Authors of Horse With a Mission

Why do you say that horses are awe-inspiring spiritual beings and that they have missions?

As we gathered stories and did the research for this book, it became clearer to us that horses are sentient beings who make choices, display creativity, and show compassion and gratitude. They give service and fulfill their callings in ways that offer lessons to everyone who has ever wondered what their mission in life might be or how to follow their dreams. We found that horses are displaying spiritual qualities through their high levels of intelligence combined with free will. It surprised us to observe how well horses hide who they really are when they don’t want to be discovered. One of the reasons why the stories in this anthology are so valuable is that they give readers a glimpse into the secrets of horses. The contributors to this book discovered horse world and write about it compellingly so that the rest of us can experience hidden treasures.

The subjects of a story in your book about a special Hurricane Katrina survivor went viral on the Internet, landed in the New York Times, and were featured on CBS Evening News. Tell us about Molly, the three-legged pony giving hope to New Orleans. (“Molly, the Three-Legged Pony Who Gave Hope to New Orleans” by Kaye T. Harris, New Orleans www.mollythepony.com)

Kaye T. Harris worked tirelessly to rescue animals with MuttShack Animal Triage Center in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. She rescued a pony named Molly who had survived the storms and having a tree fall into her stall. After Kaye brought Molly to her ranch where she raises ponies, in a freak accident, a rescued dog chewed off Molly’s leg. With her loss of a leg, surgery, and prosthetic device, Molly inspired the people of New Orleans and admirers around the world. Now Molly and Kaye visit children’s hospitals, nursing homes, and other places that invite them to spread their message of hope.

A New Jersey social studies teacher made an incredible journey from New York to California on his dedicated horse to bring attention to the contributions of African Americans in history. Millions of school children and people followed them on the Internet. What did Miles J. Dean and horse Sankofa (san-KOH-fah) accomplish? (“Sankofa, the Horse Who Rewrote History” by Miles J. Dean, Piscataway, New Jersey, www.milesdean.com)

Sankofa, a wise-beyond-his-years stallion, made it possible for social studies teacher Miles J. Dean to complete a cross-country journey in tribute to African American ancestors. Miles had become frustrated with how little he found in his middle school history texts about African American contributions to the settling of America, especially during the era when horses were the main means of transportation. He had a dream of remedying this situation by riding a horse with stops along the way in thirteen states to be chronicled on a website that followed their progress. Millions of adults and schoolchildren followed their odyssey as Miles and Sankofa made history come alive.

An important part of our heritage is being lost as wild horses vanish from places where they have lived for centuries. What did Karen Sussman do to keep horses and history alive with the lead mare Diana and her rare Gila herd? (“Diana, the Saga of a Wild Horse” by Karen Sussman, Lantry, South Dakota, www.ispmb.org)

Karen Sussman, president of International Society for the Protection of Mustangs and Burros, tells the story of Diana and her rare Gila, Arizona herd of wild horses. Karen’s organization rescued the Gila herd and brought them to safety on a ranch near the Badlands on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. Diana, the herd’s proud and resourceful lead mare protected her herd and taught great lessons of love and forgiveness. This story contains fascinating information about the reasons for preserving these magnificent wild horses that are part of America’s heritage and the historical and current factors that are driving them to extinction.

How did a horse’s belief in a severely disabled girl cause the child to speak for the first time and give hope to her mother? (“Butch, the Horse Who Believed in My Daughter” by Jodi Buchan, Bemidji, Minnesota)

Butch, a retired gelding worked with the Snow Mountain Ranch Therapeutic Riding program in Colorado. An intuitive and patient horse, he gave the gift of hope to Jodi Buchanan who had succumbed to experts’ opinions. They had caused her to stop believing her daughter Katie could rise above profound mental retardation. Ten-year-old Katie, with the help of Butch, said her first words ever while riding Butch for the first time and restored Jodi’s hopes for her child’s future.

What are some of the most unusual missions horses have?

In the introduction to Horses with a Mission we offer vignettes of horses who have found and fulfilled callings that most wouldn’t think a horse could do.

Horses with a Mission: Extraordinary True Stories of Equine Service
By Allen and Linda Anderson
September 22, 2009 • Animals • Trade Paper
$14.95 • 288 pages • B&W Photos Throughout • ISBN: 978-1-57731-648-0

If you had told Lynn Reardon, who six years ago was working as a finance manager of a nonprofit in Washington, DC, that one day she would run a racehorse adoption ranch in rural Texas, she would have told you that you were crazy. In Beyond the Homestretch Lynn tells the story of her transformation from office drone to racehorse whisperer, from someone who didn’t learn to ride until she was an adult to director of an organization that has saved more than 725 thoroughbreds from uncertain fates.

In 2004 Lynn quit her day job, moved to Texas, and opened LOPE (LoneStar Outreach to Place Ex-Racers). There were just a couple problems — she had little horse training experience and absolutely no farm management skills. To her shock, racehorses started arriving right away — nearly 40 the first year, 112 by the third year — all with special needs and vivid personalities, demanding her immediate attention. As the sole ranch employee, she had to teach herself to be a racehorse career counselor — and fast!

At the LOPE adoption ranch, Reardon encountered dozens of unruly racehorses, all with special needs, unusual histories, and vivid personalities. As she fumbled to help them make the shift to new careers, they returned the favor — by becoming her most memorable mentors in horsemanship and life philosophy. The horses themselves are a central focus of the book, with their fascinating racing careers, spirited natures, and gripping veterinary needs. Reardon’s own story, that of a stressed-out office worker turned capable ranch hand, is told through her experiences with the horses.

Horses like Tawakoni, the son of a Kentucky Derby winner, and Endofthestorm, the speedy bay who required an emergency tracheotomy, give Reardon — and readers — an apprenticeship in facing fear and finding a new life. Her journey of seeing life through the eyes of an equine athlete has taught her more than she ever expected. In Beyond The Homestretch, Reardon takes readers along for the ride, one filled with fiery racehorses, offbeat horse people, colorful Texas culture clashes, veterinary melodramas and surprising insights.

Lynn Reardon is the founder and executive director of LOPE (LoneStar Outreach to Place Ex-Racers), a nonprofit racehorse adoption organization. Prior to her position at LOPE, she worked in nonprofit finance and administrative management in the Washington, D.C. area. She and her husband live outside of Austin, TX and her website is www.lopetx.org.

