forallthingstwister - Tumblr blog

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Happy Day!

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I am so happy with the progress we have made with Twisters feet. It has been a little over a year since I decided to go barefoot. With regular trims its amazing how you can totally reshape the hoof. She has been sound for almost 10 months, I think we solved the problem.

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This is LA, she is my mentor and teacher who is helping me live up to my greatest potential by the way of the horse.

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 The clouds have parted.

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Look at the difference in each of these riders. The rider with all the the equipment looks uncomfortable and restricted while the bareback rider looks connected centered and free. Something to strive for, for sure!

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Water break. Something so peaceful about moving water.

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The greys come together (Twister is the blonde on the right)

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Leadership Leadership Leadership...

There seems to be a theme here. The parallels between boundaries and leadership in relation to horsemanship and life, generally, make it hard to ignore the fact that horses are the gate way to understanding how relationships, to your self and others, work.

As a leader it is your job to keep the horses needs met and to make them feel safe. Which is a tall order when your partner is a 1000lbs flight oriented animal that for millions of years has had it instilled in their very essence to be afraid and to run. Let’s break down what those needs are:

To survive.

To with-hold energy, in case they have to run to survive.

To test a leader, horses choose their leader EVERYDAY, to be 100% sure that the leader they chose to lead them is worthy, to be sure of survival.

To move and eat, to survive.

To meditate, time to practice the art of doing nothing to reset and find peace so their mental state is healthy and balanced for survival.*

We have taken away most, if not all, of their freedom to meet these needs for themselves. They are fenced in, their food is controlled, up to the very portion, and worked when we want them to work. It is our trade off to meet their needs at every opportunity we can. Know if your horse is going bonkers, a need is not being met. Very simple.

Now the question I’m trying to figure out is, what does this look like?

I think it’s a realization that we ARE doing this job, and deeply owning that. In your step, your intention and in every interaction you have with your horse, KNOW you got this. It’s not even an attitude that you need to display at all times, it is a way of being. I’m not talking about having to have the very best horsemanship skills of jumping 6 feet or being able to dance around the arena backwards, the horse will be patient in your learning to do those things if they know you are meeting their needs in the process. It’s truly authentically being confident where ever you are at and knowing your horse will live to see another day after being with you, in fact, being with you is the best place they want to be. YOU are the one that knows they are safe, and they will look to you to double and triple check that this is true. That’s what my understanding of leadership is.

*5 needs of the horse taught to me by Christa Miremadi at Horsemanship from the Heart www.horsemanshipfromtheheart.com

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Good, clear article on the importance of feel and connection in your horse training and handling.

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Exploration

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The Magic Dog

Open your mind to possibilities and dream of a future. Intention is the gift from our horses.

Address what is in front of you and let go of the rest. Presence is also the gift from our horses.

Trust yourself, trust your body knows its boundaries and that they are fair. Trust your horse knows their boundaries and that they are fair. Respect your horses boundaries and in return, yours will be too. In this place a relationship can be born. Trust is also a gift from our horses.

Give them room to show you who they are, not their story. Every horse is a soul, that has their own personality, thoughts and emotions. They are sentient beings that give and give and give some more. Do we know our horses well enough to even know when they have received praise? Do we default into the same routine of a pat on the neck or a rub of the forehead, though maybe our horse contracts to touch? Sometimes all he may need is space and release of pressure to truly feel your praise. To truly be authentic in your partnership you must know and understand your horse.

They will destroy themselves in the unconditional act of loving and we tend to buy/sell/trade them when they feel unfit for us. Why should they give us ‘try’? What do we have to offer a horse? An animal, whose strength, power, intuition, authenticity and determination has lapped ours in the process of evolution. What could they as a species gain from their ancestral devotion to us as a human race.

This is a native american story I read about how this incredible relationship came to be, which has made me ever so grateful and humble.

THE MAGIC DOG

NATIVE AMERICANS called the horse ”the magic dog”, conveying a deep, abiding appreciation for unique qualities of this animal, which they believed was given to the People by the Creator as a special gift, The Plains Indians believed that maintaining and appreciating all life forms around us, both visible and invisible, was a sacred duty. They also believed the Creator gave the People two special companions to take along on their journey. The first was the dog. Later came a second, more significant contribution to the well-being of the tribes. This ally they called ”the magic dog” - what we call Equus caballus, the domesticated horse.

This Native American folk tale explains the special connection among horses, dogs and humans. In earlier time, the ”two leggeds” (humans), the ”four-leggeds” and the ”winged-ones” all lived as one people in one great hoop: a single, great tribe of all creatures. Everyone spoke the same language, and all lived in harmony, as the Creator had intended. Each was able to see the needs of the greater common good. No one creature was seen as better or lesser.

One day, a cold wind began to blow out of the North, and with it came Coyote to visit his two-legged brothers. Coyote was always full of mischief and gossip. As he sat next to the humans, he talked of the need for the two-leggeds to invent a new, separate tongue - one that only they could understand among themselves, so no other animal would be able to speak their words. Many humans nodded their heads with approval, and soon a new language was created, filled with words, something only men and women could decipher.

The Creator looked down from the sky and saw all the mischief Coyote was instigating around the campfire. Angered, the Creator ordered Coyote to leave the camp. Coyote skulked away, but he sneaked back to the campfire after nightfall to spread more gossip. This is why, to this day, Coyote comes around the campfires only when the shadows are long and dark and the Creator can not see him lurking about.

Soon all the two-leggeds were fluent in their sacred tongue. Slowly human beings forgot the other sounds they had originally shared with their fellow creatures. As time went on, the two leggeds listened less to the other animals and began to think of themselves as separate and better.

The human beings began hunting the four-legged and winged-ones. The animals became frightened and ran deep into the forrest. They learned to hide their voices from the human beings, lest their sounds help the humans hunt them down and kill them.

So it came to pass that the animals felt they could no longer trust the human beings. They went to the Creator and told Him how the human beings had become terrible enimies. The Creator listened, and it became clear that human beings would always try to maintain dominion over the animals. As punishment, the Creator decided to send a giant earthquake down and split the world asunder so that the animals and humans would be forever kept apart.

The Earth trembled and shook, and the ground cracked open. The chasm left two-legged on one side and all the other animals and birds safely separate on the other rim. Seeing the Earth suddenly gape open, the human beings cried out in fear. They realized how much they had angered the Creator with their hidden secrets and selfish ways. They understood they would be forever kept apart from the other creatures.

They called out across the chasm, begging the animals to forgive their past transgressions, pleading with the other creatures to jump across the ever-deepening canyon between them. Because most of the animals had learned to distrust the two-leggeds, they shrank back into the forest. The earthquake continued, and the crack in the earth’s crust grew deeper. The human beings saw they would be exiled forever without animals.

At the last moment, the Horse and the Dog came out of hiding and jumped across the chasm to stand on the opposite rim with the human beings. The two-leggeds rejoiced and promised the Dog and the Horse they would be permitted to live forever among the humans as honored guests. And so it came to pass that the Creator was pleased and asked two-leggeds always remember that the Horse and the Dog had voluntarily joined the human beings. They were admonished never forget to honor these most special and unique friends among all the creatures of the World.

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