when in doubt, move on, no need to sort it out

Pie reminds me of Vincent Van Gogh sometimes. (No, Sovey hasn't bitten off his ear.) He is just very sensitive to energy currents. I like to tell my students that Van Gogh would paint the invisible air currents that flow around us all the time. He was particularly known to capture musical currents (Wagner), in his paintings. Pie doesn't paint or listen to Wagner(!), but he does react to weather currents like he can see things that I can't. Our sunny skies were replaced with rain today and Pie felt it coming. He was antsy when I was grooming him. I tacked up anyway and tried to calmly walk him around before getting on. Sovey was quiet and content in the paddock, but Pie was a Nervous Nelly. He pushes me with his head when he is upset. I walked him for a few minutes and it started to rain. We circled anyway. I thought I would just untack if it rained too hard. Then, Pie gave a calm, relaxed snort so I got on. He was wonderful as we headed out through the trails in the woods and I felt mad at myself for thinking he might be a handful. He visited his apple/barstool station and continued on. The next thing I knew he spied something very dangerous in the air. I am not sure what he saw because I saw nothing and it was on the path we had just been on, but he was certain something was there. I encouraged him to walk back that way to see that there was nothing. That was a mistake, I guess. We could have walked home easily, but I wanted him to see that it was ok. He started jumping straight up in the air (all four feet off the ground) and humping his back in little hops. At first, these jumps seemed naughty and playful, but when he would stop and stare, his heart was beating so loud and fast I could feel it. I felt so sorry for him, but I couldn't seem to reassure him and we were out in the middle of the field. I really didn't want to let him turn toward home because I thought that was a bad precedent. I pushed him forward toward the invisible monster. (That is a trick when you can't see what it is that is so scary!) He would walk and then try to turn toward home and then half-buck, half-rear. I kept my posture completely over his neck with my left hand and rein in his mane and my right rein down low on his neck as I stroked his neck. He responded well to this, almost as though I was protecting him. Actually, I was just trying to keep my weight forward. I did get him to retrace our path completely, and he stopped the antics, but he attempted to jig at the end. We walked a few minutes until the jigging stopped. He was still jumpy when I untacked and grazed. The air was full of grey mist and I really think he felt the rain storm approaching. Last spring, during a sudden thunderstorm, neither horse reacted, but today Pie sure seemed sensitive. After I turned him out, I was picking manure out of the pasture and Pie came over and loved me all up like he was trying to apologize. Poor honey, I wish I knew what he saw.