I'd never really thought of anything like spirit animals or any of that sort of stuff. It just wasn't a notion that had any resonance or even meaning to me.

But a few years ago I had a dream, and this dream was re-occurring for about a month. I still get visions of it now and then. Tastes of it.

It was probably the clearest and most powerful dream I've ever had, and in telling it it's kind of hard to see why. It was just....different, then say casual dreams. Like one of those epiphany dreams in Stephen King novels. Just one of those dreams that you wake from and it is burned indelibly onto your soul, and that seems monumentally personally important even though you have absolutely no fucking clue why. Ever had a dream like that?

I was in a dark a thick forest and was feeling quite uneasy, just a general sense of dread that weighed on me to the point where it felt very physical. Like a yoke around my neck and shoulders. I was wandering through the forest, trying to find my way to somewhere, a clearing, a glade, anything to escape the dark and overpowering forest. I was wandering around, making a lot of noise as I would stumble in a general direction I felt I needed to go in. I wasn't lost exactly, but I didn't really know where I was or where I was going. I felt like I had been in this forest for a long time. Far too long. And the urgency to escape, to simply GET OUT, was overpowering.

In any case, I could begin to make out an area ahead, a clearing in the forest. Now, in the forest, there was almost no light. It was day, but the trees were so heavy it blocked out much of the light, and the light that did come through was itself dark, like the light during a very heavy thunderstorm.

In any case, there is this big ditch, and then a rise next to it, in the shape of like a medium sized ocean wave. I stumbled toward it, desperately wanting to get past it as it seemed to me that a clearing would be just beyond it.
Next thing I know, a bunch of wolves start coming out around me. From behind trees, just generally surrounding me, snarling and obviously wanting to do me harm. The Enemy.

They made their way around me and formed a circle, me being in the middle. I grabbed a big stick that was next to me, and starting brandishing it threateningly, waving it around and shouting, trying to scare the wolves off. From above me I could see more wolves on the top of the rise, I was at the bottom, in the trench. The wolves were closing the circle, and I was more scared and anxious then I can ever remember being, in life or in dreams. One came too close so I swatted it in the face with the stick, and it backed off a bit. But still they were closing their circle.

Suddenly there was a flurry of activity. One of the wolves above me lunged down at me, and I swatted it in the side with the stick and moved out of the way, into the path of another lunging wolf, that I also swatted and dodged. Then all the wolves started lunging at me, and in that split second I leapt forward, using one of the wolves back as leverage, and leaped to the top of the rise and started running for what I now saw was a gorgeous clearing not 10 feet away. The wolves were right on my tail when I made it to the clearing.

Suddenly I was there. In the clearing. The wolves had stopped pursuing at the edge of the dark forest, and in the clearing I was bathed in warm light, but still I kept running, although this was a run of joy now. It was as if the woods were in the dead of a winter storm and this clearing was enjoying a gorgeous spring afternoon. Despite the fact that the wolves were obviously too scared to go into the clearing and were now retreating, I was still running.
Running in itself was absolute a remarkable experience. I felt the wind beat my face as I ran swifter than probably is humanely possible. It was euphoric, exuberant, whatever.

As I was running a herd of horses enveloped me. They were running also, running with me, I was dead in the middle. The one beside me was more beautiful than any horse I had ever seen, and we gave each other a knowing glance. I felt akin with them, a part of them, and a great affinity for them. This was safety, this was where I belonged. We weren't running anywhere in particular, just running for the sake of it, running as One. Even though it was just a dream, it was an experience I'll never forget. I felt more alive then I have ever felt. I was awash with vitality, love, happiness, and peace. Quite zen. It was a dream, yes, but that feeling was very real, and I have yearned for it everyday since.

When I awoke that morning, I was still not superstitious by nature. I still didn't have a clue as to "The Truth". I still had no clue about the Way Things Work.

But I knew with lucid certainty that the Horse was my spirit animal.