From the Heart of a Horsewoman

Horse in Haiku

lifetime passion
Horse/Human communion
Oneness in Presence

It has been quite awhile since I have posted in Heart of a Horsewoman. I have a new project, Horse in Haiku. Haiku is a perfect form for presenting Horse in the present moment. In the process I am learning so much about Haiku. In my writer’s group, Wise Women of the Well, we understood Haiku to be 17 syllables written in three lines of 5/7/5 syllables with a reference to the four seasons and nature. It turns out there is so much more. I have joined the Haiku Society of America and am learning about the multiple layers of life, spiritual, moral and mundane that are expressed in the minute moment of syllables.

Haiku is just one of the forms of “short song” that come to us from Japan. I will use this blog to experiment with the different forms as I create this new project, Horse in Haiku. Thank you for joining me. I welcome comments and suggestions.

My granddaughter, Zephyra Paxton, has generously agreed to add her artistic talent to this endeavor. The drawing is one of her earliest horse creations given as a gift to her great-grandfather.

grass whispers Alert-
mare drops her shoulder and shies
I am on the ground

Blessings of Light and Love, Lynnea

Holding the Space Part 1

Delaya Diane, founder and administrator of True North Equestrians – Soul Inspired Equestrians, and member of Horse – Human – Spirit, is creating an Oracle Deck using real horses to illustrate her words of spiritual inspiration. My horse, Sparkle Plenty, is the image for “Holding the Space.” I have spent the past week contemplating and meditating upon this concept in relation to my horse. What does “Holding the Space” mean and how does Sparkle illustrate the image?

I was there when Sparkle Plenty entered this world and almost thirty years later I was there when her life spirit left this world. She was my equine soul sister. Through her I improved my horsemanship skills. She and I shared those skills with young, blossoming horse lovers. She allowed horse people and non-horse people to stand in and feel the peace of her presence. She and I travelled trails in the Sierra Nevada’s and the California Lost Coast together with friends. I have loved and cared for many horses in my life-time. She was, is still, special.

Holding The Space

Sparkle Plenty is Holding the Space of

The Eternal Now,

The Presence of Earth and Heaven,

LOVE, lots of vital energy,

HORSE – Past, Present and future Potential,

Communion,

Honesty,

Trust,

Heart Connection,

Illuminating the Internal Luminous Darkness,

Sparkle Penty is Holding the Space.

Thank you

May be an image of 2 people, people standing, horse, nature and tree

Handsome is as Handsome Does

. In emotional overwhelm I dismounted, wrapped my arms around Handsome’s golden neck, and wept tears of gratitude into his blond mane. I felt Dianne join our embrace, the three of us holding one another in heart celebration.

Hoofbeats pulse earth’s heartbeat

Rhythm of life in matter, incarnation,

Particles, strings, waves of potential

Flooding the energetic body

Thrumming through flexing feet,

Calves, thighs, and hips,

Root chakra humming,

Sacral chakra strumming,

Hara spinning, caressed and massaged

By the Horse Heart I embrace.

Handsome is as Handsome Does

I am 76 years old and a passionate, lifetime horsewoman. In the past 8 years, I have been unable to get on a horse unassisted. The last two years I reconciled myself to the idea I would never ride again. Severe osteoarthritis was eating at my joints. After two complete shoulder replacements, a right hip replacement, a degenerative nerve to a muscle in my right hip (which cost me the ability to lift that leg and swing it over the back of a horse), and severe sciatica in my left leg leading to a looming option of back surgery, I decided to try physical therapy one more time. I was assigned a therapist who listened to me: a 75 year old woman bent over a cane, not able to step up and down from a street curb without help. Exercise by exercise, Logan began to bring my body back. In the beginning, it was exhausting, physically, emotionally, and energetically trying to negotiate pain limits, general weakness, muscles that just would no longer respond. Fear of pain got in my way. My belief that arthritis, gravity, and designed obsolescence was the natural way told me I was aging out. Logan never asked too much while continuing to encourage me to do the exercises, a little at a time, and gradually increasing the time and intensity of the workout. Yes, I know, common sense, but not all Physical Therapists are created equal. Some have a work out regimen, and that is what is followed, an irrefutable dogma. Finally, with Logan’s guidance, my body began to strengthen. I was able to put aside the cane; still careful at curbs, my dog and I could walk a flat mile. My Medicare-allotted time with Logan was running out. I reached inside for one more goal: to mount a horse unassisted. Without hesitation, he directed my exercise to mounting from the off-side, the right side of the horse. Faith in his knowledge allowed me to begin to believe that this goal would be attained. However, we ran out of time before the goal was realized. I continued the exercises, slowly reaching the pinnacle of standing in firm foundation on my right leg and swinging my left leg over the back of a chair.

