About 17 years ago, one of my riding students gave me a book:

“Zen or the Art of Riding a Horse” by Fabian Wolf.

I read a few pages, liked the concept, but… I just couldn’t connect with it. Meditation, mindfulness, Zen—at the time these were abstract ideas to me.

Many years later, I found my own path to meditation and mindfulness, became a coach and also learned to teach meditation and mindfulness strategies. But I didn’t see myself as skilled in Zen. A key turning point came through a friend who has been practicing Zen for over 20 years. Only a few weeks ago he said:

“You’ve been practicing Zen all along—you just haven’t called it that.”

That simple sentence made me curious again.

Psychiatrist and Zen teacher Dr. Robert Waldinger (Harvard Medical School) describes Zen through six core components. Interestingly, they align beautifully with the art of horse riding.

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1. Connection and Community

We learn about ourselves through relationships—with people and with horses. Every interaction is a mirror that reflects something back to us.

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2. Impermanence

Everything changes. Nothing is fixed. That can feel unsettling, but it can also be freeing. When we truly see that nothing is permanent, we release many of the stories we tell ourselves—about who we are or how things should be. This makes us more compassionate with others and with our horse. Because the horse sees us as we are in the present moment. 

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3. The Four Noble Truths in Everyday Life

Buddhism begins with the insight: life contains suffering—or at least dissatisfaction. Zen doesn’t try to erase that. Instead, it teaches us to stay present with life’s discomfort without adding extra suffering on top.

Back pain, a cold, a challenging ride—these may be unpleasant, but often the real suffering comes from our thoughts about them: “It’s unfair… this shouldn’t be happening…”

It took me decades to realise how much suffering horses could carry and also how quickly they were able to release it which occasionally could mean, to let go of the rider on their backs. 

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4. Mindfulness: The Art of Being Present

Mindfulness means being fully in the present moment without judgment.

You can practice it right now—by noticing your breath, a sound around you, or the feel of your horse beneath you.

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5. Letting Go of Expectations

We all have preferences and expectations. But insisting that the world (or our horse) conform to them leads to frustration. Letting go doesn’t mean not caring—it means staying flexible.

Maybe your horse moves differently than you hoped today. Maybe that’s okay.

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6. Compassion, Loving-Kindness, and Compassionate Inquiry

Zen trains us to feel into our own pain—and in doing so, we naturally become more empathetic toward others.

If your horse reacts with irritability, you might ask: “Is it having a hard day? Was the last training session too much?”

A powerful practice for deepening compassion is Loving-Kindness Meditation.

You silently offer phrases of goodwill to others—and to yourself:

“May you be happy. May you be at peace.”

You can direct this toward your horse, a friend, yourself—or even someone you’re in conflict with. Over time, this changes how you feel toward them. The “worst enemy” may lose their negative hold on you. This openness can grow into a deep sense of being one with everything that is.

Compassion in Action: From Loving-Kindness to Compassionate Inquiry

While Loving-Kindness Meditation opens the heart, Compassionate Inquiry—a therapeutic approach developed by Dr. Gabor Maté—adds another layer: understanding why we react the way we do, identifying limiting beliefs and freeing ourselves from them.

In riding, just like in life, we often respond automatically: frustration when the horse resists, fear when something feels unsafe, disappointment when progress slows.

Compassionate Inquiry invites us to slow down and gently ask:

• What am I feeling right now—in my body?

• When have I felt this way before?

• What story am I telling myself about this moment?

Very often, we find that our current reaction is linked to something much older—an early experience, a long-standing belief (“I’m not good enough,” “I have to be in control”).

By meeting these hidden patterns with compassion instead of judgment, we begin to soften them. And here’s the beautiful part: this inner shift changes how we show up with our horse.

We move from reacting to responding, from control to connection.

When Loving-Kindness opens the door and Compassionate Inquiry helps us walk through it, the result can be a profound sense of being one with our horse, and with everything that is—not just in the good moments, but even when challenges arise.

Peter Crone takes a similar approach, helping top athletes to reach their highest potential. 

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.”

— Shunryu Suzuki

The beginner’s mind is curious, open, free from judgment. In the horse world, I see quick judgments all the time. But if we say, “I don’t know everything—let me look more closely,” new possibilities appear.

A simple exercise (from Professor Ellen Langer):

Notice three new things about your horse that you hadn’t seen before. Doing this regularly keeps your perception fresh and your mind open.

Zen teaches nonduality: the feeling of being one—with yourself, with your horse, with the moment. It teaches compassion and wisdom. And also the ability to feel into ourselves and to be mindful of every part of our body—every muscle and joint. The more we can do this, the more we can do it while riding.

Then, we can also sense possible movement restrictions of the horse beneath the saddle. When we do this with a beginner’s mind and remain curious, it becomes easier and easier to deal with these limitations.

If you notice your horse can’t move exactly as you wish, that is the wonder—the path that unfolds when openness and sensitivity are present.

The path of nonduality. Of oneness.

Where only you and your horse exist.

Where external stimuli fade away, and only faintly the voice of the riding instructor reaches you.

And suddenly you know: your horse is your Zen master. It is simply there, with you in the present moment. It carries you without judging your riding skills, without evaluating you, or making fun of you with its friends in the pasture.

It allows you to have your experiences and to be present with it. To feel—in the here and now.

That is Zen on horseback:

Not how perfect the ride is that matters,

but how fully present you are.

Zen is not a goal; it is a path—a path that emerges as you walk it together.

Horses offer us a daily invitation to practice Zen—no meditation cushion, no temple, no lofty words required. Just the willingness to feel, to let go, to stay curious, and to ride in the here and now.

Ready to experience true harmony with your horse?

Discover how to ride with presence, compassion, and openness—letting go of judgment and tuning deeply into the moment.

Join The Enlightened Rider coaching program and learn to connect with your horse on a profound, mindful level. Together, we’ll explore the path of nonduality, sensitivity, and riding as a moving meditation.

Step into your role as a calm, compassionate rider—where it’s not about perfection, but about being fully here, now, with your horse.

Begin your journey today.

Become the rider you and your horse deserve.