but rather on keeping my breathing steady, and on each in breath I was imagining peace, love, and gratitude for the ride itself.  On the out-breath I sent pure light and love to the horse. I felt her receiving the energy.  She felt lighter, more relaxed, and actually seemed to be enjoying the ride.  It seemed more like a dance.  I did not need validation from the instructor, but it came anyway.  I was smiling to myself because I knew the Quantum-Touch was working.  The trainer looked at me and said, “I have never seen that horse so relaxed, and I’ve been working here for many years.”

I feigned disbelief.  “Really?

That’s so strange!”  The instructor exclaimed, “Wow.  It’s like she’s falling asleep as you ride her.”

A Year Later...

A year later, I started to take lessons in France with professional instructors and happy horses that were kept in optimal conditions.  It was here that I learned that a successful horseback ride does indeed require a solid partnership between rider and animal - where each part of the duo feels and acts on the subtle signals and nuances of the energy exchange.  So, what I learned from Virginia informed every horseback ride I would take thereafter.  You always have to establish that connection with a horse.  But I also feel pretty confident that I can provide a top notch Quantum-Touch energy healing session to a horse.

And to this day I still consider Virginia, the old chestnut mare, to be one of my best Quantum-Touch instructors.

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