How do you take care of yourself? Would your horse approve?

How do you take care of yourself? Would your horse approve?
I was having a conversation this week that really hit me right between the eyes.  We bend over backwards for our horses to make sure of the following:

1. Peace - that they live in a peaceful environment.
2. Love - We want them to know they are loved.
3. Provided for - that they have everything they need
4. Truth - You can't lie to a horse; they see right to your soul. 

How do you take care of yourself?  Would your horse approve.

1. Peace - do you stay in a state of peace, trusting that life if going in the right direction?
2. Love - do you love yourself, 100%, with your whole heart?
3. Cared For - do you care for yourself, your health, your flexibility, your balance, your strength?
4. Truth - are you honest with yourself.  Living in the present moment, in joy.  Is your plate overfull and are their things you can say no too?

Would your horse take care of you better than you take care of yourself?

Here are some things that your horse would do for you:

Your horse loves you, would fill you up with love so you can love yourself, all of you, inside and out.  Your horse would provide nutritious food for you, food that would help you thrive.  They would research it and feed you the best food for you.  Your horse would make sure you were happy and fulfilled.  Your horse would want you to be 100% honest, with yourself and with them.  If you wanted to go for a ride, or just wanted to hang out, your horse would listen and be there for you.  Your horse would want to go on adventures with you, as long as you were present, not worrying about the future and not depressed about the past, but in joy, right here, right now.

Love from me, love from my bay girls.  Love yourself first.

Horses, Fear, and FAITH

Horses, Fear, and FAITH
I FELT the horses with me, I FELT Their HEART. 


I was in a conversation this morning and the person really wanted to move to Hawaii, but was "LED" to move to Florida instead. As soon as she said it, I had a POWERFUL HEART emotional reaction! 

Our horses, trust us to LEAD them, they do not know where they are being led, they put complete TRUST into us keeping them safe, leading them on their journey, and they trust us 100% to know the destination.  This is so powerful for me.  I need to trust and have faith that I am being led on this journey to courage and the journey to help others find their COURAGE! 

I have struggled with fear and riding.  I am coming to Trust my horse, for her to keep me safe.  The more I trust her, the more confidence she gets.  The more I LEAD her and keep her safe riding or on the ground, the more TRUST she has in me.

Courage Pennies!

Every step of trust, for me, for my horse, is a COURAGE PENNY!  Picture a beautiful bowl for you and a beautiful bowl for your horse, and every step of trust, puts a shiny Courage Penny into those bowls.  As those bowls fill up, FEAR has no room, Fear diminishes, FEAR GOES AWAY!

Simple exercise to start filling your bowl with your Courage Pennies:

I have been doing this and it is so rewarding!  You can do it mounted or from the ground so that is a bonus!

  1. As you are with your horse or riding your horse, pay attention to them and their ears.  Their ears tell a lot about their emotions so this is so important to get in tune with their ears.  The best time to do this exercise the first few times is when their ears are relaxed or they are calm.  
  2. Move as little as you can to get their ear to flick to you.  In some cases, this might be a touch on the lead rope or rein, or a slight move of your foot, or a wave of your hand.  In some cases, you will have to become a mountain lion to get their attention on you.  Play with this.  The goal is to get an ear to flick to you with just a SLIGHT movement.  There are two purposes for this!  They will start to pay attention to you with just very subtle connection and you will begin to pay attention to them before you get into a situation that they are already gone mentally.
  3. Once you have this working really well, it can take a few minutes or a few months so don't worry about how long it takes, start practicing it when things are escalating.  When their EARS are FOCUSED on that DEER, That CAR Screeching BY, and you can control this with having people help you.  Have someone crinkle a water bottle, that is a good one for triggering.  Again repeat the exercise with getting an EAR.
  4. You want to do all of this on the ground and riding!
  5. Reward - 100 Courage Pennies for being able to do this subtle on the ground when they are VERY ALERT and 200 Courage Pennies when you get it riding!!!!!
If you have enjoyed this post and you are not already in my COURAGE group, please join our free group and get the support of all of us on this journey!  Click Here! Happy, Courageous, Horses and Riders!