“To me it was the epitome of my herd of healing horses coming to earth to heal mankind.”
Many people have asked about the artwork on our Unbridled Spirit website’s homepage and now our brochure. This beautiful painting has come from Anita Rodriguez of Taos, New Mexico. In 2018 my dear friend Sue Swank and I were on a retreat with Joan Borysenko in Taos. When we visited the artist’s lovely adobe home and studio Anita introduced us to her beautiful art. Piece after piece she presented in great detail, telling the origin of the piece, the selection of colors, etc. and shared the very profound social commentary statements that each made about domestic violence, protection of the people from the pipeline and on. All of her art was alive with the colors of the art of Mexico, vivid greens, oranges, yellows, reds and blues. When she finished her forty-minute presentation I raised my hand and asked about the only piece she had not mentioned, it was sitting over on the cold wood stove and I had been distracted by it the entire time while gazing at it.
She had not spoken about this beautiful piece done in purples and teals of the horses. She explained that twice in her life, seventy some years, she had painted something that she knew not why she painted it. But the person had come who had the story. I was momentarily speechless. I had been sitting there studying this painting, hardly listening to her presentation, repeatedly counting the fourteen horses dancing through the clouds heading towards earth.
To me it was the epitome of my herd of healing horses coming to earth to heal mankind. The horse closest to the mesa had a white star on her forehead just like my lead mare and my great teacher Sucia who had actually come from the mesas of New Mexico. I had bought her in 1997 when we were living on the Navajo Reservation.
I was a bit overcome with emotion when I quietly shared that I have a story. I told her of my healing herd of fourteen horses back home in Washington and that the lead mare had actually come from New Mexico. I had the story for her painting. Over the next few months I figured out how to purchase this incredible piece and soon it was hanging in my bedroom. This painting holds all of my favorite colors and represents the blessings of Creator, gifting us humans these amazing companions to walk with us on our healing journeys.
Written by Sonja Wingard