The Horse is Retired

Shobu looks around from the edge of the mountain path as he removes the saddle off his horse. With some weight off its back, the horse twitches approvingly. He commands his horse to move forward, past the edge of the path, into the valley! The horse stands its ground, somewhat confused. It takes a slap on its hind to get it to leap into the steep slope ahead. The horse slips and slides as it moves down raising enormous amounts of dust. Somewhere close, a couple of vultures take flight from a cliff, confusing the dust for some kind of calamity.

The horse reaches the bottom of the mountain, stops itself to look down at where it has landed. Slowly raises its head and looks around. It finds a couple of other wild horses and some cattle looking in its direction. They seemed to be wondering, “what’s the commotion all about?”

Shobu’s horse of 10 years is now retired. Its going to spend the rest of its life grazing the pastures in the valley. Shobu feels good about relieving the horse of its daily drudgery. It was almost like he was experiencing some of the horse’s freedom. He had been good to it but he was not going to miss it. He turns around and heads towards the market.

In this land of rolling hills and rough terrain, horse riders used to chop the tail of the horse when it was time to let them go. A chopped-off tail meant that the horse had served its master well and it is to be allowed to be free. Shobu hadn’t cut his horse’s tail. His horse was still young and he always thought horses without tail felt like humans with a tail.