Can You Hear Me?

One afternoon as I was walking to the house from my studio for lunch, my daughter’s horse Chloe whinnied quite loud at me as I passed by the path that leads to the barn. Sitting down to the table I asked my husband why she would be calling to me, didn’t they get fed enough this morning? He said yes they had plenty; he laughed and jokingly asked “well what did she say?” I blurted out…“there is electricity in the water”. “Oh” he said looking very surprised, “I will check”. After lunch he went to check and told me the water was fine. We laughed together, that would have been really weird! hahaha That evening everything was fine.

The next morning when he went out to feed as he passed the trough he dipped his hand into the water just to eliminate any lingering curiosity. Well guess what, he got shocked!!!

So what happened??? There was a small piece of bailing twine which was used to tie the hose up so the horses couldn’t pull it out of the trough, one end was touching the water and the other was inadvertently touching the electric fence. In the morning there was just enough dew on the string to conduct electricity. The previous afternoon when he had checked the string must have been dried from the sun so there was no current.

Chloe was right there was “electricity in the water” and she “said” it loud enough to be heard.

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Do I Know You?

Recently we went to the coast for a weekend getaway. After spending the day at a busy public beach we went to a beachfront motel to spend the night. Just before sunset I walked out alone onto this quieter, more private beach just to take a deep breath, be still and relax. I sat down in the sand. Almost immediately I had company.

At first she may have been looking for a tasty treat. Conditioned by human bribes.

I apologized and explained I had nothing to offer," but you can hang out if you'd like".

She approached to investigate, then would move away, each time coming closer and closer. The notion I might have food now gone she relaxed more each time she came close. Standing on one leg, looking at me with one eye closed, closing both eyes and then peeking through a slitted lid.

All making her sleepy...

so she settled in to rest beside me.

Not long after another gull flew in and strutted up hoping for a handout.

My first companion, uninterested in the forward behavior of the newcomer, started preening herself.

The newcomer quickly settled in to rest with us although a bit further away.

I know nothing about seagulls other than what I have observed. I don't know about their social structures, species, sex, type, genus, sort, variety, age or even this pairs relationship to each other.
What I experienced with them was just being.
I was there to relax and they wanted to relax too. People walked by, the birds would move out of their way, and then come right back to lay down again.
It was nice.

So, did we know each other?   No
But, did we know each other?   For a moment, yes
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We Are the Same

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NHE International Seminar 2010

The Group

The morning lectures and discussions were held in the lodge. 
All meals were shared in this beautiful space as well.

The time outside was spent with horses who chose of their own free will to be in our company rather than their 70 acre pasture...

ABOUT NHE

Inspiring Natural Potential  
– Michael Bevilacqua on Alexander Nevzorov

Alexander Nevzorov brought Haute Ecole to the new, humane level. Haute Ecole is a French term for high school. It is classical dressage stemming from the cavalry with complex moves by the horse including airs above the ground such as capriole, courbette, and levade. He teaches horses to perform the most difficult elements of Haute Ecole, not only without any constraint, punishment, bridles and bits, that is looked upon as a norm in modern Haute Ecole, but he does all this on a horse that is in a perfect collection.