If you could ask your horse anything, what would your questions reveal about your relationship? For this week’s 10-Minute Tuesday, animal communicator Ginny Horton invites you to write down every question you’d want to ask your horse. Don’t overthink it. Just write. Are your questions mostly about performance? Behavior? Pain? Happiness? Preferences? Relationships? What they enjoy? What they wish was different? Ginny’s point isn’t to judge the questions. It’s to notice what they reveal about where your attention naturally goes. Sometimes the questions we ask say just as much about us as the answers would say about our horses. So spend 10 minutes today making your list. Then look at it with curiosity, not judgement. How much of it is about what you want from your horse… and how much is about what your horse might want from you? 🎙️ Hear my full conversation with Ginny Horton, animal communicator and author of Soul Sketches, on this week’s episode of The Thinking Horse & Rider.

This week's podcast episode is uploading....Whew, this one has been a process but, in the best way 😊 Start thinking about -🐴 What Do You Really Want to Know From Your Horse? Because our guest is giving you your 10 minute experiment this week. Don't worry, I'll post it here tomorrow if you don't have time to listen to the podcast. Remember, you can find it wherever you get your pods and on YouTube!

Last night, I went to see the documentary Rescued Hearts. It was hosted at a local theater as part of a fundraising event for a local therapeutic riding center. I went in not knowing what to expect, but somewhere along the way, I found myself thinking about Snooks, the Tennessee Walking Horse my parents bought me when I was a teenager. He suffered a serious injury just days later, and for nearly four months, I could not ride him. I went out almost every day just to care for him and spend time with him, and we grew very close. I always knew that time changed Snooks, and people who had known him before told me the same. He went from being a machine to being a horse. I remember wondering if anyone had ever loved him before. What I did not realize until last night was how much he changed me, too. I remember pouring my heart out to him about my problems, fears, and frustrations. He helped an insecure young girl begin to find confidence and self-respect. The film brought back memories I had not thought about in years and reminded me just how deeply a horse can become part of our healing. It’s really a “who rescued who” situation. Here is the link to the trailer and more information about the file in case you are interested. https://www.rescuedheartsfilm.com/

I hope you all had a great week and got lots accomplished with your horses last week. The summer weather here in VA has been amazing, IMO. Not too many HOT days and some moisture to keep us from getting too dried out. Why am I failing? Because I almost forgot that my son has a preoperative appointment with his ENT this afternoon, eeek! So.....no office hours today. We can catch up Thursday evening 😊. In the meantime, here's your Ten-Minute Tuesday. No new podcast this week, but I have what I think will be a fun interview lined up this week for next week's episode. This week's experiment doesn't require any equipment! Just watch. For 10 minutes, become a student of your horse's relationships. Ask yourself: - Who does my horse choose to spend time near? - Is there a horse they seek out? - Is there one they avoid? - Do they eat together? - Rest together? - Groom one another? - Play? - Simply enjoy standing in the same space? If your horse lives alone, ask a different question: What opportunities do they have to simply be a horse? Not to perform. Not to train. Just to exist. As you watch, notice something else. How much of your horse's day is spent in genuine community? And how much is spent simply existing near other horses... or completely alone? Community isn't measured in feet. It's measured in relationships. This week's experiment isn't about judging your current setup. Remember it's about awareness without judgement. (Refer to Seed 1 in the online course, Reconnect, Rebuild, and Ride with Heart for more.) It's about becoming aware of something many of us have never been taught to notice. Jump back to episode 45 and learn how Awareness (without judgement) is possible and can transform the connection with your horse.

Join us for the Rider Lab Live because it's the last one for this month. Next week I'm on vacation, so whatever questions you've got or whatever wins you have, come share them tonight 7:30 pm EDT. See you there 🤩