This morning I typed in my previous blog post about the FEI, encouraged readers to write and voice their opinions, and then I left my keyboard and went about the business of my day, which at that moment was feeding equines on November Hill. As important as I think it is to speak out against wrongdoing in the world, I also feel that when we live with integrity, generosity of spirit, and live the actions we call for in others, we send equally important ripples into the world.
I stopped and listened this morning as I stood in the feed room, preparing breakfast tubs. The voices of all the equines are very distinct and beautiful.
Keil Bay's musical whinny, which rises in scale and then drops perfectly to its end note.
Salina's low, soft nicker that vibrates and comforts all at the same time.
Cody's voice is silent, but if I listen carefully I hear him turning a circle in his stall, using movement to express his eagerness.
Apache Moon takes a pony hoof and scrapes it down the stall door. Insistent and yet not overly demanding, he makes a different sound so that it stands out from the rest.
Rafer Johnson and Redford are in the barn aisle, usually right outside the feed room door, and they have mastered the art of sounding like squeaking hinges. The metaphor is not lost on me. The squeaky wheel gets the oil, and they are served first each meal.
My commitment to speaking out against rollkur continues because of all those voices in my barn every morning. As long as they speak to me, I will speak for them.
billie hinton’s camera-obscura:
life and lessons on November Hill Farm
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
the FEI's not so secret meeting
The FEI has invited various representatives to meet and discuss the controversial topic of rollkur, or hyperflexion of the neck, at the FEI headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Feb. 9, 2010.
Apparently this meeting has not been announced publically by the FEI, but we all know about it anyway.
Project Horse has listed all the people the FEI invited along with their contact information.
If you'd like to make your feelings about rollkur known, now is the time to contact the attendees and bend their ears.
Apparently this meeting has not been announced publically by the FEI, but we all know about it anyway.
Project Horse has listed all the people the FEI invited along with their contact information.
If you'd like to make your feelings about rollkur known, now is the time to contact the attendees and bend their ears.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
double woolgathering and the magic of metaphor
Last night I happened onto a link that took me back to my own blog posts in 2007, and before I clicked away again, I noticed a post titled woolgathering.
I love the notion of woolgathering, the word itself, the image it provokes in my head, and the idea of the physical action of gathering bits of wool, which in my mind are all the lush, deep colors I love best.
When I was in graduate school, seeing my very first client as a therapist, I had a powerful dream in which the client, a young child, brought me bits of wool. Together we wound the wool into a ball, which came to life, and over the course of several months, I taught the child to care for the living ball of wool. Later, in the end of the dream, the child came up with the idea of knitting a sweater with the wool, which would keep him warm long after I was gone from his life, and would be alive with all the work we'd done as client and therapist.
I wrote a paper using that dream as the basis for what has become my personal metaphor to doing therapy. So the notion of woolgathering grew another layer for me, much like that growing ball of yarn grew for the client in the dream.
Last night, instead of leaving the page of posts I'd happened onto, I scrolled on down, scanning my own writings from two years back, intrigued with the ability to travel so easily back in time for a little while.
Then I came across the following excerpt:
Addendum: I was looking through some old writing this a.m., looking for a particular passage that I thought might fit into the work. Didn't find it, but did come upon this dream I had back in 2005:
a huge garden (writing) spider built a gigantic web over my bed - it was thick and wide, the shape of a book when lying open. woven into it was a cross (runic cross??) there was a beautiful hummingbird hovering behind the web, trying to get through, but the web was so thick ... and then it began to glow, gold and green.
My gosh - I have absolutely no memory of that. What a wonderful dream. This is why we should write them down - we forget, even the ones we don't think we will.
I had written that dream down in 2005, discovered it in 2007, at which time I did not even remember having it, and then, last evening, rediscovered it yet again in 2010.
I still don't remember it, but even five years later it creates a huge wave of wonder in me, and appreciation both for my dream world and for the ability of words to transport, not once but many times.
In a way, the act of forgetting here is a gift, because it's the rediscovery of such a joyful memory that makes it so incredible. If I remembered the dream it wouldn't have the magnitude of impact it does when I find it now.
