Category Archives: horses, dogs & more

Nov23

allowing part 2

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Last week when I went to work with Nelson I took some photographs.  Because I have been Clicker Training Nelson for a while, the clicking of the camera was soothing to him.  What was even more surprising, is that this formerly wild Mustang was posing.

Nelson has taught me a lot about allowing.  He has taught me invaluable lessons that translate into all the other parts of my life. Here are just a few:

  • How to wait.
  • How to move when the moment opens.
  • How to listen.
  • How to ask a different question.
  • How to soften.
  • How to allow the other to be who they are.
  • Persistence and devotion.
  • Unconditional love.

So as Thanksgiving approaches, I am thankful for Nelson.  That he is safe.  That he is in my life.

Where are you learning about allowing?

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Nov21

light & shadow

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I think that one of the things about becoming older is that the shadows get smaller.  More of me is revealed to myself and others, rust and all.

Riding, yoga and writing practice all help me to bring things forward into the light, illuminating what is hidden in the shadows.  Each time I ride I am seeking more and more sensitivity and refinement in what I feel from the horse and in my own body.  It is the same with my movement practices and with writing.

Taking photographs is teaching me that sometimes practicing is just about waiting for the light.  Or making peace with the shadows.

This week in The Journal I am writing about what happened when I went to have new headshots taken.

Where are you feeling the light today?

Nov17

catching the wind(horse)

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Photo:  Jeffrey Anderson from the performance of Flight, by Paula Josa-Jones and her company.  Paola Styron, dancer and aerialist with the stallion Capprichio ridden by Brandi Rivera.

Twelve years ago we adopted our daughter from Nepal.  Doing that was a leap of faith, requiring great steadiness of purpose.

During the seven weeks we spent battling American and Nepali bureaucracies, we hung prayer flags, poured rum into the belly of the Mahakala (on the advice of a lama) and sought the counsel of Tibetan Buddhist seers, who threw what is called a mo, and told us time and again that things would eventually work out.

We harnessed the windhorse – the bearer of prayers.  Which, in my experience, requires a certain kind of diligent daily yoga.  Again, you show up each day and begin again.  Take a daily leap of faith.

Little ones count.  That is the theme this week in The Journal.

How are you catching the windhorse?

Nov16

water horse

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Photo:  Gabrielle Boiselle

I am deep in a book. I read the review in last week’s Sunday  New York Times, and immediately dove in.  It is The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.  It is a taut, breathtaking gallop of a book about the capaill uisce (water horses) – beautiful, ferocious creatures that live in the sea and rise out of it to attack whatever roams too near the water.  

“These are not ordinary horses. Drape them with charms, hide them from the sea, but today, on the beach:  Do not turn your back.

Some of the horses have lathered.  Froth drips down their lips and chests, looking like sea foam, hiding the teeth that will tear into men later.”

I am halfway through, so this will be short.

I give The Scorpio Races a 10 out of 10!

What are you reading?