enlightened horsemanship through touch

No, I am not referring to our beloved Jane of The Literary Horse. This is an exhibit touring public and school libraries pairing photos of today’s horses and riders with quotations from the world’s great books.

Award-winning artist, educator, and photographer Vanessa Wright is passionate about the power, meaning, and beauty of the human-horse connection and the inner awareness and growth that working with (and loving) horses can bring out in us. She says,

The word photography comes from Greek words meaning ‘writing with light.’ So I see myself not as a photographer, but as a storyteller, writing with light about the light that I see in others. I strive to capture and celebrate … the capacity for unnoticed or uncelebrated but absolutely real greatness in every person and every horse.

The exhibit features real horses, real people, real life, and real legend. And it is stunning.

From Achilles receiving his immortal chargers to Don Quixote’s farewell to Rocinante, literature is full of memorable stories and poetry about heroic horses and horse-people. This exhibit, touring public and school libraries, brings those legends to life by pairing up to 100 photos of today’s novice through Olympic horses and horse-people with quotations from the world’s great books.

The real elegance of this project lies in Wright’s ability to draw parallels between the epic past and the mundane present, showing that they are not so far apart.

Though legends may sometimes seem like nothing more than imaginary tales from long ago, they are happening again here. And though their horses may seem impossibly good and brave and splendid, they are living again now. Look closely, and you will see the great heart in both the horse show champion and the shaggy pony in your neighborhood. Look more closely still, and you will see the timeless hero in your neighbor, in your family member, in your friend, and, ultimately, in yourself.

Wright’s present is represented by folks who are anything but mundane: Clicker Training expert Alexandra Kurland and a unicorn; Kara Barnes and the Chestnut Hill Arabians; Darren Chiacchia and Windfall as Helios and his golden horse; (five-time sidesaddle champion) Rhonda Watts Hettinger and Christian Hettinger (creator of the internations fox-hunting emblem) portraying the love story from Rob Roy; and the University of New Hampshire Therapeutic Riding Program.

Here are just a few of the legends that appear in the program:

Silver Blaze, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Song of Finis, Walter de la Mare
The Spectral Horseman, To the Moon (poems), Percy Bysshe Shelley
Strife and Peace, Fredrika Bremer
The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains, Owen Wister
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
The Mabinogion, trans. Lady Charlotte Schreiber
Phaedra, Jean Baptiste Racine

The schedule of exhibitions has not been updated since February, which is a shame. I also doubt that it will arrive in Hawaii, where inspiration to read in any form is badly needed. Check it out, though. It may come to a library near you, in which case, make a beeline. And then let me know what you thought.