Paz Equestrian

10/03/2024

Horse friends-

Anyone with trailer driving experience interested in attending the Liberty Festival in Kentucky? Looking for another driver/barn help for next week due to some last minute changes with our crew!

Please PM me asap if interested!

09/19/2024

Have you checked out all my original artwork and products in my Etsy Shop?

If not, click here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/PazEquestrianDesigns

I am opening up CUSTOM DESIGNS! Send me your fav horse photo and I’ll draw and paint your image as a line drawing AND watercolor painting. Check it out and send me a message to get started!

09/07/2024

As some of you know, earlier this year I published “The Lesson Rider’s Journal” (which is available on Amazon- I’ll link in comments! Please check it out if you haven’t!)

Within that project, I created a series of line drawings to illustrate the book.

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been at work turning some of those into watercolor paintings and setting up a new Etsy shop with a variety of products in my designs.

Even if you’re not looking to shop, will you do me a favor and click the link? And if you have an Etsy account, favorite some stuff for the algorithm?!

Thanks friends!

https://pazequestriandesigns.etsy.com

(Oh and if you want something custom, I can totally do that. I’m working on adding personalization to everything so that’s a possibility as well!)

Shop items by PazEquestrianDesigns.

08/30/2024

Paz Equestrian is the home of freelance horse training and lesson instruction by Kim Pasnau Nemchek

07/18/2024

A big thank you to Braveheart Beasts for always putting on such a great show and welcoming us to join in the fun!

07/11/2024

Norah and I are so excited to present one of our all time favorite films in the Braveheart Beast’s production “Night at the Movies”

While I don’t believe in spoilers, I will tell you that there will be song, dance, riding, bridleless, and liberty all in one, set to the most classic of musicals.

Think you know what movie we’re representing? Leave your best guess in the comments!

Then come to the show. I also have to mention…Braveheart Beasts are SO GOOD. If you haven’t experienced them live and in person, now is your chance!

(Ps bring a chair!)

07/04/2024

06/15/2024

Norah and I will be performing. All disciplines welcome to apply! Come perform with us and Braveheart Beasts!

✨🎥✨ Seeking performers on Saturday, July 13th to join me in “A Night at the Movies”… the evening production for the Braveheart Beasts open house at my new facility in Pascoag, RI! ✨🎥✨

I’m looking for creative equestrians to bring movies to life with their wonderful horses through music, choreography, and costumes based around their favorite films. A focus on quality horsemanship and connection is a must. All disciplines and experience levels welcome! Message me if you’d like to join the show! Tickets for spectators will be on sale soon!

PC 📸 .photo

05/24/2024

Heartbreak is the trade-off we make for love.

Those of us who spend our days living and breathing for horses know it too well. When we lose one, those who have felt the pain don’t have to say much. I know you know. You know I know.

And every single one of these horses that gets to own a little piece of my heart also represents one very bad day yet to come. The price of loving them is the promise of the tears I will shed for them someday.

The hard thing is that “someday” can sneak up on you suddenly. It almost always does.

Today, Legend gets to claim the tears and heartbreak I promised him. He gets to claim my very bad day.

Legend is one of those special horses who was not mine. He had a wonderful family, Rose and Dave, who were incredible devoted owners and gave me the privilege of being the one to work with him and ride him. My heart breaks for them most of all.

Legend is one of those who was not mine, but unfortunately for me, my heart cannot tell the difference.

05/05/2024

A little Liberty practice with my best girl after a super 3 day clinic in upstate NY!

Thanks again Windswept Acres Appaloosas, Solomon's Wish Stables, Animal Assisted Therapy Services, Inc. Can’t wait to see you all again in June!!

04/22/2024

It’s a beautiful day for riding lessons

04/13/2024

Pretty cool time at Equine Affaire Ohio with the one and only, super cool and talented Lyric and Brendan.

04/11/2024

The following is an excerpt from my recently released The Lesson Rider’s Journal.

One of the things I’ve learned within the process of publishing The Lesson Rider’s Journal is that you can edit, edit, edit, then edit some more, and still find that there’s more to say.

The topics we discuss in this book require nuance. They are things I’ve discovered through the act of riding, training, and especially teaching.

What follows the excerpt is what I’d add in my next round of edits, if there were ever to be one.

