More people are taking a new turn for themselves in regards to their relationship with horses. Less people are prone to want a horse to serve them in some way. People are beginning to want a horse to have a relationship with them instead of looking at a horse as an object that is dispensable, that they can get rid of, when their child goes off to college for example.

All of this is such good news and as things are changing more people are realizing that a horse is something you need to care for all his life and if we are going to own one we should keep it to the end if we can. I just had a horse at my ranch get an ulcer and the bill is really very high. He was in the hospital for two days and now he has been put on medicine that costs US$45.00 a day. He needs to be on it for 30 days. I should have had insurance but I did not.

The point of this message is that horses can be expensive and we need to be able to handle the costs as they occur. The horse’s … Read more

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For those of us gifted at birth with a natural affinity for horses, or those of us who as children developed a fantasy surrounding these marvelous creatures after reading King of the Wind, Black Beauty, or Fury, we gave special anthropomorphic quality to horses and that magical relationship based on communication, trust and understanding.

However, for those of us who have somehow maintained contact with horses as we matured, the relationship and training have become somehow more pragmatic, more cut and dry. The magic of horsemanship has been relegated to our youth.

Yet what if our adult dealings with the horse could be somehow aligned with our youthful dreams of a close personal bond with our horse, while at the same time facilitating and enhancing our training program? What if training could be more than simply a human’s will imposed on the horse, and become instead a mutually shared partnership between horse and rider, based on a system of communication both could understand equally?

What if the horse could have a real voice and truly participate actively in his training, working with the rider to achieve success, without coercion or forceful means? … And what if, in … Read more

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Several months ago I watched a program on TV about Bruce Lee’s Philosophy of Life. As a student and instructor in martial arts, he had come to the conclusion that styles and formulae are inherently flawed and can block your ability to be like water, as he put it. Water, in his mind, was a great thing to emulate. I heard him say that if you pour water into a glass the water becomes the glass. If you pour water into a teapot it becomes the teapot.

He went on to say many things about the attributes of water. I was taken in by how passionate he was on wanting his students to step away from formulae and get in touch with their instinct and become the movement. He spoke of knowing how to deal with the broken rhythms and unpredictability of an opponent and use it as your great asset of strength and he felt that martial arts did not deal with these conditions. Martial arts he felt had become stuck in tradition and become blocked and less than it could be. I got the feeling he would have said it had lost the water energy he had been … Read more

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Hi. When Sharing Space, the first quality of connection you would hope to have with your horse would be gentle and kind with a feeling of friendship. Where safety would never be a concern for the human or horse, without the worry about being pushed around, and mauled. Most yearning colts go though a period that is a little intimidating for their owners and this is what was occurring with Morning Star.

Shaping a relationship and connection with a foal can be a tricky business because things can go wrong, like getting the foal angry which can lead to more aggressiveness. Also he could decide that he does not like people or he could get defensive and flighty making him harder to deal with. You cannot just reprimand a foal for doing something that you feel is dangerous and aggressive because the foal does not understand that he has done anything wrong since he does not yet have the ability to distinguish between right or wrong. From the foals’ perspective, he thinks that you, his friend, has turned on him.

So how did I approach my problem with Morning Star? When he was occupied at the far end of his … Read more

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I want people to see themselves as leaders, when this happens a student becomes empowered. I see my role as leading leaders. My first focus is to lead the person to use their ingenuity with the Waterhole Rituals. The Waterhole Ritual takes ingenuity for them to work. Discovering the leader within is as rewarding to the people in the course as it is for me. When people achieve a connection and working bond with their horse, it is as life enhancing for the horse as it is for the human. The student needs to apply the program as it suits them by choosing the ritual that will develop a stronger connection and dance with their horse. They discover how to communicate with their horse through a program that they develop for themselves. My part is to inspire and share a method that is a step by step process, that requires a venue where fences do not play a part in being able to help control the horse. This helps to guide the person to make the right choice in how to respond to their horse. I give a person a philosophy that will also empower their choice to guide them … Read more

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This is a note on how the Insider Circle is doing. I have read many of your stories and how many of you are having incredible experiences with your horses doing nothing… leading to something that could have never taken place if we had not be practicing the importance of the pause with the First Ritual, “Sharing Territory”. Some of you are going to be able to bring new discoveries to the horse world from your experiences being in this class. From these shared experiences, we will discover things that we did not know. From these shared experiences the world of horsemanship will advance and I will be learning new things as well.

We are always in the experimentation of creating willing connections and growing friendships with horses if we are truly present in the moment and a true leader, healer and student. Everyday I am learning something more about horses.

The horses enjoy our company as much as we do theirs and when this happens the dance is really quite natural but it surely is not a race to the dry cleaners. Sharing territory in the pause of feeling connected, horses are more willing to bond with us right … Read more

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Can you imagine a connection from a deep bond with your horse, a bond as deep as horses have with each other? Imagine your ability to lead, listen to your horse as well as to set the rules that create order and well being and a desire to dance in a partnership. Share on my blog if you will about a horse that you own or have known or herd about, read about or have see or imagine that fills your spirit as a true dance partner and then describe him, or make one up. When I was a child we would play games with our friends by describing the greatest horse we could imagine and then we would become that horse and run around town in a large herd acting out your roles and supporting each other and fighting imaginary predators.

With the Insider Circle group put some music on and dance with your imaginary horse at liberty with music to increase the timing of your body language and to let go of the adult mind and get in touch with your core energy. I practice this all the time.

• What do you want in a relationship with a

… Read more

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