Paradise is Not Found.

Paradise is not found. It is created.

I am constantly searching for Paradise. The perfect trail. The perfect horse. The perfect (yes, even this..) committee member.

I'd better stop searching and start doing. How to create paradise? It's in our own hands. Where do we start?

We all know about the perfect horse. He is not born. He is created when someone takes time, attention and lots of patience to constantly and consistently ride and teach him what they want and how to respond to aids, and listen to the rider's body language, weight shifts, verbal commands...

And that is why I have not found the perfect horse. The perfect horse is in me. (struggling to get out). Nothing for me to do but invest the time. Stop searching. Start working. (Gosh, that's a hard thing to admit.)

Maybe that's also the reason horses are becoming less attractive to Americans as a hobby. They are not "fast". We want fast food (waiting more than 2 minutes in a McDonald's line??? Oh, pul-ease, you call this fast food?..!), we want ready made meals (pop in the microwave and in 5 minutes..), we want clothes to fit off the rack (small, medium, large, (XL and XXL and XXXL), petite, long, short, wide calf, wide foot...)... We want to order off the internet and have it appear at our doorstep in three days (or preferably less). We don't want to go to the bank for paper money, we want to use a code anywhere we go that represents money.

We don't have time to create our paradise. We want paradise delivered on a platter, cellophane wrapped, available at CVS and Walmart 24/7. MBA degrees in 8 weeks.

Horses haven't figured out this demographic yet. They are stuck in pre-history... "Teach me - over and over - and I will learn. I'd rather run free, but if you feed me repeatedly, I'll come back. I'd rather go left when you want to go right, but if that bit pulls on my mouth enough times (or weight shifts right, so I feel so unbalanced)..I'll go right. Well, OK--- I got the point!"

And voila! After enough of this repetitive human behavior, we have the perfect horse.

AH HA! So there's the real problem. Horses don't understand the new way of human life.

Perhaps we need a new class for them. "Marketing to the New Demographic".If horses want their version of paradise to stick around, they need to change their marketing techniques.

They need to be on Aisle 6 at Walmart. They need to have auto saddlers built in, activated by an electronic code. They need radio frequency GPS-based steering systems (with that nice Mr. Ed voice telling the rider where he's going). They need to plug in at night to recharge (enough of this hay and grain mess). They need a built-in flat screen with USB ports. Their neighs need to be downloadable in forty different choices of sound.

Nah. Forget the class. That wouldn't be any fun at all. I say we stick with pre-history, our one escape from the fast life.