Sea Horses

Karen set up a surprise for her friend Louise, who became our friend too. Louise has, in her words, "Always dreamed of riding a horse at the beach, just like this." We LOVE that we are co-creators in her experience, that Louise held her dream until Karen, Whiskey, Bach, Bo, Katelyn, Rex & I could be a part of the reality. I trust that all I have experienced and believed, to have the relationship I do with these magical horses, is exactly what Louise imagined could be, and this day we all met, aligned and shared someone's dream. Thank you for dreaming.

Yes, Bachelor Boy is unrestrained in this photograph, when I trust the environmental conditions are good (i.e. people sharing the beach with me are self-contained, no frightened horses with them) I always allow my herd to enjoy the beach as they would enjoy their paddock; free. I started a conversation on-line about this, and many lovely people engaged with me and shared their fears, large or small, about loose horses on the beach or elsewhere. You may join the conversation here; Facebook/Horsemanship 

I ask why a horse-loving person would not want an experience like the one Louise manifested and co-created?

The key person involved in connecting us with Louise, Karen, brought her horse along for the adventure, and after some time passed where my horses were free and clearly revelling in the experience, Karen asked whether I thought her horse could be released from his halter and lead rope too. Yes didn't just come from my lips, I had been holding the image of Bo being allowed to experience the freedom of the beach in my mind for some time when our herd had started to harmonise, and the essence of trust and familiarity was all-pervading. Bo shared my imagining, and Karen found herself a partner in the desire. 

In the past I have closely controlled loose horse situations. I may have ensured a closed beach, a trained horse, a pile of feed, for example. In my past I believed the desire of a horse to be with us was created by training, conditioning and bribery. My belief that such an experience was a trick reveals the fear I held that horses would not choose a human, have no desire to relate to a human, and further, I believed I would not be worthy of their company were they set free. And so it was. The experiences were good-looking but anxiety-laden. 

That is not true for me any more. So how did Bo respond when Karen slipped his halter? 

A horse is a horse! Bo, upon realising the restraint was gone, simply ran in joy. His wake caught Whiskey for a few moments, who cantered too, before thoughts such as "Bo doesn't even know where he is heading," and "The herd are not running with us," came to him, and so he turned and returned to the rest of us. I'd be lying if I didn't confess that for a few moments Karen didn't feel the fear of the unknown, and looked to me. I knew, and I repeated the statement, "he will come back."

There was once a popular saying, in the time of flower-power, so before generation Y, 

"If you love someone, set them free. If they come back, they're yours. If they don't, they never were." 

What does that have to do with the myriad disasters ahead of that galloping horse? I know you wonder. And indeed, the horse is galloping towards an industrial complex, machinery, pollution, people at work, some slaves to a system. Roads, vehicles, noise... 

Bo needed to see for himself. Bo needed to run like his instinct told him, and when he'd seen enough, he could choose what he wanted based upon the choices he saw. And when he returned Whiskey glanced at him, further along the journey as he is, as if to mutter, 

"What were you thinking?" 

Welcome to The Heart of Horsemanship Project

Jayne and her herd will share much of their journey here. 

Horsemanship is relationship. The vessel by which horses and humans experience life together; experience love, joy and contrast. 

Here we will share the heart of the threads connecting our species, and we will inspire you. 

Jayne has a herd of four horses who are her family - Cedar, Heart of Burgundy, mother of Presence of Heart. Bachelor Boy, a twenty years young Australian Quarterhorse, and Romantic Notion; Whiskey, a tri-coloured Pinto gelding. The herd welcome and educate horses and people every day. They have a Twitter account twitter.com/JaynesHerd and a Page on Facebook facebook.com/JaynesHerd that you may "Like." Jayne uses Twitter too, to share events.  

Jaynes Herd

Our project, The Heart of Horsemanship, started life as a book in the late 1990's. 

As a teacher Jayne is asked many questions, but the most frequent request was "please write a book, so that I may study your horsemanship." 

Jayne began her book, and over the years has published articles, tales, blogs and micro-blogs, video's, tests and curriculum for professionals. Jaynes' reasons for not producing a book have been many and varied - too much travelling, not enough time, always evolving, and so on, however since Jayne recognised the reason she loved horses so completely was because they inspired in her to journey to her heart, with passion, to her source and her purpose, she began to call "The Book" "The Heart of Horsemanship." The reams of notes remained unpublished. 

Jayne has engaged with thousands of people all over the world since she joined the World Wide Web in 1999. Within days Jayne wrote advice on forums, later YouTube, and within a few short years received an invitation from a former University colleague to join a new site called Facebook. Jayne has been able to successfully micro-blog about her life as a teacher, a lover of art, a thinker and creator, whilst still working with people and horses full-time. In 2010 Jayne decided "The Heart of Horsemanship" was no longer a book, but a project. A project with hundreds of contributors, human and animal. A creation evolving daily, definitely enhanced by sharing. Participation is the heart of the journey with a horse. Experiencing, feeling, growing. 

Join us, the herd, the co-creators and the online community as we live at the heart of horsemanship.