Spirit-to-Spirit Horsemanship

Marginal gains. They seem to go nowhere fast. But didn't we learn a valuable lesson, in our very earliest years, about the tortoise and the hare?  The Tortoise always wins. Why??? Marginal gains and the aggregate or combination and build up of taking those small but consistent steps, over and over and over. I've just finished James Clear's book Atomic Habits . There is nothing earth-shattering in there, in fact, some of his strategies parallel some of my own that I've discovered over years of trying to solidify desired habits. But that is where the treasure of this book really shines through....in the simplicity of it.  There is an ease of application of the ideas and strategies and a sheer common-sense about it all...the "common" sense that often isn't so common. It is wonderful to have a 'master plan', a 'new idea' and a 'major upheaval', but where will the plan, idea and major change be in 2 weeks, 2 months, 2 y

Molly, This post is for you. Although sequestered in my teeny tiny little spot in the blogosphere, you will likely never see it. Still, it is for you. It is July 5th 2022.  It's been quite a long time since I've written, but because of you, I am sitting here taking a few minutes to write.   I love to write. I always wanted to be a writer. But I wanted to "be" a lot of things and wanted a life with horses, and to be the best mom I could be, and to be a gardener my grandfather would be proud of, and, and, and.  And, so I often pursue those other things and push my little writer voice over to the dusty corner, the corner with the ideas of my books, at least 5 or 6 of them, now covered with cobwebs and barely recognizable. But today, I am dusting off my little blog and looking through old ideas and finding that I have a working outline of a book that you thought I might consider writing. How did you know to ask me that question? How did you know this is an ache in my soul

Winter is approaching and is teasing us with what is to come.  We have had one good snowfall and now several days of sub-freezing weather.  Despite my resistance, I've been forced to dig out our winter gear and get it ready for dealing with horse chores during winter.  I am always somewhat amused when I see these peaceful gorgeous pictures of farms blanketed by snow, icicles and frozen ponds.  I do appreciate the beauty of a winter scape but I see beyond those images, as probably do most people who live on a farm. I see the sloshing of water buckets as that chore becomes more manual, the picking up of frozen manure as that chore takes twice as long, (why is frozen manure twice as heavy as thawed manure?) and I envision the reluctance to bundle up and go exercise horses. But this year, I feel it all coming on a bit differently.  I'm a glass-half-full kind of person, even in this the 'Age of Covid'.  In a way, a sentence to 'shelter in place' is no sentence at all

 Our 10 year old grand-daughter visited us last weekend. Time spent with her is magical. I often find myself just quietly standing, observing her and taking it all in:  how she sees the world, how her time with me influences her (and how I may need to adjust those influences!).  I catch myself striving to pass on some of the wonderful lessons I learned from my grand-father from our time spent in nature and those moments seem so.full.circle. She loves our animals and they (mostly) love her back.  The dogs and cats clearly adore her.  My more extroverted horses are fine with her stroking their faces and the soft hair under their manes.  My skeptical horses tend to turn away from her and are not used to the noise and excess movements of an energetic 10 year old. I am amazed at what she remembers. She often stops at our one empty run-in stall and pauses to think about our departed mare, Laura.   She may dust off the still mounted brass name plate and sometimes she will even put a little ha

Unconscious Incompetence it is called in the great 4-step paradigm of learning.    The scale goes like this: A person is Unconsciously Incompetent at something (just beginning, doesn't yet know what they don't know). They learn a bit and practice some and become Consciously Incompetent .  This is the "uh-oh" stage as I think of it, the "what have I gotten myself into" stratum of the scale.  Many people quit at this point as they realize they aren't going to just practice guitar for a week and then be able to belt out Stairway to Heaven in two weeks (or La Villa Strangiato for fellow Rush fans).    This is where a person begins to think, "geesh, there is a lot more to this than I thought." They know they need work and are aware that there is a lot to learn. Next step:   Conscious Competence .  Now the person on the path of mastery in any given endeavor is developing a skill-set, as well as learning how to self-assess/self-correct.  They kno

Progress.   That sometimes elusive element that makes our heart soar, sing or sink depending on if we have touched it or whether it has, once more, escaped our reaching hands. I started this post one year ago and want to get some notes down on my journey since. My blogs, like my life in horses and in other areas, have stuttered and started in fits and lurches forward, backward, sometimes stagnating altogether. I've been working on my own emotional and mental fitness for the bulk of 2014.  I am feeling now that all of the various offshoots are starting to come together and reference materials are over-lapping, coalescing into simpler and clearer paths.   Similar messages resonate strongly with me in the various materials I have selected to study. My work is centered on getting myself more disciplined and strong.  Yoga is a good tool and I'm enjoying both the physical challenge and results from Trudie Styler and James D'Silva's Warrior Yoga dvd.  After only two week