"...With my knees and calves pressed against his warm, solid muscle and my hands connected to his mouth through reins that buzzed like a Ouija board, I sense his thoughts as they occur to him. I'd feel clever for that, except that he anticipates mine before they've even arrived. At the very moment the concept of canter occurs to me, he arches his neck, brings his hindquarters in, and rocks forward in a gait meant fr the dressage ring-- a slow gait, collected and floating, a gait that betrays his Olympic past.


Hurrah transports me, and I give myself over to him. When I ride him I'm a different person--confident, competent, operating at a level somewhere below latent thought and in absolute concert with the magnificent animal beneath me. When I slide from his back, I am recharged and whole. How could I possibly let anyone witness that? It would be like letting someone watch me make love."

An excerpt from Flying Changes, by Sara Gruen.