Horses Speak of God: How Horses Can Teach Us to Listen and Be Transformed

by Laurie M. Brock

This is what happens when a writer, preacher, and lover of words encounters some of creation’s wisest theologians…horses. First, she argues with them. They are, after all, horses. What could they possibly know about life and God that theologians haven’t already written? But slowly she engages their language and listens to their holy wisdom, attending to how they express their being, their actions, and their relationships. She allows horses to draw her out of the faith of intellect and into a deeper faith of emotion, body, and soul. With edgy honesty and humor, Brock invites all who have longed for a deeper spiritual encounter with God to join her in the saddle (and occasionally on the ground) to discover how horses speak of God and how their ways of knowing help us to discover ways of God speaking to us.

Genres: Nonfiction, Horses, Spirituality, Religion

144 pages, Paperback

Published April 24, 2018

About the author

Writer, priest, horse-lover, Southern woman. Fan of faith, humor, grace, and good wine.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a horse girl and always have been. Since I rediscovered this about myself about a decade ago, I’ve longed for something that linked my faith and my equine affinities.

Imagine my delight, then, to see that Laurie Brock had written something that seemed to meet me in my barn, knee deep in hay.

“I have a love affair with horses and their way of communicating,” Brock writes in the very first sentence of the introduction.

I knew I was in the right place.

This collection of 17 essays explores Brock’s struggles in faith and life through the lens of her relationship and interaction with horses. 

That may sound weird…unless you’ve ever had a favorite animal in your life. Might I suggest that you dog lovers out there might find yourself nodding? That those of you with a cherished cat may smile and enjoy this?

But it’s not just that. Brock is something of a poetic writer: Her prose paints an image and all but brings the smell of leather into your living room. She bares herself, makes herself vulnerable, and represents the very best (and sometimes the not-so-great) about horsemanship.

In fact, what Brock unpacks and shares is true for all of us. And it’s a lovely journey. Highly recommended…whether you’re in love with horses or just looking for an excellent book to enjoy.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am occasionally asked to review books by peers. I enjoy reading and reviewing books by my colleagues, but for some reason, when it came to the request to read and review “Horses Speak of God” by Laurie Brock, I was at first reluctant. I’m not sure why. I think the topic had me uncomfortable. I am not a horse person. Then, there is Laurie. She’s an Alabama fan, I’m a Clemson fan. She likes sweet tea, I like mine unsweet. She’s a Distinguished Celebrity Blogger (DCB) with Lent Madness, and I’m just a celebrity blogger (cb) :D. She’s an incredibly well educated theologian, and I’m just a lay person muddling through my experience with God and life. And did I mention I am not a horse person? To say I felt out of my comfort zone is putting it mildly.

But much like the message in “Horses Speak of God,” you’ll see from all the tagged pages in this photo that I got far more out of the experience of settling in to my saddle and enjoying this collection of essays than I thought. Laurie’s tone and cadence reminds me of the style of Anne Morrow Lindburgh and her book “Gifts from the Sea.” Her tenor comforts and calms. I felt she was whispering knowledge and feelings and experience as she whispers in her horse’s ear. Laurie’s writing reminds me that we have far more in common in the human experience than we have different.

Laurie may find her connection to God on her horse’s back, but it is no different that my desire to connect to God through my walk or run. There is a restless energy involved in physical activity where God some how shows up and soothes and teaches. What Laurie has found and communicates in her book, is what I find in pounding the pavement. There are lessons to be learned about God through the body.

Each essay touches on critical steps in spiritual development. Her raw honesty in the section on praying for your enemies struck a cord with me. Not too long ago I started trying to pray for those that I really didn’t like in life. It was refreshing to hear that a priest can feel the same. More importantly, Laurie reflects on how God is working on us in this discipline of prayer.

