What is Horse(wo)manship?

Horse(wo)manship is a program which aims to help women connect to their true selves and learn how to navigate life’s challenges and transitions through the help of a horse.  In their herd, horses’ lives are governed by the “skills" listed below.  They have evolved to survive in the wild by learning and carefully honing their skills in each area.  The horse that does not successfully navigate a set of these skills is at risk, as its successful collaboration with the herd assures its survival.  Even though our horses are domesticated, they still retain all of their instinctual nature and behaviors.  Horses can be our greatest teachers!

Through our exercises with the horses, we will explore certain themes that come up in our lives which oftentimes can:
    •    Create difficulties in our relationships with others
    •    Inhibit our ability to achieve our goals and dreams
    •    Hamper our ability to be our true authentic selves

What might this horse be telling YOU?

These themes include:
Mindfulness, being present, and observation
Communicating clearly
Kinship and being part of a group
Leading and following
Body language
Setting boundaries and respect of space
Confidence and safety
Trust
Transitions and letting go
Advocacy and speaking up
Listening and being quiet
Goals and setbacks
Energy and flow
Worktime vs. playtime
Predator and prey dynamic
Feel and timing
Working with distractions
Lightness, levity, and laughter
Pilot, passenger, or partner?Being 100% ready but 100% relaxed

By using horse observation, round pen exercises, journaling, and meditation, Horse(wo)manship participants learn that horses can be some of the greatest teachers of the lessons of our lives. Throughout our lives, challenges arise that have cohesive themes, patterns, or archetypes, if you will.  In my experience watching horses, I’ve seen them move and work through these very same themes with their own herds.  To become a horsewoman is to become a part of their herd.  In the Horse(wo)manship work, we will learn about and work with the challenging themes in our lives that keep us from living a life of lightness, freedom, joy and presence.

Horse(wo)manship sessions are one hour long and no previous horse experience is necessary.  We will spend the first 20 minutes talking about which of the above themes resonates with you and then we'll spend the rest of the time either observing or working with the horses with our focus being and/or exercises being related to that theme.  Please bring a journal and wear close-toed shoes. 

Happy Horse(wo)manship Participants!

the only thing we can count on
May 25, 2017

Ahhhh.....the winds of change are blowing again.  And once again I find myself resistant, frustrated, and even a little bit mad!  I do wish that I could truly embrace the maxim "The only thing we can count on is that everything will change",  but every time change happens, my first response is to resist.

 Again, I look to the horses for guidance.  What do they do when their environment changes?  Most often they look around, assessing their new digs by exploring, sniffing, and moving around the space.  And then, usually, they start looking around for something to eat.  Then they 'go back to grazing' as my mentor Sheri Gaynor taught me.   There's no, "OMG!  Why did this happen?  What's wrong with me?  I thought my last paddock/barn/trailer ride/horse show was going to last forever!"  Hmmmm.  What a concept.  Doing a weekend workshop with her was the second step I took 4 years ago on this new journey of mine with the horses.  Read about her inspiring work on her website http://www.creativeawakeningsinternational.com

Settling in for Horse Camping

 
As I wrote that, it dawned on me how I certainly DON'T want whatever is going on in my life to be 'my last'.  I actually do want to experience new places and new people, new situations and new challenges.  Those are the things that energize me and keep me excited about life.  A good friend told me long ago "I'd rather be green and growin than ripe and rotten!"  When things start getting entrenched to the point where it might be the last time I'm ever doing something, that means my life is winding down.  I'm too young for that!  I want to embrace life to the fullest because I know I'm only going to go around one time.   Losing several people that I love has taught me that.




 

So, universe,
thank you for this change.  Instead of being frustrated and looking at it as a defeat, I choose now to see it as the horses would.....just another stop along the way.  And then I guess I'll go back to grazing.

Postscript on this post:  the funny thing is, I can't even remember what change was going on in May 2017 that inspired me to write this post!!  I'm sure it felt really important at the time :)

change is good

At some point I had started blogging on my Horses Heal Hearts website, and I've decided to delete that blog and focus on this one.  Over the next few days, I'll be transferring those posts to my Horse(wo)manship Blog.  Here is a post from December 19, 2016:

Two new horses came to my Retirement Farm this past month.  Army is a 20 year old Warmblood and Jamaica is a 30 year old Welsh Pony cross.  What sweet, easy, and good horses they are!  Having them has excited me and rejuvenated my intent there.  Lately I've been feeling confused and wondering what good am I exactly doing for the world...how am I making an impact?  The other day, watching them amble happily around their pasture, I thought "Taking good care of these good ol' geriatrics is making an impact on THEM!"  If nothing else, I'm helping them have a place to happily live out their lives.  Their arrival has also gotten me thinking a lot about change.

Most of my life I have felt resistant to change.  I’ve had all of 4 jobs in my entire life, I’ve lived in the same house for the past 22 years, I even still have a few articles of clothing from my college days!  I pretty much despise shopping for non-essential items, and think much of our social distress right now can be traced to our ‘throwaway consumer culture’...the one of buying lots of cheap, new items that become obsolete after a few years.  While I’m far from being a Luddite, I certainly have an affinity for antiques and a repulsion toward inexpensive, easily replaceable plastic-y items.  Thanks Mom!!

One of my favorite things has always been getting a new horse into the barn.   I’m always excited to get them settled in, to talk to the owner about what they like and what they’ve been eating and what their exercise schedule has been.  I love that first dinner I give them, seeing them happy and content in their new home that I helped create.  I wake up in the morning after their first night excited to go to the barn and see how they did overnight.  I take a lot of pride in a new horse settling in well.

So here is an example of a place where I actually LIKE change, and I realize that change has a inspirational, energizing effect on me.  Why do I resist it so strongly in so many other areas in my life when I can clearly see the benefits in this case?  Is it about control, that I like change as long as it’s on my terms?  Or is it yet again, that change in horses is so much different than change in people?  How it’s met, how it’s received…..the fact that they only live in the present moment means they show up, they assess their new environment, and then they settle in.  It’s change without the drama!!  Humans rarely ever do that!  We’re always talking, and fretting, and ruminating, and complaining, comparing and future-tripping.  It’s exhausting....no wonder I hate it!
Once again the horses have taught me a lesson without me even realizing it.  The only thing we can truly count on is that everything will change.  Horses are such graceful participants in this fact, willingly embracing their circumstances with such steady acceptance.  If only I could be a little bit more like them.