Our Need for Perfection

Photo by: Jessica Trinh Sometimes it feels as though the world is suffocating from a thick need for perfection. Social media is no help – we see the highlight reels of everyone’s lives constantly. TV shows, Facebook, Instagram… most of it is very staged and only a rare few will share their mistakes or “low points” with the world. So even …

What Mother Nature Put In There

 “A horse is a very sensitive animal. He can feel a fly land on him. You folks who have been around horses know that because you put fly spray on him in the summertime. And yet when you ride him, you ride him like he doesn’t have any feeling. You ride him with a chain curb strap, a tie-down, martingale, …

Give What You Take

Nature cannot function without balance. A species won’t take and take without contributing  something of their own. When we take, we have to give something, too. You can think of it as a what-goes-around-comes-around kind of situation. The truth is, the same goes for interacting with people – so this is an important concept. For one reason or another, it’s …

Analyzing Our Frustrations

I guess I could describe the epiphany I had this morning as the crossroad between optimism and pessimism. Since that says hardly anything, I’ll elaborate! Just to be clear, these are mere generalizations. Pessimists have an easy time lingering on the moments that weigh a person down and all-things-negative jump out at them. This is not necessarily always a bad …

Wolves are smarter than dogs…?

Everyone has their own and usually very strong opinions about dog training and how much we can compare dogs to wolves. So instead of focusing on that, let’s look at an experiment that was done on dog teamwork. Many species can work together in order to reach a mutual goal, in this case: food. A box with two ends of …

Our Companion’s Freedom

“Can animals in human company be free in any meaningful sense?” -Bekoff, Marc. The Animals’ Agenda: Freedom, Compassion, and Coexistence in the Human Age (p. 137). Beacon Press. Kindle Edition. This question has been haunting me for the last few months. Owning pets is so ingrained in our day-to-day lives, that it becomes difficult to step back and view it …

Does Fear Help Us?

Photo: lalettredelaphotographie.com What role does fear play in your life? Do you believe that fear is something to be ignored or something to be aware of? I believe we all think about it almost constantly, but we do so subconsciously. Especially when we work with animals, fear can come up quite a lot for some people. Even an experienced rider, …

Butterflies Help With Anxiety?

PHOTO: ANATOLI LIMASSOL-CYPRUS Watching Pat Parelli, the man who coined the term “natural horsemanship”, live is always an eye-opening experience. He has sayings that he will use over and over again. Because of that, they stick and you never forget them. There was one story which I only heard him tell once. Funny enough, it has stayed with me ever …

Illusion of Control

“I am not interested in control. For control of another thinking being is an illusion. What I seek is the cooperation that makes the pursuit of control unnecessary. To this end, rather than control a horse, I try to teach self control. Rather than restrain, I try to teach self restraint. And rather than discipline, I try to teach self-discipline. …

((Interview)) Shannon Riley

Today I am so proud to introduce you to one of my dearest friends, Shannon Riley. With a deep passion for horses as well as Ayurveda, she is merging these two worlds together. If you are interested in learning more, check out her website: www.wildcomefree.com Since our early teenage years, Shannon and I have gone on for hours talking about animal …