- Equestrian Covenant: During the last clinic with Pippa she gave an out-of-this-world presentation on the principals of French Classical Dressage / what we vow to our horses as a rider. She shared some of her own and encouraged us to create our own on paper. I finally set down and took on this challenge. When she presented, I couldn’t help but see that it really needed to be set up in a way with primaries on top, and the specifics of how exactly to fulfill the top and then I realized this is already done in Scripture with the greatest commandment, the ten commandments, and the 613 found in the Torah to define how to accomplish the greatest one. For my equine covenant, I imagine the greatest will always remain, the 10 may be adjusted over time but the definers will likely change throughout the whole course of my life as I journey in learning how to fulfill the greatest in truth. Thank you, Pippa for encouraging taking the time to really define what you stand for as an equestrian. (See my list at the bottom!)
- A Mountain that’s Easily Climbed: I got to meet with Janet again for our monthly check in and session. As we went through many things and uncovered more work there is to be done in my life, she ended with: “You’re climbing a big mountain, but it’s a mountain that’s easily climbed.” I’m not sure I know what all that means to me yet, but I know it is significant. I’m looking forward to discovering more.
- Gopher Friends: Uriah was understandably getting pretty offended by gophers taking out some of his garden. A friend brought him over a couple traps that he said he was going to set. We have had this desire to not fight with creation and work with the land we are stewarding, so this surprised and concerned me. We went back and forth in conversation and finally started to ask the question: “What are gophers’ role in creation? What are they good for?” Turns out, they’re good for a lot and they are phenomenal at doing the work they were created to do. It might look like you are losing some of your plants, but their work increases root growth and plant health so while you may lose some, there’s research to suggest that the growth from their work more than makes up for what they take away. Yah’s creation all around us is fulfilling their designed purpose and here we are willing to fight to their death to see them stop. Something is wrong with that picture. We re-watched Biggest Little Farm and it further inspired us to work with creation; to go into the resistance rather than to fight it. May our partnership with the gophers turn out well.
- Somatics and Horses | An Interview: I got to interview with Chelle Wagner from Heart of the Tribes along with Teresa Ojinma on testimonies from my work with somatics and my horses. We covered a lot of ground from how the body stores trauma, the link to somatics and movement, emotions, forgiveness, a clinic experience I had, and lots of horse testimonies. I loved talking with these gals. You can watch this interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh9tpbzed5I
- The Man who Listens to Horses: This is a book I started reading over the weekend. I came across a story of his about a horse that had troubles on the racetrack. He wrote: “Horses do not move away from pressure, they move into it.” Horses (and gophers) don’t fight their nature. We shouldn’t either. He continues on: “Horses are into pressure animals. I knew that the whip inflicted by Hey Sam’s riders on his outside flanks was causing him to go the opposite way to the one that might be expected, and we had to change that. I worked for about six months, taking all pressure off the outside. Instead, I started to use my leg well back on the inside, schooling him to bring his head more toward the rail and to be happy doing it. He was not a bad horse and had no evil in him. He learned and he changed significantly… Hey Sam went on to win twelve races, and earned his owner more than $100,000” (this was way back when that was about $1M in today’s earnings). Like gophers and horses, all of creation is following the laws of their Creator. When will us humans catch on?
5 Steps Closer, thank you for coming along.
Nicole & The Team,
Uriah, Kadima, Birdie, Blondie, Dean, Grace, Rocki, Salily, Shasta & Shmini
