There are, I believe, things in this world/Universe that are not "scientific" -- that science cannot explain. Science is a useful tool, but like a hammer, has its limits. I suppose this makes sense to horsemen who have a connection with their horses that can't really be explained, especially by science.
And so people make up religions to explain things. I don't think that works so well either because then they get in fights about how literal seven days is or whether daylight savings time or gay marriage is "Biblical" or not. I just think there are some things I can't explain from this dimension. Like dreams and how they make sense when you are dreaming them but when you wake up suddenly they don't make a lick of sense -- because they were dealing in a different dimensionality. Like the fact that so many "religious" things (writings, experiences, whatever) are similar across religions and cultures -- the things in common are the most likely to be "real" or "right" or probably a much better word would be "useful".
All that to introduce today's woo woo. That I can't explain. That I don't know what it means. That I don't know where it will go. But it is definitely some synchronicity and it has been a persistent and long term synchronicity too.
So to tell the whole thing:
I grew up with horses. I thought that was going to be my whole life's thing by the time I was 18, but by the time I was 20, I had fallen into an abyss (or run full speed ahead into it) and for the next 20 years didn't have horses at all. That was timed pretty perfectly to coincide with the rise of "natural horsemanship". So I knew *nothing* about it.
Once I found horses again, it took me ten years to wiggle my way back to really being with them again. And that was where I really started learning about "natural horsemanship" (I mean, you know anyone who knows something about horses knows about some of this stuff, like release the daggummed pressure, but still). And that was the first place I heard the name "Buck Brannaman". That was 2011.
As soon as I heard that name, I found the movie and watched it, and as soon as I watched it I thought, oh gee, what would it be like to get to see him work? Probably only weeks after that Cielo said to me, "He's going to be near me in September. Want to come down?" So we did that. That was 2012.
Of course I'd no more that seen him mount a horse when I just thought, oh wow, wouldn't it be just grand to get to actually ride with him? And when his schedule came out for 2013 my husband said to call, and I called and I got in a clinic even tho at the moment of making that call I did not have the money to do it, I did not have a horse to do it with, I did not have a trailer to get a horse there in, and I did not have a truck to haul a horse trailer with. But by September of that year we'd worked all that out and there I was, riding with Buck. He said two things to me the entire four days: "Your timing is a little late on that Denise," and "That's better." It was so worth it. That was 2013.
Also at least since auditing I'd been poking around and trying to make connections with other folks. I'd say "like-minded" but I'm not sure that is right. But I'm always interested in people's stories, and how they came to know stuff, and be interested in stuff. And somehow in this search I'd found Kathleen. I know NOTHING about her but what was on her website, but she'd started in hunter/jumpers, she'd had a *very* serious setback young (a stroke in her case), and she was still doing horses. In the time I've followed her, she's gotten married, settled at a farm in Georgia, gone through a couple iterations of her business. I can relate to all of it. If I weren't neurotic about money, I'd have already had her to McPherson's for a clinic. But I'm neurotic. And right at this moment that isn't one I've got the time or energy to tackle because too many other really great things take up my time and energy.
At some point a fellow MM alum mentioned to me that she'd co-written a book with Mark Rashid. Hmmm. For whatever reasons, she doesn't mention that she worked with him for like a decade, but she is listed as a trusted trainer on his site. But the library didn't have any of his books.
So then, last fall I'm getting some hay from my friend Johnnie and we of course spend an hour talking horses which is why my husband did not go with me to help me load the hay. And she confessed, "You know, probably my very favorite trainer/writer is Mark Rashid." Well, goosebumps. I told her about my stalking of Kathleen, and we both got goosebumps. That was 2014.
Now in the meantime, I work at a very Parelli barn. And I'd gotten my level one and level two pretty quickly. But Parelli seemed a lot like Spanish to me and I struggled some. Finally, now, after nearly four years, I'm beginning to find some fluency. And some real usefulness. My daughter helped me at Buck and started riding after that and this year she, not I, rode in the Carol Coppinger clinic that McPherson's sponsors every year. And she got her level one and level two. I missed riding, and I'm determined that yes I can get my level three, etc., but one of the things that Johnnie and I did was take the opportunity to exchange books with each other. I took her Buck's ground work book, plus a video or two. She brought me one she had from Mark Rashid. This is 2015.
Today the clinic has been over maybe 10 days, and I finally got around to posting the photos from the clinic although not to organizing my notes yet. But it took me until today to pick up the book she'd brought for me and finally really look at it.
And I opened it up and.
The first thing I see is.
Skyhorse Publishing.
Goosebumps. Because, if you don't know, that's my real chosen last name.
I can't explain. I don't know what it means. I don't
know where it will go. But it is definitely some synchronicity and it
has been a persistent and long term synchronicity too. All I am doing is paying attention. Acknowledging. Continuing to encourage the good and the happy and the meaningful and the useful and the just plain full and shed otherwise.
