Equine Leadership
WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING AT ALL By: Jonathan Varkul, Canada
When I walk around the tall buildings of downtown Toronto, I can’t help but marvel at the ingenuity of us humans. I look around and see throngs of people all busily going about their business, contributing something to the complexity and the grandeur of it all. There is a palpable hum in the air. I can feel all the people working towards accomplishing all kinds of smart and ingenious things, as part of something much bigger than their individual selves. When I stand in a large paddock on a farm outside the city, I can’t help but marvel at the ingenuity of nature. I look around and see all manner of life engaging, going about its business, contributing something to the complexity and the grandeur of it all. There’s a palpable feeling of living in the air, and I can feel all manner of life working towards accomplishing something smart and ingenious, as a part of a greater whole. If we include our pre-historic ancestors, humans have been around on earth for approximately 6 million years. The modern form of humans that February 2021
occupy and build our cities has only been around for 200,000 years and human civilization as we know it has only been around for 6,000 years. The Horses on the farm, however, have been around for 50 million years. Our relatively shorter evolutionary journey has led us into a verbal world that has produced poetry, smartphones and modern medicine. Our words, although powerful, can complicate things. We can say one thing while thinking and feeling something entirely differently. We can hide behind our words and pretend that Page | - 39 -
