Honoring Loved Ones

Snoqualmie with my son, Colby, when he was about 18 months old.

Twice in my life I have worked closely with mother/son equine pairs. The first was Fred and Ethel, a quirky, ancient draft team when I was in my teens. Ethel, who was nearing thirty, had to be hitched on the left and Fred who was way past twenty, on the right. Woe be you if you got them mixed up, as I did several times. They would thrash around, breaking leather and wagon poles until they got themselves sorted out. Hopefully no humans got in the middle of that. Turns out that Ethel was Fred's mother. When Fred was a foal, the family that had them hitched Ethel to a one-horse buggy and they went down the road with Fred tied to Ethel's right, away from all the traffic. In all of Fred's life, he had never been separated from his mom.

The second pair was my mare Snoqualmie and her son, Ben. I have written a lot about them in several of my books. But what I have not shared was that when Ben was five, I leased him to a 4-H family. He was there for three or four years and then I leased him back. When I unloaded Ben off the trailer, Snoqualmie, who was about 800 feet away grazing in a pasture, threw up her head and came running, whinnying, to the gate. Snoqualmie knew immediately her son had come home.Then Ben started in. I turned them loose together and it was so sweet to see them catch up with each other.

My point in all of this is to be sure to honor and remember your own family members, as these horses did. These horses realized the value of loved ones and humans sometimes take each other for granted. So hug those you love. Tell them you love them. Do nice things for them. Appreciate them. Value them. I hope you can learn from these wise horses and honor those who honor you.

Happy Horses / Happy People

Valentino: happy at work.*

I recently wrote an article for NARHA’s Strides magazine on equine stress that will be in their Summer issue. In taking several photos to illustrate the article I decided to use Valentino, an eight-year-old, 14.2 hand, Tennessee Walking Horse cross who only gaits when he is near a mare who is in heat. Vali gives ground and riding lessons to people with disabilities, and he is very good at what he does.

My idea for the photo shoot was to simulate scenarios during a therapy lesson that might make a horse tense and then photograph the physical reaction. The problem was, Valentino is so happy and loves his job so much that nothing we did caused any signs that he was stressed, uncomfortable, or unhappy in any way. In fact, in more than five dozen photos, all you see is a relaxed, happy, confident horse.

I wonder how many people can say that about their horses and the jobs they do. I also wonder how many of us can say the same thing. We spend so much time at work, we should enjoy most of it. Not everyone is able to switch jobs or careers, but there are ways to find more enjoyment in what we do everyday. Here are a few ideas:

1.  List the three best things about your job or career, then see if you can find a way to do more of that aspect of the job. Or, schedule the things you like best during times when you typically get bored or tired. Doing something you love is a great way to keep your enthusiasm up throughout the day.

2.  Set a work-related goal and then be sure to treat yourself to something nice or celebrate whenever you complete the task. This works great for both group projects and also in improving personal performance.

3.  Re-organize your work space so you can find things more easily and can work more efficiently. A little sprucing up around the work place goes a long way in sprucing up your attitude as well.

* For more information on Valentino and what he does, go to Therapeutic Animal Partners.