Contact: Monique Muhlenkamp
New World Library
800-972-6657 ext. 15
Monique@newworldlibrary.com

Beyond the Homestretch: What I Learned from Saving Racehorses
By Lynn Reardon
November 23, 2009 • Animals • Cloth
$23.95 • 320 pages • ISBN: 978-1-57731-580-3

Heartwarming and Amazing True Stories that Show How Horses Help Humans by Enriching, Inspiring, and Even Saving Lives

By Allen and Linda Anderson

Fascinating, mystifying, highly intelligent — horses have evoked awe in humans for thousands of years. The annals of history and literature speak of equines who made adventure, power and the fulfillment of dreams possible for individual humans and entire cultures. Horses with a Mission: Extraordinary True Stories of Equine Service focuses on an aspect of horses that remains unexplored in today’s utilitarian world: horses as vibrant spiritual beings, infused with purpose and intention.

Allen and Linda Anderson say, “If you’ve ever thought that horses only display their abilities on race tracks, in riding stables, in beer commercials, in movies, or as participants in sporting events, you’re missing out on their ever-expanding services as sentient partners and willing coworkers.”

In Horses with a Mission, readers will meet horses who have saved people’s and animals’ lives, welcomed novices into the horse world, brought joy and comfort to the brokenhearted, and made it possible for people to fulfill lifelong ambitions — all without expecting anything in return. These horses not only carry riders but messages of unconditional love and hope as well. Divided into five chapters with the following headings: Offering Service, Inspiring, Teaching, Healing, and Bringing Joy and Hope, the book includes 21 dramatic and true stories with black and white photos throughout.

Allen and Linda Anderson are authors, inspirational speakers, and members of the clergy. They co-founded the Angel Animals Network, dedicated to increasing love and respect for all life — one story at a time. They are the best-selling authors of Angel Animals, Angel Dogs, Angel Cats, and Angel Horses. They share their home in Minneapolis with a menagerie of pets and donate a portion of revenue from their projects to animal shelters and organizations. Their website is www.angelanimals.net.

Contact: Monique Muhlenkamp
New World Library
800-972-6657 ext. 15
Monique@newworldlibrary.com

Horses with a Mission: Extraordinary True Stories of Equine Service
By Allen and Linda Anderson
September 22, 2009 • Animals • Trade Paper
$14.95 • 288 pages • B&W Photos Throughout • ISBN: 978-1-57731-648-0

Lynn Reardon

What I Learned from Saving Racehorses

Lynn Reardon is the founder and executive director of LOPE (LoneStar Outreach to Place Ex-Racers), a nonprofit racehorse adoption organization. Prior to her position at LOPE, she worked in nonprofit finance and administrative management in the Washington, D.C. area. She and her husband live outside of Austin, TX and her website is www.lopetx.org.

Why do ex-racehorses need help finding new homes? What would happen to them without places like your adoption ranch?

Most racehorses have been trained to run, but not to do anything else (like trail ride, jump or play polo). Plus racehorses have (usually unfair) reputations for being crazy, high-strung and impossible to retrain. People tend to shy away from choosing an ex-racehorse (especially one fresh from the track) as their next riding horse.

Another complication is that so many Thoroughbreds wash out of racing due to age, lack of speed, or injury every year. Stall space is limited at the racetracks and most trainers don’t own farms. There is no room to give an injured horse time to rest and heal. Most race trainers do their best to find homes for their horses — but the options can be limited. And the threat of auction (and “used horse” dealers) is never far away

Sometimes when a race trainer needs to move a horse quickly, horse dealers will move in, offering to buy the horse cheaply. The dealers usually then flip the horse at an auction for a fast profit. Auctions are the roulette of horse sale venues. Nice people attend these sales looking for reasonably priced horses — and so do less-pleasant individuals like rougher cowboys and meat dealers. Most racehorses, full of nervous energy and high spirits, rarely show well in crowded auction arenas, often scaring off the kinder, less-hardened bidders. They can be at risk for being bought by the meat dealers and sent to slaughterhouses in Mexico or Canada.

What are the top myths about ex-racehorses?

They never learn how to stop. At the track, the racing saddles are incredibly light (a few pounds) with tiny, short stirrups. Jockeys perch on their toes only; their seat and legs don’t make contact with the horse. Their main form of communication (and control) with their mount is through the reins. Racing reins are thick and heavy, nearly three times the size of regular reins. The jockey will often pull back on the reins, in a challenging manner, to urge the horse to run harder. So, to a racehorse, pulling back on the reins often means “go.” But to non -racing riders pulling back on the reins means “whoa.” You can see where the ex-racehorse and average rider might soon have a very uncomfortable misunderstanding on this point.

They are high-strung. The Thoroughbred has been bred selectively for its speed and ability to be trained. Without the inherent intelligence required to accept training at a young age and perform at high levels, no horse (no matter how fast) could be competitive at racing. This innate sensitivity, so important for successful racehorses, is often misinterpreted as a sign of hyperactive temperament. Thoroughbred champions are also like any other winning athlete – they tend to be proud, confident and somewhat prone to diva behavior. They don’t respond well to heavy handed treatment or force. A rider accustomed to less sensitive and more docile mounts may soon find his usual technique doesn’t go over well with an ex- racehorse. Also, horses still actively racing are on high energy feed, supplements and sometimes even legal steroids. If you take a horse straight off the track and expect him to suddenly be ready to trail ride at the walk – without giving him time to change his diet and adjust to his new lifestyle – you are setting the horse up for failure (and yourself for a very uncomfortable ride).

They are crazy and dangerous. What people usually mean by this is “I don’t understand my ex-racehorse, he’s so unpredictable.” Track horses are trained differently than regular riding horses. In some ways, they can seem very sophisticated – for example, they are often comfortable with the bustle of a track environment that includes large equipment, bright lights and crowd noises. Most racehorses are handled daily for hoof cleaning, grooming, bathing, mane clipping and so on. They are trailered frequently and can be quite relaxed for “road trips.” But on the flip side, there are many experiences that racehorses aren’t accustomed to, such as being near dogs (they aren’t allowed at any racetrack), standing still for mounting (jockeys are hoisted up into the tiny racing saddle as the horse walks off) or steering easily (racehorses run in a fairly straight line, other than rounding the large curves of the track oval). Most people expect a well trained riding horse to be consistent in its reactions – if they don’t understand the context of a racehorse’s training, they will be disturbed by a Thoroughbred that barely glances at a scary bulldozer, but bolts at the sight of a beagle. Or an ex-racehorse that standing quietly for the farrier and vet, but leaps sideways when someone mounts him.

Why don’t all racehorses with famous ancestors run fast?