I don't know what meaning I attributed to the dream in 2005, but now it describes, in a perfect symbolic image, what the process of writing means to me.
And without going into a long ramble about where I am right now writing-wise, suffice it to say that finding that forgotten metaphor last night held a particular magic. The timing for my woolgathering was perfect.
I love the notion of woolgathering, the word itself, the image it provokes in my head, and the idea of the physical action of gathering bits of wool, which in my mind are all the lush, deep colors I love best.
When I was in graduate school, seeing my very first client as a therapist, I had a powerful dream in which the client, a young child, brought me bits of wool. Together we wound the wool into a ball, which came to life, and over the course of several months, I taught the child to care for the living ball of wool. Later, in the end of the dream, the child came up with the idea of knitting a sweater with the wool, which would keep him warm long after I was gone from his life, and would be alive with all the work we'd done as client and therapist.
I wrote a paper using that dream as the basis for what has become my personal metaphor to doing therapy. So the notion of woolgathering grew another layer for me, much like that growing ball of yarn grew for the client in the dream.
Last night, instead of leaving the page of posts I'd happened onto, I scrolled on down, scanning my own writings from two years back, intrigued with the ability to travel so easily back in time for a little while.
Then I came across the following excerpt:
Addendum: I was looking through some old writing this a.m., looking for a particular passage that I thought might fit into the work. Didn't find it, but did come upon this dream I had back in 2005:
a huge garden (writing) spider built a gigantic web over my bed - it was thick and wide, the shape of a book when lying open. woven into it was a cross (runic cross??) there was a beautiful hummingbird hovering behind the web, trying to get through, but the web was so thick ... and then it began to glow, gold and green.
My gosh - I have absolutely no memory of that. What a wonderful dream. This is why we should write them down - we forget, even the ones we don't think we will.
I had written that dream down in 2005, discovered it in 2007, at which time I did not even remember having it, and then, last evening, rediscovered it yet again in 2010.
I still don't remember it, but even five years later it creates a huge wave of wonder in me, and appreciation both for my dream world and for the ability of words to transport, not once but many times.
In a way, the act of forgetting here is a gift, because it's the rediscovery of such a joyful memory that makes it so incredible. If I remembered the dream it wouldn't have the magnitude of impact it does when I find it now.
I don't know what meaning I attributed to the dream in 2005, but now it describes, in a perfect symbolic image, what the process of writing means to me.
And without going into a long ramble about where I am right now writing-wise, suffice it to say that finding that forgotten metaphor last night held a particular magic. The timing for my woolgathering was perfect.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
the snowy day
Rafer Johnson was the first to actually take a stroll in the snow, but he was also the first one back to the barn! His sojourn as a snow donkey was fairly brief!
The snow queen! Once she had breakfast this morning she took a walk in the snow too. First thing she did was stick her face in it!
Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat nor gloom of night stays these Couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds!
Unfortunately, the stunning head and neck shot of Keil Bay was lost to a memory stick corruption. Something similar has happened every time it has snowed - and every time I lose the Keil Bay photo. There's something about a red bay against the white that I would love to capture - maybe later today I'll get another shot.
The pony had ice beads in forelock and eyelashes, and of course there is no photo of that either! But he looked quite the dashing Shetland.
Cody had been out too but didn't have the beads!
It's sleeting right now. Hoping this ends soon so we can enjoy the white stuff a little before it melts - probably Tuesday unless it warms back up sooner than forecast.
The snow queen! Once she had breakfast this morning she took a walk in the snow too. First thing she did was stick her face in it!
Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat nor gloom of night stays these Couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds!
Unfortunately, the stunning head and neck shot of Keil Bay was lost to a memory stick corruption. Something similar has happened every time it has snowed - and every time I lose the Keil Bay photo. There's something about a red bay against the white that I would love to capture - maybe later today I'll get another shot.
The pony had ice beads in forelock and eyelashes, and of course there is no photo of that either! But he looked quite the dashing Shetland.
Cody had been out too but didn't have the beads!
