Madi’s Horse Lessons

09/17/2024

Set your life to your horse like a compass.

Their needs, their desires, their talents, become your needs, desires and talents.

I know of people who found themselves with a horse whom was only happy and healthy, if they were out every day, in the mountains, living nomadically. So this person became a long distance trail rider. Rode Mexico to Canada, more than once. Alone. (Coming on the podcast soon).

I know of people whom had busy corporate jobs, met with world leaders and game changers, paradigm shifters. But then they found a horse in their life. They gave it up, moved to the country. And now they teach from their barn, donate their wealth to horse charities and are inspired by the almost shamanic lessons of horses to find the best life path forwards.

I know of people who used horses, and abused them. They knew no other way. Who has ancestors who slaughtered and ate horses, and when ridden, exploited them. And today, they use family wealth from those ancestors to run a sanctuary for equines. Reparations for generations of abuse.

I know of people who were very happy minding their own business, living in a city. Except they weren't. A gnawing black hole in their soul ate quietly away at them, like a caterpillar on a leaf. Until one day, they were out driving in the countryside. Saw a long fence line... and beyond it in fields of gold, horses. And their soul said BINGO. That's it.

Human beings have lived alongside livestock for millennia. Large mammals are in our DNA. Scientific forays explored the mind-body-gut connection between people who live with large animals and people who don't. The sum total checks and balances say that our human bodies thrive when lived in the presence of these land whales.

So, my body has never felt better, when living next to, along side, and working together with our horses.

They are my compass, showing me the direction to go. And I think the best years are still in front of us!

08/14/2024

2024-2025 HORSE CAMP SCHEDULE

Finally, the dates you've all been waiting for!

The next horse camps coming up are for Labor Day, September 2nd. You can also start signing your kiddos up for any of the dates! Same process, just shoot me a text or DM me here! Hope to see you there!

CORRECTIONS:
No camp on 9/3.
November 28 is now November 29.

08/03/2024

☀️Happy Saturday!

🙃Working on some marketing materials

🤠If you are a Visions Charter School family, we will see you next Friday at your open house!

🐴Stop by our vendor table to meet Steve and grab some horse-inspired goodies for the kiddos! See you there!

08/02/2024

All of this 🫶🏼

Riding schools for children -

I used to teach children riding lessons a lot. It was really fun and rewarding to instill in young people care and respect for the horse, and good riding skills. I found chikdren far more receptive and empathetic than many adults, because they hadn’t been taught to ignore horses expressions to get something done.

The pressure from parents to accelerate the kids skills to more fun stuff, or to prevent the child’s boredom, was a steady presence in teaching- along with maintaining the school horses soundness and mental well-being from being ridden by beginners. Keeping lessons good for both horse and rider was a job of creativity and constant adjustment. I believe it can be done, but the culture at large doesn’t typically make it profitable, as many parents struggle to want to pay for lessons on sound husbandry and good riding basics. The kids want to canter, by God!

I have some firm beliefs about good riding stables, and I realize the expense and strain and adjustment is an ever pressing reality, I stand by these beliefs:

-children should learn good riding fundamentals first, and not progress to trotting, cantering, jumping until they have a good understanding of a balanced seat and can demonstrate it

-children should learn care of and respect for the horse comes before their entertainment. Grooming, tacking, warming up and cooling down, quitting an activity or adjusting if the horse is stressed, learning groundwork, etc, should be a non negotiable

-children should learn to feel a balanced horse to the extent possible. A beginner horse should not simply be a lame horse that tolerates them, but one to teach th em how to ride- children should not be set up for a future of kicking and pulling to get a horse to do something, but learn to feel how to direct a horse with their body, and to feel movement that is balanced, setting them up for a lifetime of being able to balance future horses.

- children should learn to read accurately equine expression and well-being. Children should not be taught to describe horses as lazy, stubborn, etc- these are taught by adults and children learn to adapt these views. The adults are responsible for setting the culture and views of horses and their handling.

Many riders struggle with normalizing tight, crooked, and unhappy horses because this is what they learn to ride on. The instructor is responsible for setting the culture of what their program entails, and I believe this means setting firm boundaries on what the purchasing client can expect, instead of catering to unreasonable demands to keep business. That is a whole can of worms in itself, but one worth opening.

07/30/2024

Last summer horse camp today! A little bit of riding, a whole lot of painting, and even more fun! We could not pull these camps off without the wonderful, consistent help from our volunteers 🐴🫶🏼🤠 BIGGEST thanks to them for showing up week after week and pouring confidence, positivity, and love into the kiddos who come to participate in our horse programs.

We hope everyone has an outstanding school year! I will be releasing horse camp dates for the academic year in the next few weeks, so be on the lookout 🗓️

I’ll leave you with this… 💕
"A good rider can hear his horse speak to him. A great rider can hear his horse whisper".

07/29/2024

We finally have a formal landing page! I hope you love horses as much as I do, and I can’t wait to share more with you as we grow and learn together 💕🐴🫶🏼🤠

📧 Shoot me a DM if you would like to be added to my email list! I don’t have time to spam you, but I will share upcoming events (including the always popular horse camps) and pertinent updates!