“Horsing Around”

Health & Family
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In May of 2011, Sister Jann McClary and her husband Tariq moved from the Washington DC metropolitan area to establish a new home in the mountains of Colorado, building it from the ground up as part of their plan to become free of the spiritual and physical stress of modern urban life. Sister Jann is documenting her experiences for the Muslim Link. See her earlier installments at www.muslimlinkpaper.com by searching for “Running for the Hills”. Make sure you select “Exact Phrase” in the search options. – TML

 

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Drive around in the city or suburbs for just a few minutes and you're bound to see pacing in the yard, dozing on the front porch, yelping from the passenger seat of a car, or peeking out of the top of an oversized purse, a dog. No longer necessary as working animals, with a few exceptions,  most have become surrogate children. Status symbols. Coping mechanisms for whatever new neurosis plagues their human owners.


Drive around for an hour or so in the country and you're bound to see nibbling on grass, head bent intently to the ground, a horse. No longer necessary as working animals, unless you're Amish, most have been relegated to little more than lawn ornaments. Status symbols. Accessories to the ranch.


Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Messenger said, "Keeping horses may be a source of reward to some (man), a shelter to another (i.e. means of earning one's living), or a burden to a third. He to whom the horse will be a source of reward is the one who keeps it in Allah's cause and ties it by a long rope in a pasture (or a garden). He will get a reward equal to what its long rope allows it to eat in the pasture or the garden, and if that horse breaks its rope and crosses one or two hills, then all its foot-steps and its dung will be counted as good deeds for its owner; and if it passes by a river and drinks from it, then that will also be regarded as a good deed for its owner even if he has had no intention of watering it then. Horses are a shelter from poverty to the second person who keeps horses for earning his living so as not to ask others, and at the same time he gives Allah's right (i.e. zakat) (from the wealth he earns through using them in trading etc.,) and does not overburden them. He who keeps horses just out of pride and for showing off and as a means of harming the Muslims, his horses will be a source of sins to him...” (Sahih al-Bukhari)

 

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Obviously, there was a time when horses were more valued and cared for than a souped-up SUV with 4-wheel drive, low miles and a 40-mpg engine. Horses performed every task from hauling commercial goods, pulling political billboards, hearses and logs, to chauffeuring the public through town, bringing in the harvest, or tearing down the street hitched to a fire wagon! Or charging into battle with a sahabah on its back.


Narrated Ibn Umar: Allah's Apostle said, "There is always goodness in horses till the Day of Resurrection." (Sahih al-Bukhari)


We want a horse. And a wagon. No, really, I'm serious. Why do we, in 2015, clearly inhabitants of the 21st century, want a form of transportation that harkens back to, oh, let's see, the 19th century? Why wouldn't we want to be surrounded by molded fiberglass and a little metal, snuggled against polystyethyldioxycellulon seating, gliding down the highway on $200-dollar tires, heading to the auto repair shop to pay $40 for an oil change? Why wouldn't we want to pay $83 each year to register our little mechanical beast, whom we affectionately call “Chico” and $35 each month to insure it, and more than $50 each week to gas it up, and who-knows-how-much-if-something-major blows? Because Allah's Messenger said, “There is always goodness in horses till the Day of Resurrection."  Don't get me wrong, horses ain't cheap neither! There's vet bills, and bales of hay, the cost of tack (bridles, harnesses and the like), and horse shoeing, and did I mention bales of hay?


What horses and SUVs like Chico have in common is their tendency to guzzle. Fill up an SUV's tank and you'd almost swear it's either bottomless or there's a secret vacuum feature the car salesman didn't mention that let's money be sucked directly, neatly and continuously from your bank account. Even when you're not at the pump. Horses, it left to their own devices, will eat their ration of hay, the hay in the next stall, whatever hay is not tied down and out of their reach, and whatever vegetation looks like it might be hay out in the pasture. They have no clue how to “just say no.”


Now, we're not naive enough to believe a horse will solve our modern transportation woes. The horse itself has a few potential drawbacks; too much personality, for one.  Chico won't give you “that look” when you ask it to start. Chico won't nonchalantly move when you're getting ready to get in it. But a horse might wait until you have one foot in the stirrup before taking a step forward, backward or sideways, leaving you hopping like a fool on the other foot while you're frantically trying to hang on to the saddle horn with one hand. Chico wouldn't be so intentionally mischievous. But then again, Chico won't cozy up to you and affectionately nibble your hair, or gently bump its head against your shoulder for attention. You won't feel its warm, steamy breath on your hand as you offer it a treat. Any SUV just sits. And waits. No personality whatsoever other than however you've tricked it out with sport rims, tinted windows, custom paint, and tangles of tacky little tchotchkes hanging from the rear view.


Add a wagon to the cost of your little hay-muncher and you're getting close to the cost of a good used vehicle. Either you buy a fixer-upper wagon for a song-and-a-dance and refurbish it DIY-style, buy a decent used one for a low four figures, or if you've come into that inheritance, pick out a customized buck wagon complete with LED lights, padded seats, hydraulic brakes and your choice of auto-quality paint colors.


There's definitely a trade-off here, and your lifestyle, location and tolerance for lampooning glances will determine whether you can cut it with the horse-and-buggy crowd, of which you will most likely be the only one. Unless you're Amish. So we have to weigh the pros and cons: The convenience of the gas station until peak oil hits, or monthly runs to the feed store. High vet bills, or highway robbery from the folks who claim you're in good hands. Longing for the latest model, or brushing a long mane after a morning ride. Whizzing down the road oblivious to what's around you, or taking in the scenery on a lazy stroll into town. Horses can go where cars can't, and can provide you with companionship along the way. Cars can go faster and longer, but at a higher cost to the environment. Horses can reproduce themselves. As of this writing, technology hasn't allowed motor vehicles to do the same.


We may get the horse and wagon one day, insha Allah. But we also may keep Chico even if we get the wagon. Both have their specific advantages, their barakaat. But you gotta know that a horse is as off-road as you can get, and one day we may need that kind of maneuverability. So for now, we keep Chico fed and watered and it happily takes us where we need to go. But there is always goodness in horses till the Day of Resurrection. Alhamdulillah.

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