It's sleeting right now. Hoping this ends soon so we can enjoy the white stuff a little before it melts - probably Tuesday unless it warms back up sooner than forecast.
Friday, January 29, 2010
thank you, British Horse Society
From Horse & Country today:
BHS RESPONDS TO ROLLKUR RULING
29 January 2010
Rollkur has prompted debate
Following the news that the Swedish rider Patrick Kittel will not face disciplinary action after the FEI's investigation into his warm up techniques in Denmark in October 2009, the British Horse Society has released a statement confirming their position on the use of Rollkur, or hyperflexion.
The statement, posted on the BHS website, says:
"As the debate over the use of hyperflexion as a training technique continues, The British Horse Society’s policy may be stated as follows:
The British Horse Society strongly recommends that all riders training horses on the flat and over fences should adhere to the official instruction handbook of the German National Equestrian Federation. Whilst we appreciate that horses are as individual as humans, and that some may require corrective schooling, the BHS’s stand on hyperflexion (by which we mean the extreme flexion of the horse’s head and neck beyond normal limits) remains clear: it is an unacceptable method of training horses by any rider for any length of time.
We recognise that the scientific evidence is conflicting, and likely to remain so as each party seeks determinedly to prove its case. For this reason we doubt that science will ever provide a single, clear, unambiguous and unarguable answer. It therefore falls to humans to do what the horses cannot, namely to follow the precautionary principle: as nature provides no evidence of horses choosing to move in hyperflexion for an extended period of time; and as hyperflexion can create tension in the horse’s neck and back which has no justifying necessity; and as the horse in hyperflexion is, by definition, unable fully to use its neck; and as the psychological consequences of such treatment remain latent (perhaps in an analogous position with horses which are whipped aggressively but which can still pass a five star vetting), we should take all appropriate steps to discourage the use of this training technique, for the horse’s sake."
The furor surrounding Kittel's warm up broke after a Danish journalist posted a video of the rider on YouTube, in which his horse's tongue appeared to turn blue. The rider said he had consequently received hate mail. While the FEI have decided not to take action against Kittel, they have issued a written warning to him concerning appropriate and inappropriate warm up techniques.
BHS RESPONDS TO ROLLKUR RULING
29 January 2010
Rollkur has prompted debate
Following the news that the Swedish rider Patrick Kittel will not face disciplinary action after the FEI's investigation into his warm up techniques in Denmark in October 2009, the British Horse Society has released a statement confirming their position on the use of Rollkur, or hyperflexion.
The statement, posted on the BHS website, says:
"As the debate over the use of hyperflexion as a training technique continues, The British Horse Society’s policy may be stated as follows:
The British Horse Society strongly recommends that all riders training horses on the flat and over fences should adhere to the official instruction handbook of the German National Equestrian Federation. Whilst we appreciate that horses are as individual as humans, and that some may require corrective schooling, the BHS’s stand on hyperflexion (by which we mean the extreme flexion of the horse’s head and neck beyond normal limits) remains clear: it is an unacceptable method of training horses by any rider for any length of time.
We recognise that the scientific evidence is conflicting, and likely to remain so as each party seeks determinedly to prove its case. For this reason we doubt that science will ever provide a single, clear, unambiguous and unarguable answer. It therefore falls to humans to do what the horses cannot, namely to follow the precautionary principle: as nature provides no evidence of horses choosing to move in hyperflexion for an extended period of time; and as hyperflexion can create tension in the horse’s neck and back which has no justifying necessity; and as the horse in hyperflexion is, by definition, unable fully to use its neck; and as the psychological consequences of such treatment remain latent (perhaps in an analogous position with horses which are whipped aggressively but which can still pass a five star vetting), we should take all appropriate steps to discourage the use of this training technique, for the horse’s sake."
The furor surrounding Kittel's warm up broke after a Danish journalist posted a video of the rider on YouTube, in which his horse's tongue appeared to turn blue. The rider said he had consequently received hate mail. While the FEI have decided not to take action against Kittel, they have issued a written warning to him concerning appropriate and inappropriate warm up techniques.
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