Honor in Horses Blog

Long Awaited Dentist, Podcast Overload, Mountain that’s Easily Climbed. 5 Steps #13

Snakes in the Garden, Hope in the Future, Student of Technique or the Horse? 5 Steps #12

Freedom to Choose x3, Unexpected Dismount and Round Pen Ready. Journey to Wholeness #11.

A Mountain that’s Easily Climbed, Gopher Friends, The Man who Listens to Horses. Journey to Wholeness #10.

Story of a Self-Appointed Coach, Cardio Connections, Training to be Better. Journey to Wholeness #9

What’s True… Is True… Is True. The Band-Aid Saddle, Piaffe: The Path to Fire…

Empathy and Attuning: “I finally nailed it! I’ve been working on attuning to people’s needs more and being an empathetic friend. It’s not easy for me. I feel really awkward and out of place trying to be empathetic rather than voicing my opinion and trying to fix things. But this week, I did it!” … 6 days later … I’m cracking up at this currently. I wrote this last week shortly after sending out my last 5 Steps blog. Here I am now, staring at this “I’ve finally nailed it at empathy and attuning section” realizing how little did I know. At the same time, I’m really grateful that I am having that response, because thanks to a huge emotional meltdown I went through shortly after writing that, I have realized that 1) Doing empathy and being empathetic are quite different, it’s really the “being” that I’m after. And thankfully, because of that emotional meltdown-turned-work through experience, I felt for the first time in my adult life what it was like being empathic, rather than “doing” it. And it felt wonderful. And natural. I want more of my life of being empathetic to those around me than trying to do empathy (though, I’m sure it was the

1. Setting Things Down: During the first clinic I attended with Pippa Callanan (an exquisite teacher of horsemanship/French Classical Dressage), she handed out a worksheet called “Developing Symmetry through Asymmetric Movements.” It was a simple table: 9 Rows long, 3 Columns wide and was supposed to have something to do with riding. I looked at it and my eyes went cross and I thought it might be in French, but upon further investigation, it wasn’t. That didn’t matter, though, because I still had not a clue what it meant. Pippa explained it further, and while I’m sure what she was saying made complete sense, it was still over my head. Instead of being determined to figure it out, I said to myself: “One day, I’m going to take a look at this, and I’m going to know exactly what this means” as I folded it up and tucked it away in my notebook. This was October 2022. I have come across it a handful of times since then, picked it up, taken a look, folded it back up and said: “still nothing.” It happened again this week, except, this time when I opened it up, I knew exactly what it

First Solo Ride: I’ve went from riding when someone can hang-out with Kadima (not an easy thing to do consistently), to riding while she naps inside (which was a win in itself at one time), to finally, finally taking a ride while she neither naps nor is entertained by someone else. (Thanks, trampoline). While this may seem small, this was a HUGE victory in my world. It’s my heart to be able to involve her in my life and dream as much as possible, so she gets to experience her Ima (mama) following her dream and passion, and when she one day uncovers her own special calling, she will have this to look back on and be encouraged to say YES.  Broken Saddle: A couple weeks ago, Rocki took a freestyle spin around our property -bridle, saddle and all – and unfortunately picked a path under a pine tree with a horizontal branch about the same height as she is. At a full run, she ducked enough for herself, but not enough for my saddle. I didn’t realize the impact, but when she decided she’d had her fun and let me be a part of her life again, I saw the dressage saddle that now looked

Hey all!  As usual, it’s been awhile :). I wanted to send out an update, as you’ll be hearing from me much more often from here on out!  To put it lightly, 2024 has started off with leaps for the Kallstrom family. Through various means, I realized an unfinished dream still burning inside of me. That dream? Making it to the NFR in barrel racing – the right way. When I mustered up the courage to face this long enough to answer each fear that subsequently surfaced, it was clear that this was the journey that I was meant to be on. Not for the sake of the “glory” of making the finals, but rather that this is the specific journey chosen for me that will bring the whole-healing I have been seeking (more on what that means to me, later!). Not wanting to miss that opportunity, I gathered up everything within me to change my answer from avoidance to YES and that is what has brought me here.  We’ve followed Chad at Giant 5 Guy (subscribe here) for some time and look up to so much that encompasses his life and family. The 5 weekly bullet points are both