This is a question that has tormented race breeders and handicappers for centuries. Horses are individuals and tend to be greater (or smaller) than the sum of their bloodlines. Some of the best racehorses came from average pedigrees. The most expensive (and well bred) racehorse ever, The Green Monkey, had a price tag of $16M as an unraced youngster. He turned out to be a true coach potato on the track.

As Seabiscuit and Seattle Slew both demonstrated, a champion revels in not just winning the race but also in beating his opponents. Competitive fire still comes down to each horse’s individual personality and drive. This is what truly makes racing great – the unpredictable nature of each horse and how it will respond when the starting gate clangs open.

Do you get attached to the horses (is it hard to see them leave)?

I do get attached – but it’s kind of like being a kindergarten teacher. You love all the kids in your class and miss them when they leave. But it would be wrong to hold them back – the time comes when they must graduate to their next level of accomplishment (or in the horses’s cases, their next vocation under saddle). You also are aware that there is a new group of kids heading your way – it’s their turn to be in your kindergarten class now. However, even with this sensible attitude, I still managed to adopt three of the horses myself. I’ve found that it’s emotionally dangerous to ride any of the horses too often – a bond develops after that 10th or 12th ride that can be hard to undo.

Lightening Ball, Tulsa Mambo and Kissin Sally Falls all were able to convince me that they needed to stay here at the LOPE Ranch. Lightening Ball is a moody, opinionated horse – he kept scaring off adopters until I finally figured out that he liked being my pleasure riding horse. Tulsa Mambo has the best sense of humor I’ve ever encountered in a horse, he charmed me into long term employment here. Sally and I had many memorable rides together. When it was time to list her for adoption, I just couldn’t do it – we had bonded into a team. All three of these horses help me with LOPE’s work in some way: ponying other horses, providing herd boss services or appearing at local clinics as an example of a quiet ex-racehorse.

Is it really possible for adult beginners to learn how to ride well (especially ex-racehorses)?

I think so, though I would recommend a less spastic route than the one I took. The key difference between adult and juvenile beginners is that adults know the potentially painful consequences of failure. They are more likely to tense up, to feel self conscious, and to project a negative “what if” scenario in the their minds. Horses immediately pick up on these reactions and mirror them back to the rider, often in unpleasant ways.

For an adult beginner, it’s important to build your confidence with lots of horse handling on the ground (so you can understand their reactions better), regular riding sessions, a good instructor and maybe a fitness plan. My riding improved quickly once I was doing more cardio work and mild weight lifting. Horses are physical creatures – they are very attuned to the physical presence and confidence of their rider.

The biggest principle to keep in mind is that horses, like people, are individuals. Many ex-racehorses (especially the ones that were too slow) make very suitable mounts for adult novices – once they’ve had some post-track let down time and retraining. We’ve seen especially mellow souls become therapeutic riding horses, children’s lesson horses and novice rider trail mounts – it all depends on each horse’s personality.

Who was your most memorable adoptee?

Tawakoni, the stallion and son of Grindstone (a Kentucky Derby winner), is definitely one of the most memorable adoptees. I had never handled a stallion before; several people advised me to geld him immediately. They warned me that a stallion would attack the other horses as well as me. When I took care of Tawakoni, I noticed how intelligent and kind he was – and how beautifully he was conformed. It just seemed wrong to geld him, even though it went against traditional rescue ethos to leave a horse as a stallion.

As I pondered this dilemma, the perfect adopter appeared, the owner of a family breeding operation for show horses. Her stallion had just died – and Tawakoni soon took his place. He now resides at one of the most beautiful ranches I’ve ever seen in the Texas Hill Country – and has bloomed into a confident, sweet sire of elegant show horse babies. Tawakoni was a living contradiction to all the negative perceptions I’d had of stallions – he and his new owner have taught me a great deal about not jumping to equine conclusions too quickly.

What did you have to give up in order to do this work?

I make a lot less money that I used to when I had a more traditional career. However, my income reduction has been balanced by a change in my personal spending habits. When I worked at a job that I didn’t like, I spent lots of money on expensive recreational activities on weekends. I wasn’t happy in general and because of that I was much more careless with finances at home. Now much of my work involves my favorite activities – so there’s no longer any need to go on that extravagant vacation or buy lots of shoes I never wear. This simplification of my lifestyle has helped make up for the income gap. I’ve also given up the idea of a big house, fancy car and lots of furniture as being symbols of success – in fact, my idea of a successful day or career or life has changed considerably since I opened the ranch. But this feels like a gain, rather than a loss.

I guess I’ve also given up the idea of being able to drop everything and travel the world at an instant’s notice (a longstanding fantasy of mine). A ranch full of ex-racehorses in need of rehab, retraining or emotional therapy does tend to tie you down a bit. I try to keep myself refreshed by taking some short trips every year, for a few days here and there. It’s not the same as spending a year teaching in China – but, on the other hand, my wanderlust has faded since I’ve found such meaningful work here with the horses.

How do you raise funds for the adoption program? Who supports you?

Even though I’m not a very experienced fundraiser, LOPE has been fortunate to be supported by many groups and individuals in the racing industry and horse world. Our largest support comes from the LOPE Founders Circle, a group of special funders who give LOPE $8,000 annually toward our annual budget. Our Founders include foundations, racetracks, an online horse community and individual race owners and horse lovers.

— continued —
We receive numerous donations from the general public, from people who hear about our work and want to help sponsor a horse, hold a fundraising drive or donate some hay. LOPE holds some annual fundraisers such as a benefit horse show each spring and an online silent auction each December. We filming a DVD in fall 2009 on how to retrain racehorses – our plan is to sell the DVD to help raise funds for the horses. My main form of fundraising outreach is to simply tell the ex-racehorses’s stories, their racing history, their personality quirks, their quest to find a new career after the homestretch.

Contact: Monique Muhlenkamp
New World Library
800-972-6657 ext. 15
Monique@newworldlibrary.com

Beyond the Homestretch: What I Learned from Saving Racehorses
By Lynn Reardon
November 23, 2009 • Animals • Cloth
$23.95 • 320 pages • ISBN-13: 978-1-57731-580-3

What was your childhood experience with horses? Were you a horse-crazy kid? What about your parents – did they recognize this interest?

