Tag: feel

Hackamore Y Garrocha La Isla…

Posted on by Stefanie in Blog

Well, after a week of -25 and high winds left little time for anything other then survival and keeping everything warm and working, I am finding myself finally back with more pictures and stories of last summer…and remembering T-shirt weather…Remember???????

So the next clinic was on Vancouver Island, at my long time friend Deborah Flynn’s Twin Creeks Facility. Twin Creeks is such a beautiful location and Deb the consummate hostess, and it just set the tone for a great three days of Hackamore and Garrocha fun.

Laurel and Fancy looking well….Fancy!

As you may know, the hackamore is the the first stage of Bridle Horse Development and very dear to my heart, and of late, there has been a substantial amount of interest in what on earth I am doing with all this gear and what my point is and where does it go and why….sooooooo in answer to all these questions and more, the first Hackamore clinic was put on. Ironic to me that it took place in my old back yard, put on by me yet, when I would have given my eye teeth (whatever they are….:) to have had this opportunity 20 yrs, or even 10 yrs ago…..so fitting somehow…
Vicki D and Falemma…cantering:)

With a Garrocha segment as well, and BOY! has this proven to be an unexpected big hit addition to clinics. (I actually decided that there will be an entire Camp up here devoted to Garrocha just to give it the time it deserves….but more on that later….:)

The first morning of the Hackamore Clinic was devoted to going through the gear…sizes, diameters, cores and fit of the hackamore and mane hair mecate, and why they are made of the materials that they are. This is a very fascinating part of Bridle Horse development and crucial to allowing the horse the time to develop the Feel necessary to eventually carry the spade. It is a SIGNAL based philosophy, and as such demands a great deal from us as horsemen. Timing, Feel, release, balance, position, and weight all crucial to having the horse understand what we are asking. For me, I think the biggest contribution that the hackamore does in its brilliant design is that we humans simply cannot make a horse do anything in the hackamore, as they very quickly can get dull to it, bracey like you can’t imagine.


Alexa and Diva…just look at that drive, collection and Alexa’s position….

So, happily this really compels us to become increasingly aware of their feedback…watching, feeling, sensing what they are doing and indeed releasing BEFORE the maneuver happens allows them to be willing participants and empowered in their learning as well. Think of the implications of connection, rapport and confidence building. Every time I ride, I find new places of softness, ways of being that are more in harmony with my horse and it is pure magic.
So, after a great am of show and tell with the gear, it was off to fit everyone and get started with experiencing some of this for themselves. All the participants were so curious and open to what was been offered and the horses responding in the typical way…Whoa! What’s this heavy thing on my nose? And seeking that place of least resistance, vertical with that full neck arch, not just at the poll. And of course, therein lies the challenge….how do we help keep this carriage and respect with our guiding and active riding, soft hands and body awareness, because they very quickly give us brace feedback if we get it wrong….aaahhhhh! LOL…!

That afternoon, I introduced the Garrocha…on the ground first, going over the basic ‘rules’, why and how it is is used and the extremely beneficial rewards of integrating this oh so simple tool into our regular riding program. Everyone was dead certain that they would not be cantering with it by day three…and of course, all were.

Laurel and Fancy sorting it out and looking fine…

This single wooden pole is almost magical in its abilities….and is the most effective way of encouraging correct equation and seat, connection and focus, softness and Purpose! Virtually every aspect that we strive for is compressed into this artistic and fluid art and it seems to happen all by itself with far less struggle and tension. Its like the Spanish music and the very act of dancing somehow distracts us from all the ‘technical’ stuff we always think we need to learn and just Let Go, Flow, become absorbed in the Moment and Movement and learn almost in spite of ourselves. And the Horses….? They LOVE this thing….!


Meredith and her Good mare…and only their first day! See how everything is just lined up?


All in all a simply marvelous three days, and as you can see from the pictures, everyone who rode achieved beautiful moments full of grace and togetherness with their mounts.

And again…This gives tremendous focus for both, having the rider stay centered and not over or under steering, gives a point of reference and just causes both to be in line and together…or its not going to work….

Add in an each participant’s individual routine performed for us all to Spanish music, perfect weather and I for one cannot wait to do this again….!

Vicki executing the Inside Turn…

Which reminds me, yes, there is another Hackamore y Garrocha planned for June 8-10 of this year, the location on the Island is not yet set, but please, feel free to contact myself, or better yet, Alexa Linton at alexa.balanceworks@gmail.com ,my Island Clinic Organizer.