“Riding can be scary and with good reason. Horses are big and not always predictable. Falling off is the worst. The only thing I can tell you with 100% certainty is that if you ride, you will eventually fall. It’s an unfortunate element of all equestrian sports.

It doesn’t happen often, but when I do have a student fall, before they’re allowed to get up, I ask them “Are you more hurt or more scared?” The honest ones will tell me when the real answer is “more scared.” That’s okay; we can work with that.

I haven’t quite determined which is worse. One of those scenarios does damage to our bodies, but the other one does damage to our confidence and that can be hard to shake. I have ridden probably hundreds of horses in my career and I can tell you with absolute honesty that I still have a moment of reservation when I sit on a new horse for the first time. I also have a moment of reservation when I sit on a horse after falling off, especially if I was legitimately hurt.

But I don’t panic. And I don’t quit. What I do is set aside that fear because I trust in my own skills and education, and I make the choice to do the scary thing anyway. Ultimately, I know that my fear, whether it's big or small, is driven by my normal, human, biological impulses that I cannot control. My instinctual brain does not understand logic, even when I know that I am in no danger.

What I can control is my response in those moments. I can breathe, and I can choose how to act. Nine times out of ten, I can relax within the first two strides and convince my body and my instincts what my logical mind already knows - I’m okay and I’ve got this.

And so do you. You chose your instructor and your barn for a reason. Trust that the professionals around you have the expertise to put you on safe and appropriate horses (and if that isn’t true, find another barn pronto). Let’s just assume that you chose well and your team has you well horsed… in that case, you’re fine. You’ve got this, and the only one who can really and truly convince you of that is you.

So be brave. Do the scary thing anyway. Get back on. Jump the jump. Run the barrels. Attempt the gallop. Approach that person that has caught your eye. Apply for the job. Embrace any of a hundred other scary things that might be giving you pause.

You can’t choose to not be scared, but you can choose to be brave. I choose it all the time and it is hard. I’m not going to pretend it’s not. This is hard advice to implement, but so important. Your ability to improve for your horse matters to me, and your ability to grow into the best and most capable human matters. It just matters, period.

So…what are you afraid of? What is holding you back? What are the moments that make your breath catch and make you freeze from fear? Sit with them. Allow yourself to feel it, observe it, set it aside, and choose bravery anyway.”

I am currently listening to an audiobook that talks about this very idea, which brought up one bit of nuance I want to add. Seeing as we’ve already gone to print, I’ll add it for you here.

The author of that book was discussing her two daughters getting their ears pierced. The younger of the two hopped up on the chair and didn’t flinch. She was labeled the “brave” one by the staff in the shop. The elder daughter changed her mind. Upon telling them she would not be getting pierced, they urged her to be brave. The author then stated “being brave isn’t doing the scary thing anyway. It’s following your inner knowing.”

And to this I’d say “yes, I agree.”

But also, I’d say that the first order of business must be to accurately identify the scary thing.

In the ear piercing example, is the “scary thing” getting the ears pierced? Or perhaps it is speaking your truth? Maybe not meeting the expectations of the people around you?

For each daughter, the scary thing was different. And both rose to the occasion. So maybe bravery was found in doing it anyway, but what that meant can vary from person to person, moment to moment, and situation to situation.

Let’s now imagine a scenario that could play out in a lesson setting. Imagine you’re on your horse and your instructor is asking to jump a fence that is higher than you usually jump. Your horse is solid around a 2’ course, and your instructor has set the fence to 2’3”. Both you and your horse are ready for this, but you’re nervous.

Now let’s change that scenario slightly. Same horse and rider combo, but the instructor has set a line to 3’6”.

In the first situation, the “scary thing” is jumping the slightly higher fence, which is well within reason. Jump the jump. Trust and go.

But the second is a totally different story. In this case, the “scary thing” becomes speaking up for yourself and your horse. It is holding true to the knowing that the ask is inappropriate for the level of the horse, and will cause more harm than good. Can you speak up in the face of perceived authority? Can you say “No, thank you. This is not right for me and my horse?” I’d say that you can and must. The scary thing is not jumping the big fence, it’s following your inner knowing. And doing the scary thing anyway by speaking up.

