Horse Sense for Horses in the 21st Century- If you don't ride them what do you do with them?

Tizzy, a beautiful Appaloosa mare has been retired in my care for a couple of years.
You can usually spot her dappled body on the pasture’s periphery. A seasoned, shy and sentinel member of the herd with a beautiful face that looks at you with one blue and one brown eye.

From the very beginning Tizzy’s owner wanted her to have a job participating in my youth classes, but Tizzy never seemed very interested in joining up. That is until today.

Tizzy began banging her hoof on the metal gate that separated her from the paddock I was readying for the soon to arrive class. Obliging the request, I opened the gate and watched her trot by me, the first one in the paddock.

Several of my regularly scheduled program horses came up a few minutes later to join her.

The last one to step off the youth bus was a 14 year old African American girl named Jaden.
I greeted her beautiful face looking up at me with one blue eye and one brown eye.

Tizzy let out a call from thirty feet away and came racing towards the fence where the young girl stood in amazement. The connection was so apparent; it felt like electricity in the air.

The youth director told me the girl’s mother had been murdered in front of her and she had not spoken a word since that day, almost two years ago. Jaden had been in counseling and participated in this violence prevention group but through it all had remained silent.

Our first exercise was centered on grooming the horses, (which I use as a metaphor for self care). The young woman was paired with Tizzy for the exercise.

As Jaden slowly brushed the horse, Tizzy closed her eyes and then wrapped her necked around the young woman’s shoulders, much like horses do with their young.

Moments later we could hear the young girls muffled sobs. Tizzy stood quietly, gently holding Jaden against her warm body, arms wrapped around the horses neck, her face buried in the Mare’s thick mane.

The activities now complete, I asked everyone to gather in a circle and share their experience of grooming the horses. After several comments by both staff and participants,
I asked if anyone else in the group had reflections before we moved on.

“ I want to say something, the voice stammered” It was Jaden, who hadn’t spoken a word in more than two years. She told the group that while Tizzy was holding her, she had remembered being with her mom at her Grandfathers horse ranch in Mexico.

They were celebrating his birthday and Jaden sang Happy Birthday to him. He had put his arms around her and whispered in her ear…” your voice is a gift from God, promise me you will never lose it.” Until today she had forgotten her promise.
Tizzy she explained softly.. had helped her remember.

I am often asked, if you don’t ride the horses at your ranch, then what do you do with them? Now you know.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Horse Sense for the 21st Century™ Alyssa Aubrey, CEGE Incorporates horses in human development through Equine Guided Education. www.medicinehorseranch.org

Horse Sense and the Synchronistic Call of the Red Tail Hawk

Tuesday morning stirred up a wicked and windy announcement that blew the air with electricity snapping everything around me in its path.  I gazed across the vast range of land I live on and felt a storm  brewing.  Something was spinning out in the distance, planning it’s destined arrival.  Or was this unsettled energy in me?  Then I saw the strangest thing; two huge ravens fighting on the ground about 100 feet in front of me.   One was really beating the crap out of the other.  I’d never seen anything quite like it.

I told a friend about it, she remarked one must have really offended the other, or taken something?  Interesting interpretation I surmised, but it didn’t feel quite right.

 Looking at all the food around as they continued arguing over one tiny piece of something, I thought,  this is a metaphor for scarcity vs abundance… a conversation that’s really up for a lot of us these days.  I was in a personal situation where this issue was in my face too.

I’ve lived on land for about four years, but in my heart I feel like I have always belonged to this life.  The road signs from the environment, as I like to call them, are as obvious to me now as the English language.

Two years ago, I got tossed on the ground when a young horse spooked and ran over the top of me.  The result of those few seconds of chaos and confusion was a broken left shoulder. My bad luck was compounded by the fact that I had no health insurance, having just lost my only consulting client and all the benefits attached.  

The orthopedic doctor pronounced me "not able to have full motion in my left arm again."  Even with the $30,000.00 surgery he was willing to perform.

I drove home after the doctor’s visit that morning feeling like I was driving under water and in stunned disbelief.

Finally I made my way up the winding, two- mile paved road towards home and found my horse Sage standing all alone at the top of the hill by the barn gate.  I pulled my truck over and rolled down the window.   Looking up at her beautiful face, I'd said softly, "I believe it's a good day for a ride. What do you think?"

She licked, chewed and bopped her pretty head up and down a few times and she seemed to be the best counsel I'd had all morning.

BY FEEL

On a beautiful, bright, cool afternoon we rode on the hills and in the valleys of the land we both knew so well. 

I became increasingly aware of my thoughts.  What do I really care about?  How do I make a contribution from this place?  I didn’t want to react to the pressures I was currently facing.  I wanted to respond from grace and create something new.  My energy, resourcefulness and life force were precious currency.  I had traded on it every time I indulged myself in worry and fear.  I vowed I wouldn't do that anymore. 

I recalled we'd stopped to rest at the top of rattlesnake ridge. I watched the shadow from the sun inch its way across on the toe of my boot.  I hadn’t watched sun shadows since I was a kid.

On that day more than two years ago, I realized it was my life that had a limited range of motion. I'd been comfortably stuck, content to inch along.  The accident, job loss and all that came bundled along with it wasn’t penance. Instead, this was a necessary journey to reconnect and reinvigorate my life’s purpose and me.  I’d been off course.  The accident was a course correction. 

  Now two years later, my shoulder completely healed I stood next to my noble horse Sage facing into the East.  I reminded myself to listen deeply from my heart and trust even as I felt uncertain and apprehensive about pending events.    Just then a red- tail hawk circled above us and called. 

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Horse Sense for the 21st Century™ Alyssa Aubrey, CEGE Incorporates horses in human development through Equine Guided Education. www.medicinehorseranch.org

Horse Sense for the 21st Century and then some

I finished my first blog last week. I was compelled to write about how powerful interpretations are and these beliefs often hold our feet to the fire. The question becomes are the beliefs we are holding as "Truth" serving us or, are they limiting stories that keep us stuck in our drama and our smallness.

Case in point....  I'm in a breakdown with a good friend. She has a story about me and I'm sorely tempted to have one about her in return. As I'm stirring the stew of my reactivity, I notice two huge ravens fighting. Upon closer inspection they are gripped in battle over what looks like a berry or a nut of some kind.

I've never seen two birds dukeing it out like that. My friend is somewhat of a bird expert and loves ravens. I emailed her and asked her what she thought of it all. Her response was that one probably offended the other in someway, or perhaps took something.

I considered her interpretation, and decided the ravens were a mirror for what was going on between the two of us. As I looked around at all the abundance of berries and nuts on the ground I thought-
The ravens are gripped by what looks like the only game in town and missing the opportunity for a bigger vision.  This is what fear, ego and scarcity look like.

I decided to offer my friend my understanding instead of my judgment- and the world looks much more spacious today.


WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Horse Sense for the 21st Century™ Alyssa Aubrey, CEGE Incorporates horses in human development through Equine Guided Education. www.thecenterforequineguidededucation.com.