Alexa and D. Wish you could have seen their routine to the Spanish Music…Muy Beuno, Girls ! ~




Begin Again

Posted on by Stefanie in Blog


Well, it been quite some time, hasn’t it?

If I could count the number of times I’ve signed into my Blog….….…....and then left it.




Only just today do i understand why. Writing this first entry after my Mom’s story has proven to be one of the most difficult and challenging transitions of my life. It’s like finally admitting that life does indeed go on….

Oh, and Life has been so unceasingly busy this year. Go Figure. That I have perhaps orchestrated it that way is not lost on me. With no time to pause and reflect, to sit with the pain and emptiness that comes on Sunday mornings when I call her to share… hand frozen on the phone as I remember. When I have to make trips back to the Island on that ferry and the pain crawls in close then as I usually miss a boat and am left with no choice but to sit quietly for 2 hrs surrounded with decades of memories. As randomly as grocery shopping…Chocolate….Lilacs…The screwy hour hand on the clock in my kitchen……my mohair hand knitted mittens.

Christmas………..



I have been for the most part able to carry on as if she may soon be coming back….But like her dear Soul Dog, Toby, I have finally begun to get that she is just not coming back.


Ever.

I had a visit with him last time on the Island, and he was just done waiting and so, off he went off to find her. Another piece of her goes as well for us, and yet, life goes on…

Don’t get me wrong….I love life and understand its ebb and flow and rhythms that color it and shape it and mold it to be always perfect, balanced and natural intellectually and spiritually. But Emotionally?

It hurts like hell and I miss my mom so much it staggers me sometimes.

I will heal. I will allow the pain to come in and pass thru. I will be still enough to feel. I know that she has never left me. I see her in every Red Tailed Hawk that flies so often in my path whenever I am unsure or question…..

This grieving process is a first timer for me and my compassion for those who have lost one so close knows no bounds now…I get it. Hiding in buckets of work is what we Travers’s like to do, and feeling the bad stuff sucks, but better out then in. So I learn a new ability. I feel the tender raw new sensations and the dirty, gritty, rotten old ones as well. The sweet taste of memories running down my face, the empty ache inside that I simply just need to allow myself to surrender to. Odd I suppose that it has taken so long for me to really feel this, but then again, I guess not. I am the past master at not feeling, and well well well…don’t old habits die hard when the chips are down.

The most beautiful thing about all this though? The only thing I need to do is also the hardest thing to do. Feel and feel and feel and feel and feel and then…


Let Go…

and begin again.


From Ignorance to Bliss….

Posted on by Stefanie in Uncategorized

It doesn’t really surpise me that I have not taken any photos of her.

She just has that effect on the world and has just as little expectation back of it.

Just a small bay mare, not quite a horse, not quite a pony, plain face and body( complete with the hyper-vigilant ewe-neck) with 16 yrs of calloused indifference to life and humans. She had zero pride in herself, scruffy and unkept, and would roll in the muddiest, urine soaked corner of her pen. Add to this a developing tendency to extreme reactions when asked to do the simplest things and as a result was beginning to hurt people. At an age when most horses are starting to become labeled as “dependable”,”steady” “Broke” she was just broken. Embittered, resentful, hard and ill- mannered. Somehow this small, unremarkable mare managed to bring out the very worst in those around her, and anger was the main emotion. My first week working with her, ” Ignorant” was the word I found myself mentally using on her…………….

I would try all the usual methods I have developed to connect in the first week, and met with absolute failure. I sat in her pen, took her grazing, brushed with super soft brush, played the ‘waiting game’, moved her around on-line gently establishing lines of respect and communication, looked for her itchy spots.

Nothing.

She would allow me to catch her, but that reaction of running off/rearing/turning away/focused on her buddies/flinging her head in the air was a constant presence and to be honest, I felt myself becoming just as triggered as everyone else had handling this mare….”Ignorant Cow” I would mutter under my breathe as she flew backwards for the 6th time as I attempted to brush the crusted filth her mane……

And then I got MAD!