Another chapter reflects on the presence of God. Quite honestly, I’ve always thought that being a Christian was difficult. It’s antithetic (in a way) to who we are as humans. We are inherently selfish people and God calls us to something more. The push-pull between what we want and what God wants for us often creates conflict in our lives. Laurie reflects, “A truth of faith is that God is an uncomfortable presence. Being in a relationship with God and others dislodges from our comfortable places, expanding our balance, teaching us newness…..God dislodges…Life gets unsettled and uncomfortable…there is wailing and blaming…God listens…People figure out God is in the this.” I may have shouted a verbal “yes” with a fist pump in the air as I read. I wanted to reach out with a high five over the distance and say, “Yes, God makes me uncomfortable. Yes, God is in this. Yes, I whine and wail.” God is calling us out of our comfortable understanding into something so much more. It isn’t supposed to be easy.

Another chapter that struck a cord with me is when Laurie discussed being a leader of a church and looking out at her congregation following the death of a long term parishioner. I had never thought of the many, many, many souls that a minister physically sees missing from the pews following death. It is a rare vantage point that she has shared with her reader and is a glimpse of the depth of loss clergy experience by ministering to many and not just a few.

Finally, Laurie calls us to reflect on our Christian disciplines through things we do every day. She may do this on the back of a horse, but the lessons are for all. Laurie may sit on her porch with her sweet tea, and I may be there with my unsweet tea, but the important thing is that we would be there together, sharing in the experience of God and how God continues to weave through the human experience in way that are both common and uncommon. Through this shared experience we are participating in God’s larger idea of church. As Laurie states, “Our relationship with God, and by extension, our community of other people, is one of moment.”

Come, be with Laurie and God in a moment and pick up a copy of “Horses Speak of God.”

[Welles Bristol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laurie’s prose has a special style that is comforting and confident - and should be read more than once to catch the hidden wisdom. I would read a chapter in the morning sun outside my apt whenever I had that opportunity (unfortunately not too often!). So it took me more than a year to finish.

Her connection with horses is also something I wish I had more opportunity to experience. The 3 horses I have been close to over the years definitely showed me that there was something deep to be experienced when time was invested with them. Thank you, Laurie, for sharing your deep experiences.

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Sit deeply.” After being thrown by her horse, Laurie Brock received that counsel from her riding instructor. “Sit deeply and ride.”

I’m not a horse person. They are beautiful; that’s a fact. I rode on a friend’s farm as a child, but I later had a scare at a riding lesson and never rode again. All this is to say I picked up Laurie’s book not even knowing how limited my knowledge of riding is. I appreciated the way she described the specifics of gaits and gear, as well as the temperaments of horses broadly and the horses she rides in particular.

Brock’s book centers the reader in the necessity of balance and breath, routine and repetition, in our physical existence and our spiritual lives as well. Her relationships with the horses she rides, grooms, and loves speak to our relationship with both the embodied and the transcendent. In the world of riding, some actions feel intuitive, while others require us to do what seems strange. We cannot grow without persistent practice, whether as riders or people of faith. It is not enough to approach our incarnate God with our intellect. Will we show up to meet God the way Brock settles on her horse, ready to move together, to be as one?

I received an advance manuscript of Laurie’s book and wrote an endorsement, as well as this review.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my earliest memories involves a horse. I would have been 2. My family lived on an acreage underneath the big sky of central Alberta. We had two horses, a mare, and her yearling colt. Cinnabar. One afternoon I was in the sandbox behind our house and decided to go down the hill and visit with the horses. They watched me disinterestedly from behind their barbwire fence, glancing sideways at me, munching the pasture grass. I crawled under the fence to get closer to them. The yearling turned and ran and kicked me in the face. His rear hoofs scraped across my cheeks, just below my temples. Had I been one step closer, or the horse a little older, I may not be here today.  My mom tells me that I ran up the hill with more rage than pain screaming, "Cinnabar kicked me!"

 My family moved to the city and we didn't have horses after that, but I would ride them, some, at the nearby dude ranch, or on my grandparent's farm in the summertime if they happened to be watching their neighbors' horses.  I love horses. They are majestic creatures, and I've since learned to not climb under fences and walk behind them, to respect their size and give them a wide berth.