The second ingredient of realizing my goal was the horse. After my last horse, Sparkle, died, I sold, gave away, or tossed all the accouterments of horse ownership, including my mindset. Now I needed a safe partner to mount myself on: a safe horse, a safe human, and a safe environment. If she agreed, I knew just the horse/human combination: my long-time friend Dianne and her honest Haflinger gelding, Handsome. I reached out, and she responded with a resounding “Yes.” The day we chose for the “big event” was one of those perfect, midwinter, spring-like days we sometimes glory in the Sierra Nevada foothills. We met at Laughton Ranch in Jackson where Handsome is boarded. From the barn, we passed through a leaning pasture gate, negotiated a goose-grazed green pasture, passing a pond and horses standing in the sun. We went through another gate and walked a dirt road towards the out barns, round pens, and sand arena, all well-used. Handsome lived here in a big paddock. He was nibbling his grass hay when we arrived. He nickered to us, knowing the routine. Dianne collected the saddle, bridle, and brushes; then, together, we collected Handsome. We curried and brushed him at the hitch rail. Dianne saddled him and warmed him up in the round pen and then took him through his paces in the arena. There was no mounting block in the arena. My goal for unassisted mounting was not from the ground but from the solid base of a mounting block. It was back near the hitchrail. We walked back. Dianne aligned Handsome to the black steps and asked if I was ready.

This was the moment. I knew I was ready, and yet I trembled. Not my horse, not my saddle, not the left side. Remembering to breathe, I looked down on that neck, knowing it was his round barrel that I would swing my leg over and settle onto, not this short neck reaching out in front of me. Dianne counterbalanced the saddle, steadying the already steady Handsome. I put my right foot in the stirrup. I may have collected some mane, I remember reaching for it, and swung my left leg up and over. I felt the skim of the cantle on my calf, and then I was on. I was on. I was mounted on the living back of a horse. Somehow, I heard Dianne ask what I wanted to do. I wanted to feel the horse walking under me. I wanted to feel that earthly energetic connection. All I wanted was exactly what I was doing. And she let me do it, she facilitated the experience. I am so grateful.

We didn’t over do. After riding, I dismounted, then mounted, rode, and dismounted again. I felt the rhythm of Handsome’s movement flow between my legs. That was all I needed. In emotional overwhelm I dismounted, wrapped my arms around Handsome’s golden neck, and wept tears of gratitude into his blond mane. I felt Dianne join our embrace, the three of us holding one another in heart celebration.

My friend Dianne, editor, writer, artist, energy worker, horsewoman.

Thank you!

Equestrian Seniors Poster Boy

An astounding 57K responses, 640 comments and counting. Read all about it.

5.7K Responses and Counting

Kurt Herrmann

At 71 here I am with a very green 3 year old Andalusian mare. Fortunately she’s got a willingness to learn and sensible nature. Continuing to live the dream, one day at a time with a heart radiating gratitude.

May be an image of 1 person, standing and horse

5.7KYou, Tam Warner, Cherie River Maitland and 5.7K others

Equestrian Senior Poster Boy: 57K Responses and Counting

What is this platform, and who is this man? My brother sent me a text early this morning that said, “It’s unbelievable, my post has 57000 responses.” The platform is Facebook’s group “Equestrian Seniors.” It has a huge international following. It is a place where older horse-folk share images and stories of sorrow and joy, all of us celebrating the fact we are still horse people enjoying our horses in the later part of life. I have shared posts in the group a few times. Equestrian Seniors truly is a gift for horse people of all nationalities, religions, genders, and cultural points of view, and we all come together in a loving and caring relationship with horses.

