Riding with Lisa Ferguson-Saboth

23/01/2023

Das ist seit langem der beste Post den ich hier über Pferde und Menschen mit Pferden gelesen habe 🙏🏽

This is by far the best text I have read about horses and people in the last weeks 🙏🏽
Thank you soooo much Jm Bitloos for posting it. It hit me straight … it touched my heart and it will be remembered tomorrow and from there on …

A week ago today I swung my saddle onto the back of a five-year-old quarter horse under the watchful eye of Tom Curtin.

The horse took a few concerned steps as my stirrup swung over his back. I looked up to see Tom’s grin under the brim of his hat and he said,

“You were thinking about saddling that horse, weren’t you?
You need to think about that horse while you saddle him.“

Last week I spent the week with Tom and his wife, Trina. I noticed a reoccurring lesson throughout the week.

The everyday activities I have done my whole life with horses took on a new meaning. “You were thinking about brushing that c**t, you need to think about that c**t while you brush him.” And, “you were thinking about bridling that mare, you need to think about that mare while you bridle her.”

Tom said, “No matter what you do, never forget that horse”.

So there I was, playing cowboy for a week, learning about c**t starting, riding young horses, checking cattle, but deep inside it all, learning how to be with a horse in a very intentional way.

It’s a sort of contract, you see. You’re not demanding that your horse give you their attention without an even exchange. Asking a horse to bring their attention to me now feels more like saying, “Remember I’m right here, thinking about you… In exchange can you think about me?”

The gift of Tom’s c**ts was that they already knew the feeling of being kept in mind, and they were good at telling me when I’d lost track of them. The calm that came over these horses when I thought of them as I went about my daily routines was just wonderful.

All it took was being mindful of their existence and attentive to their needs. We typically have some sort of goal with our horses that can provide a wonderful sense of purpose, but the goal is meaningless if we lose track of our partner in the process.

I hope in reading this you can be as inspired as I am. When you go out this week and do whatever you do with your horses, whether it be jumping fences, working cows, dancing in a dressage arena, chasing hounds, etc, see if you can go about your business with purpose, but never forget your horse.

~ Justin

📸 Erin Gilmore // Erin Gilmore Photography

18/11/2022

Thank you The Red Mare thank you so much ☺️
Let’s dance and sing with our horses and live again free and full of wonder for this beautiful world and it’s creatures 🙏🏽☺️💕

I was going to write you a bit of a drama story today. The weather has turned angry and the field has flooded and there had to be an evacuation and a lot of kind people rallied round and saved my bacon.


That story was cooking in my head (very important to let stories cook, before you try to write them down) when I went to look for a good quote for my writing group.


And the dear old universe sent me this:


‘There is such a place as fairyland - but only children can find the way to it. And they do not know that it is fairyland until they have grown so old that they forget the way. One bitter day, when they seek it and cannot find it, they realise what they have lost; and that is the tragedy of life. On that day the gates of Eden are shut behind them and the age of gold is over. Henceforth they must dwell in the common light of common day. Only a few, who remain children at heart, can ever find that fair, lost path again; and blessed are they above mortals. They, and only they, can bring us tidings from that dear country where we once sojourned and from which we must evermore be exiles. The world calls them its singers and poets and artists and story-tellers; but they are just people who have never forgotten the way to fairyland.’


It’s by L.M. Montgomery.


I never tell you what to do, my Dear Reader, but today I am breaking my own golden rule. I want you to go back and read that passage again.


I want you to do that because I think it is one of those dancing, shimmering, gleaming thoughts which contains The Secret of Everything.


And today, I know in my bones that it’s not really to do with writing at all, which is why I’m putting it here. I’ll find something else for my writers.


It is, to me, in this moment, so much of what our horses need in us and love in us. It’s the ability to be playful and creative and imaginative. It’s the beautiful call to leave the common things behind and to forget the confining conventions and to carve your own path through the woods.


It is letting our spirits dance.


All that is still there in us. We may have to pretend to be grown-ups - to pay the bills and keep the house respectable and reply to the emails. We have to do our jobs and keep to our schedules and not necessarily wail when we feel like wailing. There is the social contract, and we can’t throw that out of the window entirely.


But oh, when we are with our horses, we can step into a wonderland, the magical country which they open before us. We can - literally and metaphorically - let ourselves gallop over the endless open plains.


It doesn’t have to be conventions and rules and what everyone else is doing. If you, like me, just want to go and stand in a field with your horses and sing a song, you can do that, no matter what everyone else thinks.

The dressage champions are probably not singing and neither are the Olympians or the World Champions or the Best In Show.


But you are.


You are singing your world into existence, and it has all the magic still in it.


You can be the wide-eyed pony girl you once were (and pony boy, too) and remember that youthful time when dreams of horses were everything to you. Just because you are fifty-five, or seventy-five, or ninety-five, it doesn’t mean you have to give up wonder, because life got real.


Our horses give us that - the magic and the wonder - and we can give it right back.


And that is why I’m not going to write about the floods. Because this is a much, much better story.

18/11/2022

Love of horses …. 🙏🏽

𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒗𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒖𝒔𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.

I am in love with the emotion and passion I feel within this photograph. To me, it represents a man's life long love affair for his Horses, and this is his unique Story.

Every day this 91 year old Man would sit on the back of his Boulonnais horse on the way to pasture.

This is a story worthy of capturing to be treasured for generations to come.

With the power of social media- he has been found!!! His name is EMILE DESJARDIN (FRANCE 🇫🇷)

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064496628653 ©unknown

17/11/2022

Ein Grund warum sie so wundervolle Co-Coaches sind 🙏🏽🥰

28/10/2022

🙏🏽 done

I’m done.

I’m done with the early starts, the 4am alarms waking up feeling queasy, not just from nerves, but from knowing how much money I’ve spent on the day ahead from entry fees, training and the diesel in the tank.

I’m done with the sleepless night before, the replaying of dressage tests and course walks in my head because despite everyone preaching to “be kind” you can never escape the odd comment or two if it doesn’t go to plan.

I’m done with the feeling of total inadequacy as I watch those who have worked half as hard get twice as far in half the time, only to be told “that’s life” and to use it as “motivation to be better”.

I’m done with being told it’s “just a 90” when I’ve spent weeks (if not months) preparing and spent a fortune to get there, only to experience the resentment from some of the “top riders” when us mere amateurs dare to muddy their course.

I’m done with a sport where money is overtaking talent, where horses cost more than cars and lorries cost more than houses. A sport that preaches equality, but promotes elitism.

I’m done with the pressure I put on myself because I spend all day, everyday watching people post their highlight reels across social media, making me think I’m abnormal for having a bad day or wanting a day off.

So, I’m done.

Done pretending that putting on a show jacket and jumping double clear is what really makes me happy.

So pass me a grooming brush and show me the bridleway, because the happiest I’ll ever be is exploring the world behind my favourite set of ears with absolutely no pressure or expectation from myself or anyone else.

📸 Cheape photography

26/10/2022

🥰🙏🏽