Zen Horsemanship, LLC

29/08/2024

Some notes to a young horse person, and a reminder to myself always —

If we are in this for the love of horses simply just as they are, every door will open.

Learn from everybody but don’t try to be anybody but yourself.

Be ready to let go of the story of how you’ll think it will all go.

Safety can be a choice, not something we hope for.

The more we connect to ourselves, the more we will connect with our horses. The more we love ourselves, the more we will love our horses and all and everything.

Horses are a way of life not a hobby.

Just the presence of a horse will give us more than riding ever could.

Be around as many horses as you can. And go slow. Envision the way ahead, but let the future come.

Forgive others, forgive your horse, and the biggest one of all — forgive yourself. Daily.

Let go of the big rocks you carry, called “past experiences that didn’t go as planned.”

Don’t think of unwanted behavior as something to simply train out of a horse. It’s their nature and history and feelings being expressed. Flow with it and seek to understand them, meet their needs, and let them know you hear them.

Your horse knows you by your presence, energy, intent, and your care more than your mistakes.

If you have horses, then connect with others with horses so you can build community and help others and have help when needed.

Take time away from horses now and then. Separation will unearth truth.

Ask for help and guidance often from those you trust and that feel good to your heart.

If we can understand what a horse is thinking and feeling, we can predict the future.

Understand the science of how horses think and move. And look deeply into the spirit and soul of a horse, what the mind and body are serving. “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.” — The Little Prince

Seek the truth that unites all horses and all of us. You’ll know it when you feel it because it makes sense like you already knew it. It will feel like home.

Learn the laws of the universe — vibration, attraction, resonance, synchronicity, rhythm, cause and effect, duality, relativity, reciprocity, divine oneness, gratitude. Horses live by them too.

It’s all about love. The sooner you realize that, the better.

😊🐴🙏

01/06/2024

Where’s the rush?

Working with horses is supposed to be fun.

Why have we as an industry created so much pressure to fulfil certain timelines and make hard set training schedules?

Why is it so common for people with young horses to be pressured by peers and trainers alike about when they’re going to move onto X goal with them?

“When are you going to ride them?”

“When are you going to jump them?”

“When are you going to show them?”

And then the subsequent pressure about letting the horse down by not fulfilling their full potential.

Horses don’t care about their potential.

They care about feeling safe and having their needs met.

They care about access to forage, freedom and friends.

So, why can’t we as humans accept the fact that horses don’t operate on set timelines, so we don’t need to either?

Ever since my youngster, Banksy, was born 5 years ago, I’ve been intermittently hounded about timelines and destinations for him, along with my other horses as well.

I used to have set timelines and goals.

I still have goals but they’re much more flexible now.

I don’t like setting hard and fast timelines for horses because they all develop slower or faster depending on a lot of factors.

Additionally, for my own mental health and wellbeing, I need to go at a pace that is suited to me.

In the past, I burnt myself out and nearly extinguished my love for working with horses because of all of that unnecessary pressure.

I refuse to go back to that place because it robbed me of the joy horses bring me.

Don’t feel pressured to fulfil quotas that other people set for you.

It is okay to move at a slow and steady pace.

It is okay to have setbacks.

It is okay to never have any competitive goals.

Heck, it’s okay to never plan on riding your horse and just enjoy them from the ground.

All of the weird timelines that are in place in the horse world are entirely made up and we don’t have to follow them.

Don’t give into the peer pressure that seeks to make working with your horse feel like a full time job or school curriculum that robs you of the fun you could have.

Removing that pressure makes it a lot easier to show up better for your horse because you no longer resent them for disrupting arbitrary timelines and having setbacks.

Go with the flow, enjoy the process.

Ignore anyone who is bothered by that.

16/04/2024

🙌🏼

14/04/2024

Love this! “Awareness of awareness” this is a great example

29/01/2024

I’m just going to say it:
THIS 👏🏻 IS 👏🏻 NOT 👏🏻 OK 👏🏻

06/10/2023

06/10/2023

One day this summer I came into the barn to find that one of the riders had a horse that had pulled its shoe half off, and he wanted to know how to get hold of a farrier to pull the twisted shoe. He literally did not know how to do it himself. Despite the fact that there was an entire shelf of farrier tools sitting in the barn aisle.

Come on. people, don’t be whimpering infants about basic horse care. Learn how to be horsemen and horsewomen, not just helpless little riders who need someone to hold your hands about what to do when something goes wrong. Big vet issues, sure, actual shoeing, yes, but not knowing how to perform the most basic tasks is simply bad horsemanship.

What is worse, though, is being so entitled that you think those kinds of jobs are too menial. If you think that, you have been raised wrong.