My Brush with an Animal Spirit

Most Native American tribes and clans held nature in high esteem. In particular, they treasured their animal "brothers and sisters." Many believed that the spirit of animals helped to guide them through life.

My grandfather loved all animals. In fact, most of my family had a real affinity for them. My great-grandfather on my grandmother's side had an amazing way with animals from snakes to birds to horses.

When I was little, my grandfather made certain that I learned how to ride a horse. He believed that the animal was sacred to his family and that it was the spirit animal of their clan.

Later on, when I was a teenager, I rode regularly with a friend of mine. Her father raised horses and we helped him take care of the animals.

I immediately fell in love with a beautiful gray horse named Freedom. There was something in the animal's eyes that I recognized and it drew me immediately to me.

My girlfriend told me that no one had been able to ride Freedom. Everyone who had tried had been thrown within a matter of seconds. She said that her father's best men had tried to break him but that no one could.

Always up for a challenge, I was determined to ride that horse. After begging Mr. Meritt for days and weeks on end, he figured the only way to keep from bugging him further was to let me try to ride the horse and for Freedom to throw me.

Freedom and I had gotten to know each other over time and he always seemed glad to see me. I groomed him regularly and fed him whenever I was at the ranch at his mealtime. I knew that he trusted me to a certain degree.

Still, the day that I decided to try and ride him, I worried that I had bitten off more than I could chew. I walked him around for a while and offered him a sugar treat before I began. Taking Mr. Meritt's advice, I decided not to try to saddle him, opting instead to ride him bareback.

I talked with Freedom for quite a while before I attempted to mount him. He seemed to understand what I was trying to say and even shook his head in agreement.

As everyone at the ranch watched, I mounted Freedom carefully, still talking to him in a gentle tone. He didn't move a muscle; almost as though he was in agreement with my actions.

I cringed slightly as I waited for him to try to loosen the invader who had dared to mount him. But he did not. He remained calm and still until I clicked to him and pulled the reins, signaling which way I wanted him to go.

Without hesitation, he accepted the direction and began prancing slowly but deliberately around the ring. After circling a couple of times, I decided to try a faster trot. Once again, he responded without pause.

I could see the confused looks on the faces of the ranch hands as they sat on the fence watching me ride. I knew some of them were angry that some upstart girl had managed to do what none of them had been able to accomplish.

When I finally dismounted and began walking Freedom to the barn, Mr. Meritt stopped me. He wanted to try to ride the horse as well, figuring that I had somehow managed to break him.

However, the minute that he mounted Freedom, the horse began to snort and buck, unloading his cargo in a matter of seconds. Everyone stared in disbelief. No one could understand what had happened.

Freedom remained at the Meritt ranch for a short time after that. No one, outside of me, was ever able to ride him. And no one, including me, understood why.

My grandfather believed that Freedom was my spirit animal; that the thing that I recognized his eyes was our natural connection. I accepted that explanation because it offered an answer to an otherwise unexplainable situation.

It wasn't until I started exploring my great-grandmother's papers that I began to truly understand how special the bond between Freedom and I might actually have been. I discovered that my great great grandfather, a full-blooded Cherokee born and raised in Virginia, rode a gray dapple. The horse's name was Freedom.

He was named after the one thing that my great grandmother's father wanted most in the world; freedom for his people from the white man's tyranny.

To learn more about Native American myths about spirit animals, please look for "The Gift of Animals Spirits" posted on Mary's author page at

http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/116091/artme.html.