Angela Nuñez calls herself the Horse Yoga Girl. One day, when she was 8 years old, she spent hours riding her pony named Trixie. Nuñez returned to the stable in joyful excitement. But she was about to learn a hard lesson:
One day Trixie and I returned to the barn and my mom noticed with horror that Trixie was huffing and puffing and lathered in sweat. My mom pulled me aside and explained to me in a stern voice that I couldn’t just go out and run Trixie as much as I wanted to. She said to me, “Horses aren’t machines. They have feelings. You have to be considerate of them. You should never cause them suffering.”
Nuñez never forgot that moment. She resolved to always treat horses with kindness and never inflict pain on them. But, she says, pain is inevitable:
Pain is part of life. Pain enables us to heal and grow. My journey of healing began with horses and continues with my yoga practice, both on the mat and with Snowy. I began practicing yoga on horseback out of curiosity. My passion for yoga and horses fueled a quiet, but nagging thought in my mind—what would happen if I combined the two?
So she did. Now Nuñez peforms yoga with Snowy, her horse. She always makes sure that Snowy is safe during the experience.
-via My Modern Met