MAD, MAD, MAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can’t even begin to tell you how p-d off I was! Here is this little horse, hard, calloused, ignorant and ugly struggling with me for her survival, and all because SHE was the one treated Ignorantly by Ignorant people. Ignorant in every meaning of the word to be sure, but the damage was done. This horse could wear pressure in some places (on her sides and mouth) like crazy, and had zero tolerance for any (on her sides and mouth) in other places. And those crazy reactions? Simply her capacity for being treated ‘ignorantly’ had been reached,her intolerance to engaging in the simplest of tasks reflecting it. She simply would not bend to human will any longer. This ended up being her saving grace, and thus she ended up here with me. Having lived with emotional distance as protection, and trust a trigger word, I could relate when I finally allowed myself to feel her…..

What I found under the hardness was a gift of tenderness. Like a freshly exfoliated callous, there is super sensitive new tissue. And raw fear, of course. Lack of trust knowing what would be the point in it anyway, as it must have brought confusion and (to her anyway) a threat to her very survival.

For me, it was the tiny moments of pure relaxation, when her erratic breathing calmed ( and this was just standing with her folks), when I felt her surprise when I acknowledged her slightest try with a certain degree of consistency, when I told her she was beautiful and very clever (and truly meant it) when we figured something out together……When I felt her begin to enjoy (even for a few strides) our rides together, when she knew that she was right with me and I would completely leave her alone, loose rein and rubs on the neck…”Good Girl”! blow blow blow….
When she would challenge my leadership with a couple bucks, and attempts to return to home and I would emphatically correct her….then leave her alone, trusting her to chose comfort with me, and then yesterday………….

After a new trail along the river complete with bridges, cows, and torrential rain, we sauntered in, loose reined and low headed completely tuned in to one another and unconcerned with any horse on the property, with eyes that followed me as we untacked and such softness in her body as I brushed the rain soaked hair best that I could, and felt such incredible tenderness well up in me towards this little brave mare for showing and reflecting yet another piece of the puzzle ………of horses, myself and life.

I believe no one means to harden another soul on purpose, it happens from ignorance, lack of awareness, low level of consciousness. How often does force come into play when knowledge runs out? Or simply the willingness to connect and pay attention to that whom we are interacting? To slow down and feel, and see, and hear, and be present? How often do we attempt to attach blame instead of simply trying to understand? I come away feeling we are all trying the best we can, but hoping that we all have the courage to seek a change for the better as our heroine of this tale did…

Thank you, beautiful little bay mare…………


Finding a Feel

Posted on by Stefanie in Uncategorized

So….we did it! Just fresh back from the Island and the Finding a Feel Workshop with Alexa Linton in Duncan….! What a weekend! And Twin Creeks is such a idyllic spot to hold the workshop, with the weather co-operating perfectly as well it unfolded as 7 brave folks explored a new frontier of Feel…and broke the ice on some very fascinating depths and challenged themselves to slow down, breathe and gently enter their horses world, on their terms. A challenging topic to teach historically ( and for real, I might add!) but intensely important and the next piece for a more complete picture of our horsemanship journey. I for one, again became a student as the the roles are constantly flowing between student and teacher; horse and human.


Feedback loops of soft tries, hard spots, awkward moments, judgments, raw spots, tender connections, belly laughs, and surprises of insight. Touching the places in stillness where we so often shy away from with our busy minds and allowing the space for our horses to come to us….


This certainly was a different clinic lots of meditation, exploring our senses and beliefs, becoming open to new possibilities of interactions with our equine partner with things we take for granted such as bridling and leading, and how they can hold such learning and connection for us……

Alexa’s work with body talk, energy reading and intuitive readings was truly remarkable with epiphany’s everywhere all weekend. She did a great job of leading us through the fascinating Meditations and being such a pleasure to work with…the scope of Alexa’s knowledge and feel, dovetailing perfectly with my exploration of awareness and sensitivity of the horses……blending into a uniquely personal journey for all.





I loved the ‘Feel’ of this weekend.


The easy camaraderie, laughter, questions raised, and support shown for all of that are us fascinated in raising our understanding of this horse/ human connection, with all its rewards, mirroring, interweaving of lessons and deep truths. It was a pleasure to witness and be a part of and Heartfelt Thanks to all who participated and allowed Alexa and myself to be both student and teacher alongside you and your horses….. There is still a couple spaces available for the Squamish Feel workshop in September if this causes any interest to raise up in you……:)

This Phenomenal series of photos were taken once again, by my unsung Best Friend and support Crew Chief of Staff…….

Inet Sladecek!

Thanks, Sister!…without your insight, talents and friendship, I would sure not be where I am….:)