05/28/2024
"What was your biggest takeaway from this weekend?" The question is still rolling around in my brain since Linda Hoover asked it last night. I'm certain the question is on her mind as well. Wonderful snippets of horse and rider transformations flash through my memories of these last three days.
As with most good things in life, its hard to pick just ONE takeaway, but here are a few from my time spent auditing the Manolo Mendez Symposium.
First is, of course, gratitude. I feel immensely grateful to have found a group of teachers who all align on their approach and tenacity towards supporting horses in mind, body, and spirit. Manolo is certainly a leader in this body of knowledge, and to observe him working with horses is to witness a dance between evidence based practices and the mystical unknown. To say he is a master almost feels too light.
One rider in particular stood out to me as a testament to what being present, curious, and coachable can do for the horses in our lives. No one does anything worth mentioning alone. And when so many of us find ourselves trapped in reiterating the past (or our horses past) in a vicious cycle, ad nauseam we doom ourselves to remain there.
It's not that this horse didn't have a story worth telling - trust me, her transformation was out of this world. But that transformation is, again, a testament to her rider's brilliant attitude about her FUTURE rather than her past. Perhaps someday, I will think of that rider and that mare while I grin ear to ear learning piaffe as they did with such elegance.
Third is gratitude, again, for the absolute champions who pulled this event together - People who planted these seeds in my mind years ago, people who changed the trajectory of my life by opening the door for me to a world I believed to only be a dream. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Casey M. Jones Jillian Kreinbring , the wonderful sponsors from Equilearn, the Vluggen Institute for Osteopathy and Education, as well as COUNTLESS others behind the scenes either physically or through sponsorship for bringing us all together.
I have much to ruminate on. And, in light of the horse and rider who inspired me so, as well as the countless wonderful new friends I have made and older friends reconnected with, I am excited for the future.
