Find Yourself Next to a Horse - The Happy Hippocampus

01/10/2025

As the oncoming car swerved into my lane, I imagined the worst before I calmed myself. As the threat subsided, I noticed the driver was gawking at something on my side of the road.

🐴 Leading or riding a horse is the same way. They go the direction you’re looking. The results can be funny, or frustrating to a nervous rider like me!

🧠 Similarly, your brain’s Reticular Activating System (RAS) filters out what’s not important to you — 95% of stuff, some say. It primes us to notice what we’re expecting.

Where and how we place our attention creates our reality.

Imagine - or maybe recall - what you notice and act on from a state of calm creativity vs. fear-inspired storytelling.

The good news, you can learn to put yourself in calm creative mode.

01/01/2025

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas ❤️🎄💚
Happy Holidays 💙❄️💙
🎩🪄🥕
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12/22/2024

The author of a foundational book in horse communication is working with a car company to apply human-horse interaction. Fascinating!

Nissan Motor Corporation has two artificial intelligence research laboratories in Silicon Valley, California, and Yokohama, Japan. I'm honored to be consulting with them by delivering a series of seven workshops that started last night. The two labs work on Nissan vehicles of the future, in which we hope to apply certain principles of horse-human interaction to car-driver interaction. It's a fascinating project, and I'm excited to be part of it. Many thanks to the research lab leaders for offering me this opportunity.

12/21/2024

We’re relocating! Happy Winter Solstice, friends. Here’s to germinating new beginnings. We moved the horses from coastal to central NC at Thanksgiving. They were so good about getting in the metal box 😇 We’re all settling into transitional digs.
📷 by

11/07/2024

Mood: I can’t give what I don’t have

08/23/2024

08/23/2024

The superheroes are reuniting to save the world! What makes teamwork so suspenseful and dramatic on the big screen or sports field?

Though I'm recalling a 2019 superhero ensemble film from last weekend, I could be describing many entertaining works:

💥 Will all of the heroes commit to the mission? 💥 Can they agree on a shared objective? 💥 Do they coordinate successfully, or does their plan go awry?

𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗴𝗶𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵. Whether and how they'll team up fuels the plot. So, how do you keep teams engaged and effective, leaving drama for the movies?

"𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀,” the Center for Creative Leadership has found, citing their data-backed Direction, Alignment, and Commitment (DAC) model. "Instead of focusing on individual managers and their skills, it's important to examine how the whole system is involved in making leadership happen."

By the way, observing horse herds is a way to see subtle social leadership in action.

What have *you* learned from your favorite superhero franchise? (Serious or silly answers welcome)

08/18/2024

Tango watches me like a hawk. He’s twice folded up a camp chair using his mouth and hoof, without damaging the chair 😆

As a human, he’d be an engineer!🤓
As a bird, he’d be a crow!🐦‍⬛

08/09/2024

Tango would ignore me, dragging me around at the end of the lead rope I used to “control” him.🤭 Do you have a project like Tango?

When we began working together, I never dreamed he’d stop eating to check in with me. Sternly reprimanding him escalated to a tug-of-war with no winners.

Competing with grass remains humbly challenging, but now I manage to keep his attention most of the time.

What changed? My leadership style.

𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘁.
It began with recognizing his effort to look in my direction while grazing.

𝗜 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗴𝗼 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗲𝗹𝘀.
When he accompanies me from Point A to Point B, his negotiating a nibble ☘️ doesn’t make him a “dominant horse” or make me feel insecure about horse training. I blend my agenda with his survival instinct.

𝗜 𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽.
I give more than I get, with clear boundaries.

❤️🐴 Like this? Please follow!

What situation are you trying to control that’s much bigger than you? What exciting, desirable outcomes will you nurture with collaboration?

08/06/2024

What a horse sees (link provided by Horse Brain Human Brain)🐴

Ever wonder how a horse perceives its environment? From night vision to color awareness, this simulated video lets the rider take a horse-eye view.

06/13/2024

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