The Key

May 10, 2023 I had all the good intentions to give a more details write up from the No Frills ride in mid-April after posting the video clips, but ended up finding more contemplation from that ride fitting for the blog I release through the website for the book I published (The Jael Finishing SchoolContinue reading “The Key”

True

I have tried to write this update multiple times and seem to make a tangled mess out of it every time. Apparently it takes endurance to write about endurance! If you don’t follow the Hope Horsemanship [HH] blog, I encourage you to read my experience of spending a week with Harry Whitney in The MotionsContinue reading “True”

Respect or fear? Does it matter?

I have become addicted to the Inspector Gamache mystery novels by Louise Penny. I love the characters, the little town much of it takes place in, but even more I love the philosophical layers Penny unearths through the characters in each novel. In the most recent book I finished (A Great Reckoning) there is aContinue reading “Respect or fear? Does it matter?”

Blessed are the flexible…

… for they shall not be bent out of shape. Khaleesi has been on some down time after Big South Fork and I have been flung headlong into fall season of music program administration, teaching and rehearsals. I have done some hiking with her and then snuck in one unimpressive ride before the hurricane rainsContinue reading “Blessed are the flexible…”

Training or Testing?

I was listening to a podcast recently where Stacey Westfall discussed the differences between testing and training (she uses the word teaching interchangably for training). Stacey was talking about the process of learning vs the process of showing what has been learned.  Anyone who rides a horse has to do some amount of at leastContinue reading “Training or Testing?”

Everything is grace.

I really need to be on the road early. It would be so much easier to close her in the smaller paddock than take the chance I’ll have to follow her around the many acre field in the near dawn hoping she will be on board with leaving with me for the weekend. She isn’tContinue reading “Everything is grace.”

Equine Shabbat?

This season I am committed to offering Khaleesi as much choice as she can possibly have, as is my habit: to the very edge and sometimes probably over the edge depending on where you’re looking at it from. I am also committed to approaching this season differently than I have in the past such as:Continue reading “Equine Shabbat?”

Begin again… again… again…

March 11, 2022 I haven’t had much to write since the end of January when I mused about the predatory nature of humans and how it can affect our horse herds. We have had winter, and it’s busy season for me in the music world. The November-January rabbit hole of liberty experimentation fell away toContinue reading “Begin again… again… again…”

Predator?

There is a saying that goes something like students who beginners are always trying to work on advanced things, but the truly advanced are always circling back to the beginning, the fundamentals. If this is true I feel like I might be light years ahead because I feel like I’m constantly going back, and thenContinue reading “Predator?”