A Gang or a Commune?

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Horse herds are the natural order of business in the wild or feral world of equines. Many human caretakers have strong opinions on the use of this dynamic within their stable yard. Some see the herd as a kind of "gang" with leaders, underlings and lots of posturing and conflict resolution. Others (like us) see the personal herd in a stable yard more like a "commune" with shared energies, companionship and communication.

I have worked in the past with people devoted to gang intervention. I have also met people whose wisdom and perspective saw the gang construct as one rife through our societies - from sports team devotion to fraternity/sorority dynamics to automobile brand obsession.

I have also lived on a commune.

If I had to define our perspective at DH, I would say that our horses live communally with us and that we all work together for the stability and growth of the whole. The theme of the commune is the well being of all members. The gang perspective does lean toward the edification of the leaders, albeit to the benefit of the whole if threatened by outside forces...
But my sense is that one (the gang model) relies upon aggression and the other (commune model) resorts to assertive behavior only after much dialog and effort toward understanding has been employed.

So, tonight I'm thinking deeply on this subject as we have added a member to our herd. Vega is a large, elegant, bay/brown gelding in his 20's who was going to be killed 2 weeks ago. Sound, healthy, well schooled and gentle, he needed us. I brought him home.

As we discover his personality traits and he gets to know us, we will find his niche within this herd, this tribe here. He was unwanted. But here, he is cherished. And a point of interest - Dharmahorse has become a corporation! We are non-profit pending as we morph into what we were always meant to do (and that I've been doing all along) - we will provide holistic sanctuary to unwanted horses and educate the public on horse care. We will provide a non-toxic, non-aggressive environment for "Stablewomen" to gather and heal. We will introduce horses to children in a compassion based, safety infused program.

More on this later. Tonight, I want to connect and tell you that we actually do choose the environment that our horses experience. We do encourage or discourage behaviors and since our horses do not comprehend what we see as "right or wrong", they only understand things that are supported or "allowed" and things that elicit human disapproval (in whatever fashion that is expressed!) - we are held to task to communicate clearly if we wish to be understood.

Courage

I had a student decades ago who went to parties with her husband where she felt a bit demeaned by other people there.

She rode a 1,600 pound Warmblood gelding with attitude and was (still is!) one of the bravest people I know!

We were discussing the parties one day at lunch after her lesson on this horse; one in which she had ridden out a couple of massive bucks in his canter departs.

I told her, at the next party, she should look at these people and imagine each one trying to ride her massive gelding. She smiled. She later told me that it had made all the difference.

Sometimes, we forget how simply amazing we actually are!

Being Fully Present

I do not remember very much about my time spent living in Boulder, Colorado. I was working so very hard running 2 printing presses, doing the camera work and stripping, then bindery at the Print Shop my family had started on Pearl Street in 1980.

I was cold, riding an old, strange Harley chopper or driving my huge horse van - the only 2 vehicles I had then. There were awesome good times and I had my Appaloosa Eventer with me. But I was never fully present there because I allowed the stress to blanket all of my feelings and experiences.

When I was in Hawaii at the first of this year, I became overtly aware of every moment and every nuance of each precious day.

I can actually relive a day or a night of specific feelings, sights, sounds, smells and tastes in perfect detail. I can "return" to the airplane on my way there or

my way back. I remember every meal, every night watching ships on the ocean and the lights of Kailua Kona from my bedroom windows - open to the air and the energies...

It is with ease and pure joy that I experience Hawaii all over again at will. It is with regret that I struggle to recall things about living in Boulder. One was a conscious experience of being fully present. The other was me just getting through each day.

We are all making choices, in varying degrees, of consciously or unconsciously experiencing this life.

I see the effects of stress upon our horses. I see them do the same things that I have done - the distancing of the self from an experience. I now think of making their days like Hawaiian days! The horses here need to be fully present, too. One benefit of working for harmony in a stable yard is that the stable becomes a place of harmony for everyone - humans included!

MAHALO!

Katharine
and the Dharmahorse Tribe

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PO Box 445

Organ, NM, 88052

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