As a child, I knew I would grow up to do three things: ride horses, fly airplanes, and become President of the United States. At age ten, I met my first goal. As children, my mother and her sisters went away to a wilderness camp in northern Michigan for years. When I was old enough to attend, I begged my mother to send me as well. On the brochure, I saw you could pick between different activities like archery, swimming, or horsemanship. I spent the summer of 1990 mucking stalls, and I loved it! I was about 4 ft. tall and couldn’t have weighed more than 80 pounds, but I never feared the horses. I felt at peace with the beasts that could crush me.
As I grew older, I took over the Camp Horsemanship Association riding program at Camp Cherith. I taught young girls how to ride western and bareback, how to groom, and how to set up overnight trail rides. By the time I was seventeen, I left home from the first day after high school let out until the day before we began again in the fall. My parents were sad that I chose to leave for months at a time, but they never told me “No.” The last year that I worked at the camp, we brought troubled inner-city girls up to the ranch to do a pseudo therapy program with them. We had no trained EAP instructors or anything, but we used a grass roots approach to building a program connecting girls with horses. It was the first time I witnessed the healing power of human-animal relationships. I watched as tough gangsters put down their knives and picked up a comb, or set down their marijuana to fill water troughs. I knew I would eventually find a way to revisit this concept later in life.

Capt. Michelle Ruehl in front of a Beechcraft C-12 King Air

How did you choose to join the military? Did you have to give up riding?
 

I used to sit on my grandfather’s knee and look at airplane books. He flew B-24’s in WWII and always encouraged me to dream big. He told me girls could fly airplanes if they wanted to, and I believed him. I entered the United States Air Force Academy in the summer of 1999. While a cadet, we were very busy, and I did not have much time to ride. I dabbled a bit with the equestrian team, but I had to focus on my grades and sports (rugby) to earn a grade point average high enough for a coveted pilot slot. Near my senior year, however, I found time to drive 40 minutes outside of town to Pikes Peak Therapeutic Riding Center. I volunteered to be a side walker for a class of five mentally handicapped children who were doing hippotherapy. Again, I was astounded by the relationships formed between children and horses. Unfortunately, one sweet girl had witnessed her parents’ death in a car accident. Due to the trauma, she was mute. We spent months coaxing her to speak. She seemed to understand that if she asked her horse to “walk,” he would respond, but she lacked the courage to do so. After several months, we had a breakthrough. She whispered softly to her horse, “walk” and the horse stepped forward. I could not hide my tears. Her desire to ride overpowered her pain, and she learned to speak again.

How do you connect horses with the military now?

I graduated the academy in 2003 and spent several years with my nose in the books for pilot training. Once I earned my wings, I flew the C-130 Hercules. I moved five times, and longed for a chance to help or be involved with equine therapy again. I couldn’t find time to go to a ranch, but I did start an online Master’s program in psychology. I figured if I couldn’t put on my boots and ride, I could at least study things like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In 2008, I finally had the opportunity to go back to the Air Force Academy as a teacher. As soon as I got my orders to return to Colorado Springs, I called PPTRC and asked if I could volunteer again. I was excited to find out they had a new program called, “Wounded Warriors,” where they used the horses to help soldiers returning from combat zones with PTSD and traumatic brain injury.

What do you do with the soldiers and horses now?

Michelle and boyfriend, Navy fighter pilot Lieutenant Doug Morea, and Sandy the horse

Currently, there is an Army unit called, The Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Carson, Colorado. Some of these solders opt to work with PPTRC. They come out to the ranch and spend an hour and a half with the horses. They groom, tack, and ride a specific horse each week. I am on the road a lot for the military, but when I am home, I volunteer as much as possible with the program.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

In five years I plan to be working on a Ph.D. in psychology, specializing in equine therapy and still flying airplanes. The Air Force Academy is looking into starting their own hippotherapy program. I won’t be able to stay that long (we change assignments every couple of years), but I hope to stay in touch with the program and contribute in any way that I can. I could come teach some classes, give seminars, or better yet, branch out and set up a therapy program at the next Air Force base I move to.
How about ten?
In ten years, I plan to leave the military, start my own horse therapy center, and run for United States Senator. I know that sounds lofty, but I can’t seem to shake my childhood goals. If I could find a way to combine horses and flying, that would be even better. I envision creating an organization where I can fly patients in a medical airplane to my therapy center. We could sponsor families who do not have enough money to buy plane tickets, and we could reach out to patients with severe medical complications, who wouldn’t normally be able to fly. Once at my center, we could sponsor their food, accommodations, and therapy. In my spare time, I’d stay involved in local politics until the timing was right to step onto the bigger stage.

Do you have any advice for women who have their own dreams about horses?

I would say that you can never dream too big. People will tell you that you have lofty goals or that you need to have a back-up plan because you might never reach them. I would say that you should dream as big as your heart and mind can imagine. You can have a plan A, a plan B, and a plan Z. Anytime plan A doesn’t work, you can be ready to try the next one. If you are always ready and motivated, when opportunities arise, you will be the one person who can step in and make things happen. Also, I would say that having one dream doesn’t mean you can’t have another one that is completely opposite. In my case, I thought I would have to choose between the military and horses, but I actually found the perfect combination.

What was your childhood experience with horses?  Were you a horse-crazy kid?  What about your parents – did they recognize this interest?

                One of my earliest memories includes a horse.  My parents used to read to me a lot, cuddling me in the rocking chair and reading for hours, but the book that stands out in my mind the most is “The Horse Who Couldn’t Neigh”  It was just a short book, appropriate for preschool age, but I remember it above all the others.  There was also my rocking horse, which I spent hours and hours riding across the kitchen floor.

                I must have been born with a natural love for horses.  We lived in the city, a suburb of Detroit, and my parents weren’t horse people. Other than the occasional trips to K-Mart to ride the ponies that the carnies would bring into the parking lot once or twice a year, I didn’t have any early exposure to real horses, but I loved them deeply.

                When I was five, the family started taking Sunday drives out into the country.  My grandpa promised me that some day he would buy a farm and get me a pony.  It took four more years, but I clung to that dream and at the age of nine, he brought home Trixie to live at his farm.  I spent countless hours with that old pony, drinking in her scent, brushing her until she shown, laying on her back and reading books during lazy summer afternoons. 

Trixie and Pam

                I had read every horse book available and was crazy about the story of Misty of Chincoteague.  My parents took me to that small island on vacation that summer, where the story of Misty and Pony Penning Day became real before my eyes.  I was head over heels in love with horses and that just propelled me over the edge.  My parents respected my passion  - or maybe they just knew that I had no choice, that horses had chosen me - and enrolled me in riding lessons.  When Trixie got sick and we lost her, they let me put my allowance savings towards a Palomino Pinto horse. Billy was a 4-H show horse, and I enrolled in 4-H and began my showing career.      

