We spent the day filming ChoCho dancing to ABBA in the ring. Pure enthusiasm = Pure Joy.
Here we asked for upbeat expression .. and he gave it his all!
Warm Nose on a Snowy Day
There’s nothing like the touch of a horse’s nose, their silky breath, and warm loving heart.
A Day in the Life
I just love this photo of me and Khemancho coming back from a ride this Sunday. It summarizes a lot that could be said about connection and joy (after a good work out!).
Go Trot & Come in the Snow
We have deep snow in the back paddock. Yesterday we played “go trot and come” in the snow with ChoCho. His version of this Waterhole Ritual of Carolyn Resnicks, is quite lively and dandy. Enjoy his youthful stallion-ness.
The Rider Has No Right to the Horse’s Head
Karen Rohlf at Dressage Naturally (www.dressagenaturally.net) has a wonderful youtube video that demonstrates natural balance and head carriage in different types of liberty and riding play. I found her site to be wonderfully instructive.
Dawn’s First Light
Here is a special tribute to a special friend – Mosswood Dawn. She is a treasure to me beyond words, so I wrote a music piece that goes deep into the heart of relationship… and added some video on a summer’s day. I dedicate this piece to Jennifer Sims and all the horses at Mosswood Morgans and everyone else who lightly holds the beauty and the light of creation.
Pair of Deuces
My friend took this photo from overlooking the horse pasture. It shows my two mares , ‘Jhana (the chestnut) and Gypsie (the bay) and the two babies, ‘Merra (the chestnut filly) and Rio (the bay gelding). ‘Jhana and ChoCho are the dam and sire of both babies, but as this picture illustrates, Rio looks just as much as his aunt Gypsie, as ‘Merra looks like her mom, ‘Jhana. They are all real good movers — and love this game I play of moving them around the pasture/ paddock area.
Natural Enthusiasm
Many people have horses that will “do their job.” Some people have horses that are “willing to perform”. Rare are the partnerships that engender true natural enthusiasm in the horse — a relationship built solely on the natural joy and enthusiasm that the horse brings to the relationship. Words do not do justice to what it feels like to work/ play/ engage horses on this level. Here are three videos that try to do better. Caveat– so much of communication with horses depends upon body language. In these videos, ChoCho is wondering why my body is so stiff, holding up this camera-thing– so I am trying to bridge with verbal cues. The result is FAR FAR less than perfect… but I hope you glean some sense of the joy!
Khemancho Photo Ops – Just for Fun
A friend of mine emailed me some photos of me and Khemancho having fun. Thought I would share them here.
Cultivating the Joyful Horse
It is important for humans to be able to know us on a deeper level if they want to cultivate joy with us. It is necessary to understand what joy is, what does joy feel like, and what does it look like in different horses. When a horse is allowed to express her true nature, there is joy. It is like the ducks we have at the farm. Every day they enjoy their ducky nature, which is diving into the pond and eating mud. That certainly would not be joyful for a horse! Neither do we like a lot of human -centric activities, or even human type comforts. We want, foremost, to enjoy our equine natures. Beyond that, different types of horses — the different horse characters — express joy in different ways. Humans cannot expect us to be joyful, when what you are asking us to do is against our most authentic nature! Take me, for instance, I’m Gypsie, the one up front in this photo. I type as the” Prince”. I like to set clear rules. I like to lead. Jhana (in the background) types as the Sargeant. She likes to follow clear rules. That makes us a perfect pair. It is no coincidence that we run the ring the way we do, me on the inside focused on the trainer, while Jhana shadows me like a loyal companion.
If you didn’t recognize us, you might expect that I was bold, and Jhana timid, but it is not as simplistic as that. When something scary happens, something that scares us both, Jhana takes over the lead, and confronts the ‘scary unknown’ in a very bold and agressive way, which allows me to take flight to a safe distance, and peruse the situation, and call out orders, if necessary.
We work as a team. There is no permanent “dominator”, as some humans like to imagine.
When Jhana had her babies, she turned them over to me for “lessons”. But the babies softened me, and I really spoil them too much. Let the humans around here take on their training! I’m learning to love life in my middle age.
So the point of this post — Cultivating the Joyful Horse — is that it requires humans not to project what joy should look like in this case or that — since what it looks like is different for different horse characters, and also changes as the situation changes. What is joyful to a horse of the type “Friend” is not at all the same as what is joyful for “the Tough One” or “the Victor”.
Joyfulness comes from the freedom and capacity to express one’s authentic nature. We recognize joy as enthusiasm. The capacity for joy is also dependent on the health of the horse, age, and training. Human can help cultivate joy and joyful relationships with us, by knowing our horsey nature, by recognizing our individual natures (character/ type) and by helping us stay healthy at all ages, and training our bodies to have the capacity to express our freedom and our joy. Humans can cultivate joy in themselves and learn what joy truly feels like. Then they can recognize horses on a very deep level, where the joyful energy arises in us. This is nature’s gift to horses.
In 2009 Alderlore will present a 5-day clinic on Cultivating the Joyful Horse for humans and their horses. Check our website in March for further details www.alderlore.org
Wishing you a JOY filled New Year,
Gypsie and Jhana
The Horses at Alderlore Present 