What Are We Trying To Do?

“No one gets into horses to become a better human being or to find greater meaning in life or to make the world a better place, but sometimes that’s exactly what happens… We all know that there is something different and special about horses. But perhaps it is really that there is something different and special about us when we’re with them. We recognize in the horse a means to reach our highest calling as humans. Perhaps that is the real importance of this revolution in horsemanship.”

The Revolution in Horsemanship
Robert Miller and Rick Lamb, Authors

Horsemen have always known that being around animals was good for the soul. Training a horse sent you to books and “older, wiser-s” for guidance and support. Sometimes it makes you face your own actions and choose to do things differently. A talented horse, well handled is a delicate wonder that lifts the heart and inspires the slogging minions required to make it happen. It is very hard work, yet time and again we go after it, knowing it to be a thing of true beauty.

Rural life and dependence upon horses for transportation is increasingly rare. Cities and urban sprawl are the only choice economically for most of us and so we lose the necessity of being fluent in the natural world. Also lost is our connection with the real pace and the important elements of life: health, relationships, connection. Often our day-to-day priorities eclipse the “big picture” and so we are discovering that there are consequences to our health, our families and our balance.

There are more horses in the world today than there ever were when we depended upon them daily. They have new work to do. Engines and technology may drive our lives but increasingly we are turning to horses to help us retrieve our awareness of ourselves and our place in a world that still exists outside.

Heart’n Hand Farm is pleased to offer these opportunities through our seminars. Clinics generally present traditional training and handling skills, and are offered to those with their own horses to train. The seminars are structured specifically to afford a safe, guided experience of connection to the non-riding public.