Laurie Brock, an Episcopal priest and crisis chaplain, has a better relationship to horses than I ever had. In Horses Speak of God: How Horses Can Teach Us to Listen and Be Transformed, she shares the things she has learned from the horses she rides: balance, steadfastness, vocation, trust, routine, love. Brock writes, "I began to ride as a hobby. I did not expect to learn a language that spoke of God" (9).

Throughout these seventeen mediations, Brock weaves together stories of riding lessons, the horses she's ridden, ministry, the church calendar, Scripture and the liturgy.  She is the student and she honors horses as her teacher. She learns from them. Sometimes the horses teach her about losing control, about having courage, and empathy:

As I reflected on the moment when I'd walked away from my dirty dishes and into the midst of tragedy in the aftermath of a death, I knew they were the same emoitions similar experineces. I could be in the presence of  grief and its wildness because I rode Izzy. And suddenly, I realized that the rearranging that hapened inside of my soul had to do with the words that horses had opened to me. (5).

Sometimes a particular horse would reveal something for Brock about facing fear, or discovering vocation. Sometimes the process of learning to ride illuminates an aspect of her own faith journey. For example, 'collecting' a horse—raising the horse's head while keeping it's weight slightly on its hind legs so that its movements are focused and directed—becomes a metaphor for own soul, as she finds for her soul the balance between control, energy, and direction in the Collect of the Eucharistic liturgy. (67-71).

Brock is both priest and chaplain but this is not a book about discovering God in the church. It is a book about wrestling with God and learning faith while learning to ride, It is about experiencing the grace of God in the face of a horse, and seeing the face of God in the grace of a horse. This is poetic prose. I highly recommend this book, especially for animal lovers and for those who connect with God outside of the church. Brock does a great job of translating the wisdom of the Christian experience into the language of horse and rider. The lessons she learned from horses are kinder and more generative than getting kicked in the face by a horse. God's grandeur and grace. The divine and the equine. I give this five stars. - ★★★★★

I received a copy of this book from Paraclete Press in exchange for my honest review
 

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Laurie Brock has authored an exceptional compilation of what are essentially short stories to be devoured in one sitting or spaced out as needed with ample room for contemplation. I read every chapter with absolute delight, identifying strongly with most of her views, musings, and deep emotional experiences all thanks to horses and the way the Lord our God speaks to us through them.

Kevin Weatherby is quoted as saying "I smile when I catch God watching me through the eyes of a horse." I, and I have no doubt Ms. Brock, can't help but nod in absolute agreement.

Fantastic read with ample use of imagery to draw my mind in and hold it, tightly, with every page turn. I can't wait to read further books from this author on a subject as moving, and as true-to-my-life, as this.

[Amy Breeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven’t ridden a horse in over 20 years, but I can envision the lessons I had on Night Watch when I was a student in college while I was reading this book. How you communicate with the horse, asking him to canter or trot, holding the reins, and the inevitable bucking you off were some lessons I was contemplating when Brock was giving her spiritual lessons. You don’t have to be a rider to understand the in-depth meaning of how God can speak through others, and how many need to face some uncomfortable falls and changes for us to grow. Brock’s book is good for the rider and no-rider alike.

[Round Mountain Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't wait to read this one myself. It is now available for checkout at the Library.

[M Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alas, my equine knowledge is thin enough that this probably fine book did not speak to me. I'll pass it on to someone who can appreciate it.

[Inisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

While there are a few things I don't see eye to eye with Laurie, I think her book overall was good. A great way to see God through his beautiful creation!

[Callee · Rating 5 out of 5]

100% would read again and would love to read it as part of a book club or even a small group. Full of wisdom and humor - loved every page!

[Nancy Noble · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I am not a horse person I really found this to be a wonderfully written book, with interesting parallels between horses and the Christian life.

[John J Kochiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not done, but how beautiful to consider our relationships with ourselves, our families, our neighbors and God through the mechanics, movement and synchronicity of collaborating with these majestic animals. One need not be of pius persuasion to glean nuggets of insight and perspective in this enlightened read.