Horsemanship Through Mindfulness

            Curiosity is something that I never realized until much later in life, can be the driving force of developing more awareness.  As I embark on this new Journey with my newest mustang, Luna (aka Luna ReaRea), I see how curiosity is so critical for me to truly see her true essence.  She has a similar sensitivity that my little Journey Man displayed when I first got him.  I look forward to carrying all the things he taught me to her.  This little mare, in the short time I have known her, has given me so much clarity on things I have taken for granted with horses.  I believe that each horse I interact with gets the best of me, in that all the lessons from previous equine teachers are what have led me to my beliefs in this moment.   Which changes day by day.  With curiosity also comes vulnerability.  Being vulnerable enough to allow her to teach me.  Being vulnerable enough to know she has as many, if not ...

  Horsemanship Through Mindfulness My New Chapter: Finding Balance and a Farm in Axton, VA It is with great excitement that I share my new location and a new direction! Some of you may have noticed I have been off the grid for a while. For the past two and a half years, I’ve been in  Warrenton, NC , taking a much-needed sabbatical from the intensity of full-time teaching. This break gave me precious time to process and reflect on the direction I want to take at this stage of my life. The biggest news is that I've finally found a property in  Axton, VA ! It took quite a bit of time to locate the right farm, and I am currently in the satisfying process of creating a space here that feels right for me, my Mares, and, of course, Walter, my border collie. The Forever Learner Paradox As I began this new chapter, I’ve had to release a lot of expectations about who I feel I need to be. I think my biggest attribute is doing my best to be a forever learner, but ironically, I also t...

                                                                                                                                                                                            Marigold My morning routine was seemingly the same. I even wrote about it in my morning gratitude journal. Yet, this morning, something felt different. As usual, I went about feeding my mares, taking in as much of nature as I possibly could along the path. What struck me as odd was the absence of geese around the pond—not one in sigh...

                   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 awarene...

                                                                                      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 ...

                                                                             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 f...