What grieved me as I watched Wyoming flailing on that lead rope like a fish on a line was a snapshot I had somewhere in my heart of how many of us go through life or seasons of life like this. We are fighting and we can’t seem to stop fighting. We end up getting hurt, and hurting those around us while we flail and fight against what we perceive as life threatening pressure but what is intended to be a comfort.
Tag Archives: freedom
Freedom Week 2024
Hello Hope Horsemanship Family! I am excited to announce to you first officially the first annual POWERFUL HORSE EXPO during what we’re calling Freedom Week. I have been working toward this event for a couple years now am incredibly excited to see it coming to life July 4-7, 2024. Freedom week is all about helpingContinue reading “Freedom Week 2024”
The horse that was never wrong (for one day).
A good relationship is not one that thrives as long it is always kept in happy, predictable, safe places. That is actually a very weak relationship. A good relationship is one that can withstand challenges and unhappy feeling, that can stand firm in fear and stress even if it’s not pretty. A good relationship won’t disconnect in the messy unpredictability of real world circumstances.
Do you want to know a secret?
But did I love the horse? I wanted to. I thought I did, and maybe I did in part, but not the way I have come to recently.
Twisted.
This is not the dynamic I want in my barn. This is not the dynamic I want in my life. When I feel that frustration rising in the dark space of my heart it is now a warning signal: you have become twisted again. Stop. Regroup. Begin again and ask: how can I help?
I thought I understood…
If we cannot meet fear with fear… then the better choice is to meet fear with LOVE. Love in fact, must have boundaries because connection is worth protecting.
The Good Citizen
What do YOU think the most important thing a horse should be taught?
The devil in the details.
I have a feeling this is going to demand more from me that I currently possess in knowledge, skill, creativity, grace and most of all patience. As I got started, I realized this horse is probably going to be the kind that makes me or breaks me – meaning I will either grown and learn, or she’ll be too much for me and I will truly fail her. I can not at the moment accept the latter as a possibility, so I’m prepared to be changed from this process.
Kate the mare.
When the time was right, Harry asked the mare to let go of the thoughts that took her away from being present: Be here now he said. Be here now. …When she would momentarily choose to connect he would say: Good for you mare, good for you.
How healing it is to have an experience that changes an understanding, that changes emotions, that changes how I function and respond. What a piece of hope right there at the round pen.
The motions of emotion
I spent few days with Harry Whitney last week. I hope I will never be the same. I have been to a handful of horsemanship events and clinics ranging in size and popularity and I did not know what to expect from a Harry Whitney clinic. Harry doesn’t have much media out there to getContinue reading “The motions of emotion”
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