Is it just me -or is a big part of the work-a-day horse world seized up in a flop sweat about money? Stress and worry seem to hang in the air. Horse sales are down. Hay production is down. Show attendance is low. Lots of good horses are looking for homes, while rescues are full and adoption is down.  I am not saying there aren’t good reasons to seize up about the economy, but is that who we want to be? Burdened by our passion? Horse Poor?

Maybe you need to be rescued!

I have visited two equine non-profits in the last month. They are each a stand of commitment against a wall of reality. I mean that in a really good way.

Urban Farm in Denver is bringing growing and whoa-ing to inner city kids and creating a world of different opportunity for them. Ruby Ranch Horse Rescue on the prairie east of Colorado Springs is home to a group of horses whose lives matter. If you stand at the gate, eventually each of them will come up and say so.

Non-profit organizations live in the same economy that the rest of us do but are also required follow a complicated set of rules that are not easy or simple. Yet they do themselves proud by creatively balancing love and opportunity against the gravity of limitation.

That sounds like the plot of a horse movie: against all odds the horse and his human somehow persevere and in the end our heroes survive/win/love.  It’s a movie most of us never get tired of seeing.

Horses (and horse movies) remind us we are more than the sum of our parts. And much more than our check register reflects. We are Horse Rich.

If you are feeling a restriction in your circumstances, now might be a good time to give something away. Maybe you could open your heart and give a home to a future best friend of another species. Or donate your Starbucks money to something that makes your heart fly more than caffeine. Or give up a few hours to lend a hand and let a not-for-profit group know their value. Let generosity be your answer to limitation.

Don’t just do it for the horses. Do it to remind your self who you are.

 “I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you.” Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Anna, Infinity Farm

(Photo: Pinky pledge with a filly.)