               Eventually, my parents bought 10 acres and built a barn so Billy could come home to live with us.  Meanwhile, I had read every Black Stallion book in the series and my new dream was to own a black Arabian.  Down the street from us was an Arabian horse farm and I went down there one day and asked if I could have a job cleaning stalls.  They not only hired me, but let me play with the foals!  I was in horse heaven!  I walked in a dream those days, surrounded by my own horse, about 60 of their horses, the tons of models I collected, the posters in my room, my books…. I guess you could say I was almost obsessed.  I played with Barbie dolls as a girl but only so I’d have someone to run the farm of model horses.  I gave up Homecoming at school one year to attend a horse show.  Instead of spending my day getting ready for my prom, I went to a model horse show, then came home, dressed quickly and went out. I followed horse racing, horse showing - anything that involved horses. Over the years the owners of the Arabian horse farm taught me to ride professionally, and let me begin to show their horses.  I learned Western, Hunt, Saddle Seat and dressage.

Pam (age 12) and Billy

As an adult, how did horses fit into your life as you were deciding on your writing career and throughout your education?  

My life decisions have evolved around my horses.  I guess you could say instead of trying to fit horses into my life, I have tried to fit my life around horses. When I went to college I chose to live at home and commute so I could be near my mare.  By then Billy was gone, but during college I sold off my other horse, Shazahn, who I had raised from a baby, and only kept Fanci Free.  I just didn’t have the time to take care of both horses then.  I started up a business where I traveled to farms and trained horses for others and gave riding lessons.  That’s how I paid my way through college.  I also had a brief stint as a horse show judge, but I decided I’d rather be ON the horse in the show ring, than judging the class!

What was your family structure like at the time when you were bringing the horses into your adult life?  Married?  Kids?

I have always had horses.  There’s a standing joke in my family that when I got married my dad told me he would keep my mare for one year, and then I had to move her. I guess my parents still support my horse passion because I’ve been married 19 years and my parents still have my mare!  I only live five minutes away so I get over to see her often, but due to many circumstances we haven’t been able to move to a farm of our own yet.  My dad also planted a tree in front of the barn door so I couldn’t bring in any more horses.  But there have been a few that have come and gone.  My husband just accepted a horse-crazy woman as part of the marriage contract!  As far as kids, I heard it said that a new mother disappears for about two years, and I’ve found that to be true.  When my sons were very small, there wasn’t much time for horses.  I’d go over and pet my mare, brush her, and that would be about it.  But as they’ve grown older they love to spend time with her and ride her.  I dug out my old horse models and stable (which I had kept!) and we play with those at home.  I read horse books to them.  Now, my oldest son, age 9, is dreaming of a pony of his own some day.

You mentioned one special horse that is still in your life.  Can you tell us about her?

Fanci Free is a soul mate.  There’s an incredible bond that mothers have with children, and there’s my wonderful bond with my husband, but through all of that I’ve found that my heart is big enough to still fit in horses.  I bought Fanci she was just a baby.   I was 12 at the time and working at the Arabian horse farm, and she was one of their fillies.  She cost me $1500 and it took me over a year to pay for her, but I paid for every penny myself.  She wasn’t a black Arabian as I had dreamed of, but she was and still is my beautiful, white Arabian mare.  I trained her myself, showed her, tried unsuccessfully to breed her, and have had her by my side for 29 years. She was with me through middle school and turbulent teenage years. She has been there through my college career, marriage, birth of my sons, and through my own serious illnesses.  She’s a constant in my life.  She’s gentle and sweet and we know each other.  I can sit on her and just think “canter’ and she prepares to go into that gait.  Sometimes, when she lies down, I curl up with her in her stall and she sleeps with her head on my lap.  I know where all of her itchy spots are, and she knows my voice and my touch.  We trust each other unconditionally.  When I put my arms around her and breathe in her scent, it’s like coming home.  No matter how bad of a day I’ve had, or how I am feeling, when my face is buried in her neck it transports me to a safe place, and for that moment, everything is okay.

Fanci Free

What do you think it is about horses in general that captures your heart?

 It’s definitely beyond the physical.  It’s more of a spiritual connection.  When I am around horses I can “feel” them, and somehow, in a way that even I don’t even understand, they make me feel complete. It’s this deep inner peace and joy. They are beautiful, they are powerful and yet they invite us into their lives so honestly and completely.  It sounds crazy but I think if I didn’t have horses in my life a part of me would die.

What have been some of your biggest challenges in your life, and how have horses helped you through them?

My adult life has seen some tough challenges, so much that I wrote an entire book about coping! I have had some pretty serious health problems, but when you are forced to go outside and muck stalls or empty water buckets, you’ve just gotta do it.  I think the responsibility of horses doesn’t allow you to wallow in self-pity.  There was a time, though, when I was physically unable to care for my horse, and my parents stepped in and did all the work.  Sometimes I would just take a chair down to the pasture and sit with my mare. Just her presence helped me through. My husband still lifts hay bales when I can’t.  I have had a lot of support from family, and without that I wouldn’t have been able to keep my horse. 

But also, I think having such a strong passion for something gives me a focus and something joyful to think about during the rough times. Horses truly get my heart pumping and give me that “butterflies in my stomach” feeling, like being in love.  They make me happy.

My other biggest challenge is that my husband and youngest son are both very allergic to horses.  My husband didn’t develop his horse allergies until a few years after we were married.  He is so bad that I have to change clothes and wash up after petting my horse or I can’t even be around him.  It has been tough and taken the spontaneity out of my horse life.  I always have to go prepared with a change of clothes and a way to wash my hands!  But still, he supports my love of horses and my need to be close to them. A gal can’t ask for more than that!

What have been some of your biggest joys?

Raising a few foals to adulthood.  Connecting with and training horses others couldn’t.  Just to see the horse succeed and trust a human again is a big joy.  Riding with wild abandon on my mare around the pasture at a gallop with neither saddle nor bridle…just steering with my touch.  My kids.  Always my kids.  I love everything about them - their smell, their touch, their laughter.  One of my greatest joys has been introducing them to horses. I learned to ride - I mean really ride well - on my mare Fanci and now my oldest son is learning to ride on her.  I’m sharing a trusted friend with my son and I finally have someone who is just as crazy about her as I am!

What is your goal/mission with your writing career?

My book, Why Is There a Lemon In My Fruit Salad, is about facing the tough times in life and getting through them.  Because I’ve been through a lot, I’ve put my story down on paper.  I learned to find joy when my circumstances in life weren’t happy.  I learned to find inner peace when my life was in chaos.  I learned that love is often a choice, not just a feeling.  I started out with a degree in creative writing, wanting to pen fiction, but circumstances in my life have taken me in other directions.  I have been a journalist for 15 years sharing people’s lives through feature stories, and more recently an author, with a primary purpose of reaching out to people.  My writing career has also turned me into a motivational/inspirational speaker.   Horses feature prominently in my writing, but my books are also Christian spirituality in content.

