This year was one full of change for me, my human family and horses. What is most significant to me about a year is that it encapsulates everything you’ve done, everything that’s happened to you, and all what you cannot control and that which you have put into action.
(originally published January 1, 2016)
In the book No Life for a Lady, the biography of Agnes Moreland Cleaveland, the children were put in charge of catching a horse and riding into town in order to get supplies. This was New Mexico in the early 1900s. The author said that they didn’t have corrals so catching a horse could take half a day. The horses would know you wanted to catch them and would hide behind trees.
In Loving Memory – April 12. 1989-August 15. 2015 Khami, my bay Arabian gelding of 26 years, passed away quickly today of what appeared to be a heart attack. He was doing what he loved to do, running with his beloved herd, when he collapsed and died shortly after.
One of the issues for many horse owners/lovers is how to spend enough time with their horses. When I hear myself complaining or feeling guilty, I think it’s time to make a pie chart.
In the pasture, the horses usually gallop off to one particular favorite place, up over the ridge to where some colts are stabled. Then I hike up there and my mare Zuzka rounds everyone up when I ask the horses to come back with me. This time, my gelding Khami took over, and he got everyone going.
Most people who have been around horses for a long while have suffered injuries. These injuries –unless treated deeply, and I mean with bodywork after the stitches or surgeries have healed, may continue to cause restrictions both in the physical body and the emotional and psychic bodies.
The closer we get to horses, the deeper our experience can become. Horses can guide us in remarkable ways. My mare Jazzie came to me in dreams for two years before I brought her home. I am in the process of learning why she wanted to be with me so much. Sometimes (probably more often than not) horses know things that we don’t know yet or that we can’t sense.
This past weekend I conducted a workshop in Corrales, New Mexico at the home of Nancy Freshour, an avid horsewoman. The three who participated were all accomplished horsewomen and really knew their horses well. 
Continue reading The art of knowing horses
Recently there has been a lot of attention in the horse press given to whether it’s best to ride a horse with a saddle or not, or even whether to ride horses. This query also extends to whether we should all ride our horses in a neck rein or bitless bridle, are all bits cruel, etc.?
Much like people have mantras and chanting for their meditations, horses move and flow rhythmically. If we can watch, feel and be a part of their rhythms rather than imposing our own modern-day rushed rhythms on them, we will find they are much more likely to want to be with us, and will be curious about us.