So who is this man? He is my brother, four and a half years my junior, which automatically sets up the Little Brother—Big Sister syndrome. It is a lot of years that we have shared this life and this horse passion. And of course, if you know anything about siblings, you know that the relationship can be wrought with great challenges in ideology as to who is right and who is wrong, emotionally charged, with seemingly mountains of murky mess to navigate in order to find some level of communication. Gratefully, we have matured, and we can now share each other’s joys and sorrows with a full heart, not tainted by embedded triggers that come from growing up together. You can’t know how honored I am to call this man, this horseman, my brother.

Why does one posting generate tens of thousands of responses out of all of the posts that are entered daily, weekly, and monthly on the Equestrian Seniors platform? Certainly what Kurt had to say was very simple, so is it the image? A beautiful, golden dappled Andalusian mare standing so regally next to a humble man, honoring that space of still being in the presence of Horse. Is it the idea that at our age we take on the challenge and reward of a young horse?

To say the least, Kurt was not born with the proverbial “silver spoon.” He bought his first horse with his own money diligently saved at the age of 13. Horses were in his blood as they were in mine. We did not have an easy family life. More than me, Kurt dealt with childhood physical and emotional abuse. On the flip side of that, we were embraced by a loving and nurturing mother. The love of animals came through her. As he matured, Kurt faced gender prejudice. Hard work and a passionate nature gave him a fulfilling career. He dealt with the addictions of alcohol and drugs. He was caregiver to both our mother and father in their last years and days. He now is caregiver to his husband of thirty years. My brother-in-law, Michael, was diagnosed with acute myeloma leukemia three and a half years ago.

Kurt carried a big, big load of life “baggage.” While our father was at the end of his life in my brother’s care, Kurt kicked his addictions on his own. The vibrant passion of his nature once again glowed in the sunlight. The gleam of his dream of riding a beautiful horse with grace beckoned. He returned to living fully in his life. I had my brother back.

Meet the Triad Team

So much has been happening in the realm of Equine Spirituality: A Book Genre since my last post. Two other authors in the genre and I are creating a Facebook Group and Page for sharing the written experience, exploration, and expression of spirit in the horse/human relationship. I proudly introduce my partners, Nancy Lee Gerson, author of The Horse Who Changed My Life: A Serendipitous Journey Through Equus, and Janet Wolanin Alexander, author of At Home on a Horse in the Woods: A Journey into Living Your Ultimate Dream and Braiding Horsehair Bracelets: Your Beginners Guide. It is our intention to create a safe space for writers and readers to share their spiritual relationship with Horse. It is a “thing,” this resonance and validation of spirituality in the Horse/Human relationship.

Can Two Words Whispered by a Horse Lead to Personal Transformation?
With limited horse riding experience and no formal equestrian training, native New York attorney, Nancy Lee Gerson, travelled to Colorado on a whim to attend a women’s retreat with horses. She spent five days riding and communing with a special horse named Cherokee, who became the ambassador for Nancy’s life-changing, serendipitous journey, guided by interspecies connections and inspiring synchronicities.

A series of beautifully written essays and prose poems that come together as a memoir/meditation by one woman’s love and transcendent connection to all things equine. [The Author] opens her life and heart to the reader, sharing her personal struggles, longings, joys, and spiritual journey as well as her ever-widening discovery along the way of the beauty and wonder of God’s world through the beloved horses in her life. Patti Liskay, author of Equal and Opposite Reactions.

Author Janet Wolanin Alexander learned about horsehair jewelry when a friend showed her a bracelet she had purchased out West during vacation. Entranced, Janet vowed to braid one from her own horse’s hair. After spending years seeking instruction and practicing her skills, she wrote this comprehensive guide to save you some of the time and frustration she went through.

EQUUS Film and Art Festival has honored From the Heart of a Horsewoman: Horse-A Bridge Between Spirit and Matter with the coveted 2021 Winnie Award for the category Equine Spirituality. I am beyond grateful.

We invite you to join us in the exploration and expression of the spiritual experience with Equus. Please share your favorite books, fiction and nonfiction, that you feel fall under Equine Spirituality. Looking forward to reading of your personal experiences.

Thank you for riding this special trail with me, Lynnea Paxton-Honn

Equine Spirituality; What is it?