I have been on book tours, at speaking engagements, on the radio - and it seems that whereever I go or whatever audience I am talking to, there are people who can relate to the horse stories I share in my book.  Animals, it seems, and horses in particular, touch a special part deep inside a person.  They are something that we can all connect to and immediately relate with.  How many times, when you first meet a person and realize they love horses, do you suddenly feel a connection?

What is some advice for women who love horses?

Do whatever you have to do to feed that dream.  You can be a working woman, or mother, or wife or caretaker and still make room for horses in your life.  Even if you can’t own a horse there are so many ways to come into contact with them through volunteer work or riding lessons or more.  Surround yourself with the essence of everything horsy.  For me, even just walking into a tack store or leafing through a horse magazine gives me a horsy high.  If horses are part of what feeds your spirit, grab onto them with both hands and don’t let go.

To learn more about Pam and her books, visit:  www.pamelagossiaux.com

Fanci Free and Pam

Pam and Shazahn

No Wonder You Feel Lost…

 By: LeeAnn Heinbaugh, MA

Ughhhh! I’m overwhelmed. There’s not enough time in the day. I need help, but I don’t have time to explain it to someone else! Besides, it’s easier to just to do it myself!

Do any of these sound familiar to you? As women in the workforce, home, and world in general, we tend more and more to “walk alone,” to “do it ourselves.” This is what these statements are really saying.

There is not enough space here to deeply explore the many social, cultural, familial, emotional and psychological reasons for this autonomy and the accompanying isolation we have adopted. However, in its most basic terms, we are busy. There is a lot to do. And doing has become our primary reality.

The result is that life is often driving us, rather than us steering it or being aware of where we are really going. We are running down pathways and to destinations based on the demands of work, home, family, community, and a myriad of other daily things. Add to this the intense pace and never-ending stimuli of our outer world of technology, finance and activity, and it is a lot.

I like to describe this as a literal consciousness of do, do, do followed by done, done, done. Then we quickly find our selves at next, next, next. And along the way, we encounter varied forms of dang it, dang it, dang it and more ughhhh’s. The point is, we are busy to the point of consumption in outer things, and thus largely unaware of or awake to the deeper nature of who we are inside. This leaves us devoid of solid, unconditional relationships with ourselves and with others.

As a result, we become isolated. We feel orphaned, alone, frustrated and somehow lost to our own physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. The resources we dedicate to ourselves are too often lost, low or not even on the priority list of our lives.

It is curious to see how often we feel lost and alone amidst all this activity. This is because action and activity do not equate to relationships. Doing and being are not the same. Intimacy and deep emotion are hard to find in the events of outer action. Since spirit is most naturally and fully lived from the inside, it has little or no way of existing in this solitary outer world of things.

As women we really do need and desire community. It is incredibly important to share, to communicate and to be connected. Some of us yearn for or have more of a need for this than others. This is our uniqueness. Nonetheless, I hear women consistently talk about, cry about, wonder about and struggle with a deep feeling of being alone. We feel a deep and persistent sense that there is something more, that we are somehow lost in terms of not finding what we are seeking.

At our core (spiritually, physically, psychologically and emotionally) we are drawn to gather, to share and to be part of something more than ourselves. What a beautiful thing. Yet, in the world today many of us have become so conditioned to being separate in all the doing, that we are not aware of how alone we truly are. I believe this is a learned condition, not natural to our nature. It is born of the intensity of things. We are overwhelmed, tired, stressed and angry. This becomes a difficult dichotomy. We feel these emotions because we are flying “solo;” yet, we keep doing it because we are fueled by these very same emotions. It is like a gerbil running on a wheel.

How we grow beyond this, get off the wheel, and begin to more fully connect is as varied as we are as individuals. Some identify with a desire to find what I call our clan or our tribe – a sacred group to which we feel a kinship and belonging. Yet others of us feel most drawn to a certain individual, to a specific discipline or to particular practices. For still others, it may be all of the above and even more.

There is no wrong answer here. Seek and find what you desire, need, miss, want or are curious about. As women, as human beings, it serves us to connect and belong with others. The pattern of continually striving, stumbling along and struggling alone is really a form of self-denial and, ultimately, of abuse. Each of us deserves and has the opportunity for a, deeper, richer, and more spiritual experience of living.

So, I offer to you an opportunity to consider what this may hold for you. Honor yourself and others. There are so many amazing, beautiful, inspiring, enlightening and fun people and practices in the world for us to explore. Why be here on this physical plane of human experience if not to share it with others? And why on earth (pun intended) would we continue to walk it alone? To do this is a hurried habit, not a healthy, whole practice.

LeeAnn works internationally as a consultant, teacher and guide with individuals and groups. For more information visit www.journeysinliving.com 

Leeann Heinbaugh,MA and Miko

Dressage in the Fourth Dimension

Dressage in the Fourth Dimension
By Sherry Ackerman
Foreword by Linda Kohanov

A unique meditation on the spiritual aspects of dressage
and horseback riding, drawing on eclectic sources in the
fields of philosophy, geometry, and spirituality.

“An incredible act of courage and vision.”
— Linda Kohanov, author of The Tao of Equus

Dressage is often seen as the most formal and controlled of the equine sports, following an ancient, standardized training progression. For philosophy professor and dressage instructor Dr. Sherry Ackerman dressage is a transformational art, an avenue for reflection, exploration, and self-knowledge through which a rider can experience liberation from the narrowly individual, egoistic self.

This second, revised edition of Dressage in the Fourth Dimension is a pioneer work in awakening “dressage consciousness.” It requires readers to deconstruct every assumption that they have ever held about riding — to ask “why?” and to become okay with not knowing.

Drawing on such diverse sources as geometry, ancient Western and Eastern philosophies, and spirituality, Dr. Ackerman seeks to heal humanity’s alienation from nature through riding and dressage. She points readers toward the liberation from societal conditioning, from externally legislated morality and normative thinking, and, ultimately, from one’s own ego. For Ackerman, identifying ambiguities between thinking and enculturation opens avenues for growth and transformation. Her concept of the Fourth Dimension requires the reader to leave the analytic, objective mind behind and enter the mystery of inspiration.

A short, unique, and enigmatic work that has enjoyed a word-of-mouth reputation among horse people for years, yet has also been unavailable, Dressage in the Fourth Dimension will challenge riders’ assumptions about their horses and themselves.

