Perfectly Stable provides under-privileged children with a safe
place to visit and experience the beauty and healing power of a positive
relationship with animals. The organization is built upon the belief that children need a special place that:
Fosters responsibility, independence, and accountability - the building blocks of progressive development.
Provides a level playing field for all, regardless of station, situation, or challenge
Teaches them that dreams can be achieved.
Yesterday, a fire in Bradford burned down the facility that Perfectly Stable, leaving 30 horses without food and shelter, and Perfectly Stable without the facilities and equipment necessary to fulfill its mission.
Julie Parsons, B.A., B.Sc., founder of Perfectly Stable, is hoping to raise $20,000 to replace the contents of the barn, and to rebuild it. If you want to donate (money or equipment), please contact Julie at http://www.perfectlystablefarms.ca.
Have you ever wondered how they get the Budweiser Clydesdales ready for the Super Bowl? This video shows clips of their training leading up to the shoot. The Budweiser Clydesdales are super stars! A crazy fantastic video. Well worth the watch!
“If someone isn't what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”
Recently, I was reminded of the fact that not everyone I love supports my vision, dreams and aspirations. For me, this summer has been one of great joy, filled with horses, children, friendship, learning and the tremendous sense of contentment that only the pursuit of knowledge, skill and a goal, combined with physical labour, can produce. There have been challenges, sacrifices and dramas (many of them I suspect self-inflicted), and it has been worth every moment. It's a summer that I have worked hard to sustain, committed to fully; and I am blessed with wonderful friends, coaches and mentors who have appeared to help make it so. It is a summer filled with joy and learning, and it is the first steps toward a realizing a dream. Written on the walls of my bedroom are the words "magic", "joy", "believe" and "bliss". When the kids and I first put those letters up, we talked about the meaning of those words. We agreed that, as Goethe suggested, magic is the act of believing in yourself. If you can do that, you can make anything happen. The joy is in the journey; the journey's conclusion? Bliss. When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. The joys of the summer are a both an acknowledgement of and a headfirst plunge into a strong current. I am deeply grateful for it, and I very much hope it will carry me to places I have not yet dreamed of.
Every day has a subtext. The challenge is to deconstruct its meaning, find the messages, and understand how it will help me live more meaningfully, elegantly, effortlessly, and intentionally.
Today's horoscope focused on finding inner peace through connection. As I contemplate the nature of friendship and family, a conversation about the wild ponies of Chincoteague and Assateague comes alive. And two videos appear, almost simultaneously.
Jean-François Pignon and his horses in Avignon
Honza Bláha and his horses in Srbice
Establishing an intimate connection
to other animals is unique and universal to our species, and it is highly
possible that this animal connection has played a crucial role in human
evolution. While it initially may have focused on developing relationships that
domesticated certain animals as constructive tools to be used for hunting and
later for food, the relationship between humans and animals has evolved as we have. (The Journal of Science offers a very interesting overview of
this: http://bit.ly/HMnkK3).
The Institute for Human-Animal
Connection (IHAC) is an internationally recognized centre for research and
training. Devoted to the education, clinical training and scholarly development
of social work students, IHAC’s programmes focus on the ways animals and people
intersect across lifespan and context; the ways animal-supported experiences can
promote human and animal well-being, and reduce human physical and mental
health problems; and to encouraging and empowering people to gain understanding
of the interrelationships among themselves, their families, and their
communities, including the natural environment and its non-human inhabitants.
Studies
show it, and people know it. The human-animal bond is integral to a person’s
well-being. If it is positive, it is nurturing, healing, forgiving and
compassionate. Relationships with animals are unconditional. They are
constantly forged and re-forged in the present. Both Jean-Francois Pignon and Honza Blaha kn ow this, and they have devoted their lives to marrying natural horsemanship with equestrianism to promote a clearer understanding of the horse, and to share the incredible connection and spirit of cooperation absolute trust in another being can achieve.
I am remembering a recent thought about the importance of being "seen". The nature of these videos, the cooperation, is the result of the absolute respect these horses and these men have for each other, reflects my thoughts on how we become whole when we are seen and accepted as the incredibly wonderful, fallible people we are.
Today, then, willl focus around this lovely thought, "You are beautiful - not
for the shape of the vessel, but for the volume of the soul that it
carries."And of course, horses :)
