For National Horse Day, the not-quite-300 year old United States salutes an over 30-THOUSAND year old relationship between people and equines. In the oldest known representational cave art from Chauvet in France, gorgeous horses gallop through torchlit eons. Since our earliest days as humans, we have known ourselves connected. In a largely glaciated world, the sense of shared destiny between people and those animals who could turn tough grasses into edible flesh makes complete sense. And aesthetic appreciation for symphonies of movement also lifts from the cave walls directly into our pulsing hearts. These renditions are anything but static. The motion of soul from sun to grass to prey to human translated not only into visual art, but also, I imagine, into music of hooves and in mirrored evocation with hide-covered drums.

Of course, within the 500 years since horses are known to have returned to North America via European explorers, many other partnerships were integral to our continuing connection. To carry us farther and faster, to move great quantities of supplies or smaller packages of high urgency—these capacities have been honored across our young nation’s history. But as other ways to manage these tasks became prevalent, people have not relinquished our connection but found other opportunities to maintain a relationship that holds deeper and less measurable importance to our own psyches.

People have called horses 1000 pound mirrors, and working with equines has proven effective therapy for those suffering from PTSD and other forms of trauma. For everyone living in today’s often disjointed and isolating society, horses offer salve for wounds we aren’t even aware of. That may be one reason we create rescues and sanctuaries, providing safety for these animals when in need. In Corvallis, MT, for example, the One Horse at a Time rescue specific for draft horses often takes in older horses whose people have grown too old or ill themselves to care for animals approaching or exceeding the 1-ton mark. In New Hampshire, the Save Your Ass Long Ear Rescue focuses on donkeys and mules, typically forgotten or sometimes disdained by horse fanatics. Most of these organizations offer fun t-shirts or other merch to provide pathways for people to support their efforts who can’t offer an actual home. But if you are in a place that might welcome an equine, just imagine how they’ll help your spirit soar.