The Year of the Horse: Movement, Spirit, and the Way We Create

I’ve always believed that certain seasons — and certain energies — arrive right when we need them. Not in a rigid, calendar-driven way, but in a quiet, deeply felt sense. The Year of the Horse is one of those energies that doesn’t tiptoe in. It arrives with movement, momentum, and an invitation to run a little freer.

For me, the Horse has always symbolized spirit, endurance, and an unspoken connection between land and soul. It’s not about rushing or producing more — it’s about forward motion with purpose. And as artists, that distinction matters.

Scottie and Burt - movement, freedom, and spirit in motion

The Energy of the Horse in the Creative Process

The Horse carries a powerful, restless energy — but not chaos. It’s intentional movement. It asks us to trust our instincts, to stop over-planning, and to let our hands lead before our minds catch up.

When this energy shows up in my own work, I notice a shift. I become less precious with the process and more connected to the why. I’m drawn to texture, layers, and movement — stitches that travel, materials that carry history, surfaces that feel worn, weathered, and alive.

This is the kind of energy that gently (and sometimes firmly) says:

• Try the thing you’ve been hesitating to try

• Let the work evolve instead of controlling it

• Follow what’s calling you, even if you can’t fully explain it yet

The Horse doesn’t ask for perfection. It asks for honesty.

Story, Journey, and the Work Beneath the Surface

Horses have always been companions on journeys — physical, spiritual, and ancestral. That symbolism naturally finds its way into art when we allow our work to be more than decorative and instead let it speak.

During times when Horse energy feels strong, my work becomes more narrative — not in a literal sense, but in an emotional one. Layers begin to reference time. Stitching becomes a path. Materials carry memory. The piece holds the story of how it came to be, not just what it looks like when finished.

This is where art shifts from product to process — where the journey of making becomes just as important as the final result..

The Quiet Power Horses Hold Over Us

If you’ve ever loved a horse — truly known one — you understand this without needing words. Horses don’t simply respond to us; they read us. They feel what we carry before we ever speak.

Having lived alongside horses and running a horse rescue, I learned quickly that you cannot show up distracted, guarded, or disconnected and expect a horse to meet you halfway. They mirror your energy, your emotions, your truth. They ask you to be present — fully, quietly, and without pretense.

There is something profoundly grounding about standing next to an animal that powerful and watching it soften simply because you’ve softened first. Horses teach us how to listen with our whole bodies. How to breathe again. How to feel steady in the middle of uncertainty.

That connection — the unspoken exchange between human and horse — lives in the same place creativity does.

Me and Scottie - My heart horse - These photos were taken just before I said goodbye — a final moment of presence, gratitude, and love.

What Horses Teach Us About Creating From the Soul

Horses have a way of stripping things down to what’s real. When you’re with them, there’s no room for ego or overthinking — only awareness, patience, and trust. Those lessons translate beautifully into the studio.

I often feel that same quiet dialogue when I’m creating. The work responds to how I show up. If I rush, it resists. If I try to force an outcome, it stiffens. But when I slow down, stay curious, and allow the process to unfold, something honest emerges.

This is the Horse’s true power — not speed or strength, but presence.

As artists, we’re often taught to push harder, produce more, perfect every detail. Horses remind us that real power comes from alignment — when intention, emotion, and action move together.

A Personal Truth

There are moments in life when a being comes along who becomes your steadiness, your purpose, your reason to keep moving forward. Scottie was that for me. He grounded me, taught me presence, and reminded me what unconditional trust looks like. The love we shared shaped not only who I am, but how I create — with honesty, patience, and heart.

Carrying the Spirit Forward

The Year of the Horse invites us to create from that place of connection. To trust our instincts. To honor the emotional undercurrent beneath our work, even when it can’t be fully explained.

Whether you work with fiber, paint, clay, words, or movement, the invitation remains the same:

• Be present

• Be honest

• Let the work meet you where you are

  
  

Because when we create from the soul — the way horses live every moment — the work carries a resonance people can feel.

Sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do as artists is loosen the reins, listen more closely, and allow ourselves to move forward with trust.

And like the Horse, when we do, we remember who we are.

Scottie saved my life as much as I rescued him. Some bonds change us forever.