Something About Horses…
I’m often ask about the two horses depicted on Wind Horses Prayer Flags. In searching for a way to make prayer flags more relevant to western cultures I researched the common threads between east and west. Surprisingly, there are many: art, color, flags, giving, paths of spirit, and the power of wind and horse. Of all the animal kingdom, the horse most helped humans transform the world. Its east-west backstory connection began with the origin of the horse 40 million years ago at what is now the American west. It thrived, migrated eastward to the Asian steppe then disappeared from its homeland.
In Asia, the steppe people domesticated the horse about three thousand years ago. It was a union of spirit between human and animal that shaped human destiny. Genghis Khan shocked the world with the unstoppable power of trained warrior and gallant horse. At the same time in America the horse remained extinct—it would be hundreds of years before a Native American would sit atop a horse. In 1519, Cortes unknowingly returned the horse to its native continent. They re-adapted well and remained central to human advancement up until the advent of the automobile. The awesome influence of the horse on cultures, east and west, have become shadows in the din of today’s modern world. For the nomad of the steppe, the cowboy and Native American of the old west, and all around the world the horse will forever be revered.
It was this background that shaped the design for a new prayer flag that fused the cultures of east and west with the union of two special horses:
After thousands of years Lung ta, Wind Horse of the east, teams with Zephyr, a mustang of the old west. Together, they magnify the power and goodness of prayer flags, one of the oldest and purest forms of reverent giving. Lung ta symbolizes well-being and good fortune and carries sacred three jewels of Buddhism. Zephyr embodies west winds and the untamed spirit of the of the frontier.
Fly the Horses or gift them, and please consider posting your Wind Horses Prayer Flags or mandalas on your own feed with #flyingthehorses and be sure to tag @windhorsescollection
Picture: Wind Horses Collection Sticker