Sherry L. Ackerman, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at College of the Siskiyous and an internationally acclaimed dressage clinician. Dr. Ackerman is one of the American dressage industry’s leading proponents of dressage as a philosophical/spiritual/artistic practice. She lives at the foot of Mount Shasta, attempting, in the silence of the woods, to practice what her book teaches. Her website is www.sherryackerman.com.

Contact: Monique Muhlenkamp
New World Library
800-972-6657 ext. 15
Monique@newworldlibrary.com

A Talk With Sherry Ackerman, author of

Dressage in the Fourth Dimension

How did you come to write Dressage in the Fourth Dimension? What was going on in your life that sparked the book?

I entered the Fourth Dimension, literally, one blustery afternoon in 1993. Let me explain…..as a small child, I had a mystical consciousness. I experienced Oneness as a matter of course. My parents, though, thought that this awareness was immature and childish and, subsequently, thought that ‘good parenting’ involved guiding me away from these ideas. My parents, mainstream community, schools, colleges and graduate institutes all did their part; well intentioned, albeit mistaken, to condition my thinking toward materialistic, dualistic values and beliefs. By 1993, I was a fully conditioned person. In looking back, I can see that I was ego-identified, exteriorized and enculturated. I, though, was clueless, thinking that everything was right on target. In retrospect, however, I can see that I was sadly derailed! One Wintry late afternoon in 1993, I was riding a particularly difficult young horse in my quiet indoor arena through the figures of the manege, when, out of nowhere, I was struck, as if with a lightening bolt, with Pure Awareness. I felt Love pulsating throughout me and I felt as if I was a whole new being. I fused completely with the horse and we were One. There was nothing left of me, and equally nothing left of him. We just Were. Pure Presence. Consciousness. There was only The Moment. I remember, though, wondering what would happen when I dismounted….but what happened was that I continued to see the whole world this way. The boundaries were gone, duality resolved. There was no right and wrong, no male and female, no night and day. I remember, again, wondering what would happen when I had dinner with my family that night. But, I was visibly transformed. My children asked me why I was “glowing”. Love. Finally, I remember wondering if I would feel like this forever….and, for the past 15 years, I have. Sometimes the Light glows softly and sometimes it bursts into full flame, but it is always there. Nothing about my human existence has ever been the same….and all this, thanks to a difficult horse on a late Winter afternoon. Right Here, Right Now!

What is Dressage in the Fourth Dimension about? What point are you trying to make in the book?

The book is essentially a primer on mysticism. It’s central point is that riding is a path of transformation and that, further, anyone who learns to ride well can’t help but be transformed. Our contemporary mental-rational worldview has conditioned people to believe an illusion. Things are not as they appear to be. The mystical worldview is a glimpse behind that veil. What I call the fourth dimension is a type of consciousness that is aware of greater complexities and higher unities.

Animals are pure…unconditioned by consensual reality, the Maya. They are Present, in The Moment. They have not been conditioned by the strictly third-dimensional sphere of material existence and, consequently, they operate in a higher dimension of existence, a fourth dimension of spirit. This is the lesson that horses offer anyone who wishes to honestly communicate with them. When horse and rider work intimately in this fourth dimension, a creative-zero-point opens up in which consciousness and unconsciousness become momentarily unified. This provides the rider with an opportunity to merge with unitary reality, wherein there is no permanence, because all is transformation. In the fourth dimension, the rider escapes the prison of time and the limitations of ego-bound consciousness. S/he accepts that s/he is spirit, realizing his or her own immortality and, consequently, freedom.

Dressage is an Olympic discipline, which means that it is a highly competitive sport, right? So, where does your concept fit in….the idea of a non-competitive style of dressage as a transformational art? Is this idea catching on within the dressage community?

Dressage is one of the Olympic equestrian sports. However, it was only as recently as 1900 when the “military test”, which later evolved into the separate disciplines of dressage, eventing and stadium jumping, first became an Olympic discipline. Prior to that, horses had performed artistically as entertainment for the Royal families of Europe. In this capacity, they not only displayed all of the movements that we currently admit into dressage riding, but many airs above the ground, as well. Later, horses became used more predominantly as mounts for the military. Military horses had to be obedient and maneuverable, so dressage, as first documented in the writing of the Greek Xenophon, was critical to their development. As horses during the late 1800’s were used primarily by the military, it only stood to reason that a test of the military horse be the standard during the inception of the Olympics. The military test included obedience and maneuverability, which evolved into the dressage test, and the ability to jump obstacles. The riders were all male and predominantly military for several decades. After the US Cavalry was disbanded in 1948, the focus for American dressage shifted from military to civilian competition and began to gain momentum. Women as well as men became passionate about dressage and in 1952 the first women were allowed to compete in the Olympics.

Notwithstanding that competition offers wholesome sport opportunities, it is based on a dualistic worldview. There is necessarily a “winner” and, thus, a “loser”. Since the modern Western mind is not comfortable with “losing”, competitive riders became increasingly concerned with end-gaining. This view is reinforced by year-end awards, high point awards and medals earned for certain levels of accomplishment. When the ends begin to outweigh the means, however, people are tempted to resort to shortcuts or gimmicks that compromise the integrity of the work. And, it is the horses who pay the price…in lameness, sourness, or, this year for example, with three dead horses at the Rolex 3 Day Event. As this trend exacerbated over the years and competitive riding claimed more and more casualties…physically, psychologically and emotionally…in both horses and riders, a current of concern began to be heard from conscious, classically trained riders and teachers around the world. This collective voice called the riding community back to its classical, pre-militaristic artistic origins. Teachers such as, for example, Henri van Schaik and Egon von Neindorff urged riders to practice “art for the sake of art” as opposed to riding for prizes. Through the influence of these, and other, strong advocates of dressage as an art, rather than a sport, the idea of a non-competitive style of dressage as a transformational art began to evolve.

Although the lineage for the idea of dressage as a transformational art was definitely the classical, as opposed to competitive, school, my particular concept of it is even outside of those parameters. I regularly tell my students that they need to stop talking about classical equestrian ideals, as that just makes them dressage fundamentalists. I remind them to Be Here, Now. I tell them that they are not stuck in the boxes created by previous century masters. This is not the Renaissance…it is This Moment. I tell them, borrowing from the Zen parable, that dressage is the Moon that they have to find on their own. I implore them to deconstruct everything that they have ever been taught and reconstruct it as they experience it…to own it.

