There are four inches of snow on the ground, and still the flakes fall. It started last night, and hasn’t stopped; we’re supposed to have a moderate-to-high chance of snow for the next week-plus. For now, the animals are sleeping in, enjoying a slow and lazy pace beneath a lowering sky.
That will change.
The horses, in particular, love this weather — cold enough to sustain the snow, but not dangerously so, the flakes steady but widely variable in size, strength, and intensity. When let out, they take off: running, leaping, bucking, pitching, twisting and turning and rolling a complex, far-ranging equine dance that covers acres in seconds. It’s highly individual, yet choreographed with a clear collective muse, a whirlwind celebration of unfettered, unfenced freedom shared, of pure immanent joy in self and herd alike.
Our animal spirits this weekend have embodied the elemental dichotomy that marks this season: earth and water, manifest in the shapes and shades of soil and snow. The spirit being I had chosen for today’s post, this incarnation of Horse, exists on the former end of that elemental spectrum, assuming tangible form in Pilar slate, a member of the family of sedimentary rock, cousin to the siltstone that comprises the inclusions in the bodies of Buffalo and Bear, our visitors of the last two days.
And this one is particularly striking example of the stone. Most of the Pilar slate indigenous to this area is charcoal gray, with brick-red inclusions and tiny metallic glints of light. We’ve explored the many facets of its character here several times already. As it manifests in this iteration of Horse, though, it takes on a wholly different look and feel: This piece is brown, the coffee-colored shade of the silt found in spiderweb alabaster — and of Shade herself, our bay horse. From this piece’s description in the Other Artists: Sculpture gallery here on the site:
This wild mustang by Randy Roughface (Ponca) evinces power, strength, and character. Coaxed from velvety Pilar slate in a rich and rare chocolate-brown shade, he appears to smile as, mane and tail flying behind him in the wind, he gathers himself to rear up on his hind legs. When placed on an entirely flat surface, he’s perfectly balanced, his forefeet a fraction of an inch in the air. Horse is 5-7/8″ long by 3-9/16″ high by 1/2″ deep at the widest part of the base (dimensions approximate). Another view shown below.
Pilar slate
$155 + shipping, handling, and insurance
If you look closely, you’ll see that his forehooves do indeed hover in the air above the ground on which his hind feet are firmly planted. And, yes, he does balance gracefully, thanks to Randy’s carving skills.
Like Shade herself, this little mustang embodies the very spirit of equine independence, of grace and power and joy, captured in this performance of Horse’s winter dance.
~ Aji
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