To infinity… and beyond!

This blog post is number 312!

I almost titled it that, but for a closing post on an era, a simple number felt hollow. I considered things like “the end” or “well we did it” or  “that’s all folks,” and those seemed too final. “What next” seemed boring. Then I heard the iconic voice in my head of good old Buzz Lightyear and thought, why not? It’s as good an ending as I could imagine since it calls for exploration of the next things “beyond” and that is exactly what I’m looking forward to opening in the next chapters to come.

And so To infinity and beyond it is!

Not only has this blog green to 100 been an account of my journey in the last nine years toward the single-day 100 mile ride, but it’s also been key in my writing journey. I hope in the future to find the time to begin going back through the posts and even pulling out or post-editing some of them to begin to create more of a through-story out of what has been quite a meandering trail. Maybe it will shape up into something more of a story… maybe not.

Regardless, besides developing my riding, I also continue to develop my writing! Today I have a published book questioning many of the cultural messages that did not help me in a difficult season (The Jael Finishing School for Ladies: Etiquette for Dangerous Women), it’s available on Amazon. I also keep a blog on that website (JaelFinishingSchool.com) related to life lessons of a more spiritual nature not necessarily relating to horses. Over the recent years, my deep dive into horsemanship has brought many opportunities to process in writing, I have that material at HopeHorsemanship.com. 

As I wind down from green to 100 now, I plan to put more focus on my writing in a broader horsemanship sense, and the lessons and adventures I have in endurance riding will fold into that bigger tent. You can continue to follow those all at Hope Horsemanship.

Currently I am experimenting with ways to help my BLM Mustang mare Wyoming start to feel better in her whole life experience. I’ve had her seven years and so far I haven’t been fully successful in helping her to find peace among us. Considering re-releasing her into the wild is not possible, and truly her life would not be a bed of roses in that way either, I’m determined to continue to improve in my understanding of how to help a complicated horse to come to a better place. A sample of that blog for those who aren’t yet receiving HH updates is here: Complicated.

I love endurance riding. I have plans to compete again later this season, and now that we have completed our first 100-mile distance, I’d like to continue to pursue and improve at that distance (if my horse is ready and willing) though at the moment I can see myself most likely planning maybe one a year. I don’t anticipate beginning to do them as often as possible. I have a lot of other hopes and dreams in my horse’s lives besides the single-day 100 now, though I love the true test that distance brings.

I love the true test of the sport because what I have a passion for is the process toward building powerful horses and powerful people. I believe if one takes the time to develop the whole horse from the inside out, then you become pretty unstoppable in whatever you decide to do. An endurance horse is probably limited. [I say this because of the amount of conversations I’ve been in or read/overheard around race brain, the inability for endurance athletes to relax into a casual trail ride with non-endurance friends, the amount of people who have remarked that their endurance horse only loves the trails and “hates the arena”, or the limitation physically with a horse that can follow a trail, but isn’t responsive at following a different thought, or can’t stand still… or can’t go out to ride alone… or is fine unless the buddy isn’t present… etc]. Of course there are shining examples of endurance people who are creating well rounded horses who do not fit those limitations. But to do so can be time consuming and take patience in the process. It is a gift to our horses when we take that time because they become more solid and confident in more diverse situations!

A powerful equine partner is much more interesting to me. When you spend the time to create a connection and real communication with your horse- your language so to speak [this is different than training where you have a ‘push button horse’], you develop a horse that can move relaxed and in balance mentally, emotionally and physically, and that horse is responsive to you as a partner (not simply robotically “knowing it’s job”) then you can do anything together. When you have a healthy horse internally, not fighting inflammation or struggling with heavy metals and toxins, your horse feels better and is able to draw on reserves (not fight through deficiencies) the day it needs high performance to come through any competition in strength.

With every athletic sport, the mental game is a very large consideration. Many high level athletes talk about the importance of visualization and mental-emotional fitness. My observation is many equine endurance riders are leaving treasure on the table by not putting more effort into this part of their training. Horses are big giant prey animals. They are good at putting on the bold front as eons of survival instincts have taught them, but when we get better and understanding what anxiety looks like, we can help alleviate the tension they carry with that low-grade chronic worry in their bodies in tension which causes excess strain on joints, ligaments, and muscles. There are also metabolic issues that can show up as well as adrenal fatigue and ulcers. The horse is pretty adept at masking the mental-emotional system, but the bill will come due later in chronic cumulating physical complications or ones that appear to have behavioral roots like head tossing, refusing requests, excessive “spooking”, or even tossing the rider.

I love this part, sorting out what a horse is thinking and how those thoughts dictate his emotions. That is at the core of Hope Horsemanship. I hope you’ll continue to enjoy the journey with me. For now this includes Khaleesi, and also her herd mates (for now we have Wyoming the wild BLM mustang who carries lots of fears and anxiety [mental/emotional] and Hope the rescue quarter horse who is recovering from EPM and nutrition absorption, toxin/heavy metal load gut issues [phyisical]). I’ll be writing about what I learn in all these diverse horse’s lives as I go- and Khaleesi’s journey will still include endurance events!

I thought a fun end/new beginning might be to come full circle and share with many readers who have joined in somewhere along the way, the very first blog post I ever published. In this post I have had Khaleesi about six months and muse about choosing her as my horse, and knowing basically nothing about endurance riding and almost nothing about starting a green-feral type horse, I look out in the hope that the journey might get me to a strong horse in a 100-mile event. 

Link to Snow-and introduction from December 2015.

Considering my last post was about the culmination of that journey it seemed a fitting way to say goodbye to the green to 100 and welcome anyone who wishes to continue with me… to infinity and beyond!

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[Cover image by Becky Pearman from our first 55 mile completion at the Biltmore in 2016 taking us out of Limited Distance and become a “true” endurance team. ]