As I wrote in Dressage in the Fourth Dimension, “we are living in radical times, poised on the edge of a new paradigm. The lure of materialism is losing its potency as people awaken to the limitlessness of consciousness.” Bob Dylan said the same thing another way when he wrote, “the times they are a-changin’”. These changing times…as an emerging new paradigm…are facilitating the acceptance of the idea of dressage as a transformational art within the dressage community. The veil is thick and consciousness comes slowly, but it is assured. I would like to share a story that I heard recently from a Tibetan Monk. The Monk talked about a man who was trapped in the “lowest, darkest rung of hell”, saying that the man was “doing the best he could”. The Monk reminded us that the man “didn’t even know what he didn’t know”…that “we don’t awaken until we awaken”. This, though, while seemingly tragic is actually okay, because every one…every one….is working toward Enlightenment, in their own way and time, whether they know it or not. That being true, higher truths about horses and dressage are guaranteed to catch on….one person at a time, as people…in their own time and in their own way…make their way toward Enlightenment.

You have often been cited for mentioning what you call “new paradigm thinking”, what do you mean by this phrase? What is a new paradigm thinker?

A paradigm is a worldview. The word “paradigm” was originally one of those obscure academic terms that underwent many changes in meaning over the centuries. It was used by the classical Greeks to refer to an original archetype or ideal. Later it came to refer to a grammatical term. In the early 1960’s Thomas Kuhn wrote a ground breaking book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, in which he demonstrated that science does not progress in an orderly fashion from lesser to greater truth, but rather remains fixated on a particular dogma or explanation—a paradigm—which is only overthrown with great difficulty and a new paradigm established. The overthrowing of a particular dogma or worldview is called a paradigm shift and occurs when anomalies or inconsistencies arise within a given paradigm and present problems that people are unable to solve within that paradigm. Any paradigm shift…that is, the gradual collapse of an old, dysfunctional paradigm and the resultant emergence of a new paradigm…results in the need for people to change their view of reality, as well as their perceptions, thoughts, and values about the world. New paradigms require people to take on new assumptions and expectations that will transform older theories, traditions, rules and standards of practice. New paradigms arise in order to solve the seemingly unsolvable problems of the older paradigm. The new paradigm that is currently coming into creation, due to the obvious failure of that which has been the dominant paradigm for the past several hundred years, is one based on cooperation, instead of competition; unity, instead of separateness; community, instead of individualism; environmental awareness, instead of consumerism; equality, instead of hierarchy; and love, instead of fear.

Fourth Dimension talks about transcending the ego. This is lofty language. What would it mean, in very practical terms, for a person to move toward transcendence of the ego?

The concept of transcending the ego is a notion that has caused an inordinate amount of confusion. Egolessness does not mean the absence of a functional self….as Ken Wilber points out, that would be a psychotic, not a sage! It means, instead, that one is no longer exclusively identified with the self, the individual, separate sense of “me”. Likewise, transcending the ego does not mean “less than personal”. It means, quite to the contrary, “more than personal”….all of the normal personal qualities, plus some transpersonal ones. In practical terms, the ego is transcended when a person is plugged into a radiant Cosmic Source. You can see and feel it in a person when you are in their presence.

As I wrote in Dressage in the Fourth Dimension, the path to liberation requires letting go of self and surrendering totally and unconditionally to the unitive power of love. The ego is the dualist in us. It is the habit we have of seeing ourselves over and against someone else. The ego is highly invested in comparing, categorizing and criticizing. This has some very practical considerations when applied to dressage. If, for example, a person is highly invested in show scores, this would be a manifestation of ego-identified behavior. Another person, interested simply in pursuing excellence in the art of dressage with no concerns about “judgments” tendered by others, would be more indicative of a person who had made some significant progress in transcending the ego.

In order to get a better handle on understanding this, let’s look at the whole process of ego development and, ultimately, ego transcendence. When a baby is born, it can’t tell the difference between self and not-self. The child has no boundaries, and the experience is one of being undifferentiated from the material world. Everything is self. But as the baby interacts with the environment, it makes the distinction between self and not-self.

The next developmental stage, between ages 6 and 12, is one of the adoption of roles, generally those of mythic gods and goddesses, characters in fairy tales or other literature, and even in cartoons. The child discovers and learns to follow the rules associated with the various available roles. As this happens, the focus of what is the self changes. The next stage is the development of a personal and individual identity, generally during the teenage years. No longer defined only by roles and their rules, the person creates an individual identity which is independent of, or at least less dependent upon, conventional ethics, rules, and roles.

In the next stage (and it is important to note that a person may or may not develop through all of these stages–for a variety of reasons development could stop at any stage) the sense of self moves from individualistic awareness (the individual identity) to a more global “all of us”, community awareness.

Successive stages involve the development and integration of what are called transpersonal stages, where awareness of self goes beyond “all of us” to include what most people think of as the “spiritual dimensions” (like, eg, the fourth dimension) that are larger than just humanity. These levels include oneness with all of the material universe, as well as with all of the non-material, spiritual realms, and finally beyond the whole manifest universe to the entirely non-dual.

The entire journey revolves around one entering pure awareness and residing there. Seer and seen merge into a cosmic awareness which excludes nothing, has no center and no separation between observer and observed. The ego evaporates. Unfiltered, unfettered consciousness replaces ego as the organizing structure of the person. When true seeing opens, it is both a magnificent surprise and patently obvious. Problems dissolve, and joy, wonder, and compassion arise naturally.

What is your current relationship to dressage? And, to horses?

I am launching a new clinic and workshop initiative in 2009, based on Dressage in the Fourth Dimension. This initiative will focus on animal spirituality and the transformational aspects of the horse-human relationship. I am interested in raising consciousness about the potential of dressage for human transformation and evolution. This work will be much more holistic than the dressage teaching that I have done for the past several decades. It’s time for me to be much more integrated about my horse-related interests than simply “teaching dressage”. At this point, seeing dressage as “just dressage” is too reductionistic and makes me feel, as Sartre might say, a bit “practico-inert”. It is, quite simply, too third dimensional….Flatland. Seeing the horse-human relationship as a path to transformation and evolution breathes life into riding and is where my head is really at. I’m ready to ride…and live…in the fourth dimension. The primary emphasis will be on the real stuff of riding…the inner work and the horses’ contribution to facilitating our transformation. I don’t want to just teach people how to weight their inside seatbone and keep their shoulders back anymore. I want to show them how horses can teach them to deal with their pain-body and/or shadow. Time is short and horses could save the Planet. They don’t really care if riders keep their heels down and their sternums up. They want them to open their heart chakras.

For more information:

Contact: Monique Muhlenkamp

New World Library

800-972-6657 ext. 15

Monique@newworldlibrary.com