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For the Love of the Horse, A look in the Mirror

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                   For the Love of the Horse, A look in the Mirror For everything that is perceived as bad usually comes a lesson.  Some call that a silver lining,  a new perspective and if we are fortunate enough we will go within and become curious.  Human nature can  cause us to lash out, blame or stay in our little box of comfort and become defensive to avoid looking within.  In lieu of recent events in the horse world there has been a little of all of the above.  Only looking at one side of the equation creates bias and we lose the ability to see the larger more important picture.  In this particular case looking at our own values, morals and integrity.  We try not to judge yet it comes so easily, especially if we have spent most of our life with these incredible sentient beings trying to be the best we can be for them. We can hope that the event with this Olympian will spread more awareness to the horse community and create conversation.   Yet what lens are we looking from. 
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Holding Space vs. Sharing Space

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                                                                                      Holding Space vs Sharing Space                                                                        What does that mean?                                    Why is the understanding important when communicating with a horse?      This is one of my absolute favorite topics.  The more I learn and grow the deeper the meaning becomes of these two ways of being.  So let's rewind.  Back in early 2000's I was fortunate enough to spend time with an extremely gifted intuitive.  Not only did I begin to understand better how the body has a natural way of healing and what that meant but I was introduced to understanding energy in a deeper way.  This woman had a huge impact on how I view the world and better yet view myself.  Now fast forward to current day and my continuing education has had a lot of focus on healthy movement and understanding the horse from the inside out.  How can we understand our ro
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Unsolicited Advice

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                                                                             Interacting with those that don’t align with your philosophy This is a topic that comes up frequently and I will have to say I have experienced it many times in my journey.  I have had many students share their experiences with this topic.  Sometimes they just want the vocabulary to deal with the situation. They just want to be understood.   As we continue to evolve in our horsemanship journey our vocabulary will become more sophisticated.  In the early stages of learning something new we struggle to find the words to explain to others what we are doing.  I believe until we become consciously competent with something we don’t truly understand .  To understand is to observe, to feel and experience.  Things we thought we understood can have a very different meaning in the beginning, then once we have gained more knowledge on the subject they can have a completely different meaning.  Knowledge is power, when we
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Life's lessons

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                                     Another Lesson Learned         I will have to say this blog came to me very unexpected and of course in a very unexpected setting.  I happened to be out shoveling poo, yes poo, my real professional job  and realized that some recent controversy brought to my attention, has been on my mind more than it should.   It is inevitable that at some point us humans will disagree and we have a choice of agreeing to disagree or judge.   Guilty as charged, I know there have been many times in my life that I have judged others for their opinions and felt I was right in doing so.  Or should I say righteous?   I believe there is always a lesson to learn.  It took me a long time to reach a point of glass half full vs. half empty.  I'm challenged daily, challenged to understand the lesson to be learned.  There is always something good in everything we perceive as bad, it's our choice whether to find that good or continue to focus on the bad.    There has b
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Why is the Why important?

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                                                                     Why is the why so important?                                                                                          Food for Thought          This is a topic I seem to have frequently with students, my mentors and myself.  Before I dive in to this question I will first ask if you have ever said or heard any of the following.  Be honest folks, no judgement here.  I certainly have said some of them at different times in my journey. 1. I don't need arena work, I just trail ride. 2. I don't need to learn healthy movement I don't plan to compete. 3. That takes too long I just want to ride. 4. If me and my horse are sweating we haven't accomplished anything. 5. Oh that saddle is fine, it fits me. 6.  Dentist for my horse, why would I spend that money? 7.  Oh I just get their feet done on a 6 week cycle, cheaper that way. 8.  I don't need to learn that stuff, I ride western. 9.  My trainer said that was
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Horsemanship Through Mindfulness

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                                                                 Horsemanship Through Mindfulness                                                                               Relational or Emotional Horsemanship                                                                    One Perspective       These are my thoughts and truths and by no means coming from a place of judgement.  I truly believe we are all right where we need to be.  If judgement is involved it is just coming from ego not the true self.  We all have our own uniqueness and through having the courage to show our vulnerabilities  and fears we can express our true self.          I believe we are in a society now where using our horses for jobs is less and less needed.  Absolutely there are ranches etc that still use them for work and for the most part are being trained as respectfully as they can and still accomplish what they need to.  Their livelihood depends on it.  Yet most of us are not in that situation a
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