What is Equine Spirituality? I first saw this as a heading category in a small used-book bookstore in Placerville, CA. It was an “ah-ha” moment for me. I was in the process of writing From the Heart of a Horsewoman: Horse–A Bridge Between Spirit and Matter. The book had neither title nor form direction at this point. When I shared the material in my blog, one of my writing mentors asked me if it was a spiritual book. My immediate reaction was denial. Who was I to write a spiritual horse book? I saw my audience as the horse people I recognized from the “how-to” horse world. Yet I knew this book was not an instruction manual. What I taught was not something that could be expressed in a curriculum. Each horse/rider combination was unique. Underlying and spanning the teaching of how to interact, communicate one species to another, was the passion and love of the relationship, the Horse/Human relationship.

I wrote in the introduction to From the Heart of a Horsewoman: Horse–A Bridge Between Spirit and Matter a presentation to the precepts shared in the text.

“In these writings I will use words describing the spirit bridge, the reach for experiential oneness. These words include God, Holy Spirit, Oneness…. These are not religious based words but words to take us to a place that contains wholeness, the completeness of the horse/human experience. But it is not limited to this relationship. As we explore this one relationship, we discover life is all about relationship. This is just a spanning of the one passion for unity to a passion for unity in all of life. The very word “unity” holds its opposite, disunited or separate. In our quest for the perfect ride, we are seeking unity on this level. This amazing, beautiful connection we have with horses is but a schooling place for the bigger connection that we have with all Life. This connection is in relationship, knowing that we are part of a whole ecosystem held in balance within our living home, the Earth, the Solar System, The Milky Way, The Universe.”

Again, the question, what is Equine Spirituality? I define it as coming into Presence in the company of Horse. It is moving into the space of Now as it is held by the heartbeat of the horse. This is expressed over and over by those who have experienced the Intimacy of Moment shared in the Horse/Human relationship.

Artist my granddaughter in her early (young) work. Zephyra Paxton

I am using my blog to present the concepts of my new writing endeavor Equine Spirituality: Everyday Presence with Horse. Please share your personal story, ideas or comments.

May The Horse Always Be With You — Lynnea

She Did Not Go Quiety Into the Night

We are never alone in our grief and the deeper the grief the greater the testament to the reach of Love.

From the Heart of a Horsewoman

Sparkle Plenty RIP September 19, 1992 – January 30, 2022

Although her feet and legs no longer supported her in strength and comfort and fluidity, her heart and mind still carried power and spirit. It had become so necessary for her to maintain her stance that even in the midst of massive doses of life ending anesthetic she tried to regain her feet. She did not go quietly, her lungs kept pumping oxygen, her eyes kept fluttering. My hand on her muzzle, I hoped to soothe her and soothe myself.

In 1992, on September 19^th I embraced a new foal, a new life in my arms. January 30, 2022, I wrapped my arms around the neck of this aging gray mare, her life sparkling just as brightly as it had all those years before. Tears drip down my face as I write these words. I’m writing to share this…

View original post 722 more words

She Did Not Go Quiety Into the Night

What is the criteria for quality of life? When does the balance from a good life to a precarious one change? For Sparkle and me, balance tipped when the pain in her hooves could not keep her upright, and she would fall. The last fall caused a knee injury that made life even more difficult for her. Her pain was my pain. And I could no longer look her in the eye knowing that it didn’t have to be that way. There was an ending to it, but that ending was so final. , an end of ife options, life choices, life dreams. (Now I am sobbing.)

2 weeks out

Two weeks without the physical presence of Sparkle Plenty. I now know that deep ache, deep in my soul, deep into the root of my being. I have sympathized with others, shared their loss with just a slight turn of heart to not be pierced too deeply by their sorrow. Now I know. There is no turning away. It is right here inside my heart, inside my throat, inside my head. There is a Facebook page, a group: Over The Hill Horsewomen. So many Illustrated stories of loss of the special horse in these women’s lives. I am now one of them, not separate in any way. I am now an initiate into the full cyclical connection of the horse-human relationship. Before I was one of them, sharing the space with them as a horsewoman; now I am them, I am the space.

3 weeks out

Grieving Sparkle Plenty

What did The Lone Ranger do when he lost Silver?

When he had to put a bullet in the head of his partner?