The key is identifying the scary thing. Then choosing that.

If you enjoyed this, you’ll love The Lesson Rider’s Journal. Check it out here: https://a.co/d/4JWi2Pr

04/10/2024

Thank you to Solomon's Wish Stables for inviting us into your space. What a truly BEAUTIFUL place you’ve created. Can’t wait to see what the future has in store for you! (And see you again soon!)

04/09/2024

Giant thank you to Windswept Acres Appaloosas for another great clinic! I appreciate you continuing to have me back, and the opportunity you’ve given me to create these incredible relationships with your horses and riders. What an great group you have- always so much fun to help them along their journeys!

We had a wintery time, despite the calendar telling us it was spring, but that didn’t stop us!

04/08/2024

Super excited to be invited for a two-day "Intro to Liberty Clinic" on June 8-9 at Wild Hearts Therapeutic Equestrian Program in West Bridgewater, MA! Bring your own horse, or work with one of theirs (or mine!). Two-day clinic is $350 with your horse (current Coggins required), $450 with one of our horses. $40/day to audit. Limited space so sign up early to reserve your spot! Contact Julie E-Lovely with questions or to enroll!

04/03/2024

Just me and my forever co-pilot making our way to to see our crew for their first clinic of 2024 at Windswept Acres Appaloosas in NY. Looking forward to a great couple of days! 

03/28/2024

Excellent new terminology here…

03/21/2024

Miles doesn’t want to get up to for his farrier appointment…generally talks back in every way a horse can

03/08/2024

Take a moment to celebrate Miles with me!

Tonight, he had his first ride since July and my man is sound and feeling good. He seemed very happy to be back at it. He has always enjoyed having a job and been grumpy when he’s doing nothing.

While he won’t be going back to work as a lesson horse, I’m excited to get to enjoy him myself in his golden years. He will be 25 this April and we celebrate 20 years together this spring.

This is what they mean when they say things like “forever horse” and “unicorn” and “love of my life” and “best horse ever”. He’s all that and more!

03/03/2024

A peek at a little of the process plus some of my illustrations inside the Lesson Rider’s Journal

03/02/2024

Quick excerpt from my new book, The Lesson Rider’s Journal!

If you’ve taken lessons with me at any point in the past 20 years, you’re already familiar with the premise. After lots of time writing, editing, illustrating, and formatting, the published resource will be available for you soon!

I’m so excited to introduce this project to you. Follow along as I’ll share more details about the release soon!

03/01/2024

Wow. This is powerful, eye opening and a little sad. This is why I’m not in the business of buying and selling horses...instead, I would much rather educate equine enthusiasts about just how sensitive horses truly are...

“Most horses pass from one human to another - some horsemen and women are patient and forgiving, others are rigorous and demanding, others are cruel, others are ignorant.

Horses have to learn how to, at the minimum, walk, trot, canter, gallop, go on trails and maybe jump, to be treated by the vet, all with sense and good manners.

Talented Thoroughbreds must learn how to win races, and if they can't do that, they must learn how to negotiate courses and jump over strange obstacles without touching them, or do complicated dance
like movements or control cattle or accommodate severely handicapped children and adults in therapy work.

Many horses learn all of these things in the course of a single lifetime. Besides this, they learn to understand and fit into the successive social systems of other horses they meet along the way.

A horse's life is rather like twenty years in foster care, or in and out of prison, while at the same time changing schools over and over and discovering that not only do the other students already have their own social groups, but that what you learned at the old school hasn't much application at the new one.

We do not require as much of any other species, including humans.

That horses frequently excel, that they exceed the expectations of their owners and trainers in such circumstances, is as much a testament to their intelligence and adaptability as to their relationship skills or their natural generosity or their inborn nature.

That they sometimes manifest the same symptoms as abandoned orphans - distress, strange behaviors, anger, fear - is less surprising than that they usually don't.

No one expects a child, or even a dog to develop its intellectual capacities living in a box 23 hours a day and then doing controlled exercises the remaining one.

Mammal minds develop through social interaction and stimulation.

A horse that seems "stupid", "slow", "stubborn", etc. might just have not gotten the chance to learn!

Take care of your horses and treasure them.”

- Jane Smiley

📸 Kaly Madison Photography