When Silver stepped into a gopher hole,

racing a mad crazy gallop

the way they do in the western movies,

and broke his leg, SNAP,

sending the Lone Ranger somersaulting through the sage?

What did Gene Autry do when Champion

suffocated from a rattlesnake bite

on his muzzle, unable to breathe

through his mouth,

His great lungs and heart shut down

His vibrating nostrils swollen

Clamping his Vital Air passage closed?

What did Roy Rogers do when Trigger’s

great heart gave out mid-stride

in the never-ending pursuit of Justice

in an unjust world?

What am I to do with my grief?

What am I to do?

4 weeks out

She stands alert in her green grass pasture, attention drawn to the world of sounds, scents, and movement around her. Brush in hand, I see the long white hairs of her winter coat lifted to the warmth of the sun. I smooth the hair with the brush, trying to reach her skin where the gentle bristles relieve itching, laying the hair down smoothly in the direction it wants to be.

I am finally aware of all the prayers, the energies for the Highest Good, the heart healing that is swirling around us, sent from all those who love us. I am reminded again and again that in reality we are all One. I am so grateful for those who hold the vital space of life and love. Sparkle’s essence resides in my heart, my core, my soul, in the very cells of my body.

I go out to her grave in the pasture where she spent half her life. I cast wildflower seeds over the mound under which her body is returning to the very earth whose spirit she so gallantly and consistently carried. As time goes on, I know I will still grieve, but I will find the blessings of our time together sprout in unexpected places just like the wildflowers that will come up with spring rains.

It so took me by surprise that you aged faster than me. I always thought of us as in the same paradigm, graying together, stiffening in our joints together, retiring together. You beat me to the moment of returning home to The Source. I know you are in good company there. Mother told me she would take care of you, help you transition, settle until you found your freedom. You blessed my life beyond words. We are not done.

Scattering wildflower seeds March 4, 2022

2021 Winner of the EQUUS Film and Art Festival Winnie Award in Equine Spirituality

It is so amazing to have From the Heart of a Horsewoman: HORSE-A Bridge Between Spirit and Matter recognized within the company of equine artists.

I have printed out the entire email from Lisa Diersen so that you may explore the wonderful EQUUS Film and Art Festival site. It is so amazing to have From the Heart of a Horsewoman: HORSE-A Bridge Between Spirit and Matter recognized within the company of equine artists. I am honored to be a voice for our sharing of this spiritual experience with Horse. Thank you for riding with me.

EQUUS Winnie Winner – From The Heart Of A Horsewoman / Lynnea Honn

Inbox

Hello, Congrats Lynnea!

You can watch the WINNIE Awards Show here: https://equustelevision.com/watch/932

You can see the WINNIE Winners list here: http://nebula.wsimg.com/0e4f5c7c27338986f06c0f6c9d98fe96?AccessKeyId=8D3373E05A6D33D4B706&disposition=0&alloworigin=1

EQUUS 2021 Pop-Up Gallery: http://www.equusfilmfestival.net/2021-equus-pop-up-gallery.html

This page will remain up.

Link for the 2021 EQUUS Film & Arts Fest Program here: http://nebula.wsimg.com/c6854b91a3ec24316cd922119c89702c?AccessKeyId=8D3373E05A6D33D4B706&disposition=0&alloworigin=1

The Trailer for the 2021 Documentary: https://equustelevision.com/watch/939

Documentary will launch December 4^th on the EQUUS Television Network!

You can watch all of our interviews and trailers here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-kODnDnBfW6bHsD918NLOw/videos

Please let us know if you would like to have your WINNIE Award shipped to your home.

Again, congrats to you all from Lisa Diersen, Diana De Rosa, Julianne Neal and the rest of the EQUUS Film & Arts Fest Team! We are looking forward to moving into our new facility in Ocala Florida in 2022. Everyone who has been part of the 2020 and 2021 “Virtual” Fest will be invited to join us in the Pop-Up Gallery!
Pony On,Lisa Diersen
Director/FounderEQUUS Film Festivalwww.equusfilmfestival.net

Every horse has a story, it’s our mission at the EQUUS Film & Arts Fest to share those stories, through film, art and literature.

Lisa Diersen	Fri, Dec 3, 3:12 PM (6 days ago)
to me