enlightened horsemanship through touch

No, I am not referring to our beloved Jane of The Literary Horse. This is an exhibit touring public and school libraries pairing photos of today’s horses and riders with quotations from the world’s great books.

Award-winning artist, educator, and photographer Vanessa Wright is passionate about the power, meaning, and beauty of the human-horse connection and the inner awareness and growth that working with (and loving) horses can bring out in us. She says,

The word photography comes from Greek words meaning ‘writing with light.’ So I see myself not as a photographer, but as a storyteller, writing with light about the light that I see in others. I strive to capture and celebrate … the capacity for unnoticed or uncelebrated but absolutely real greatness in every person and every horse.

The exhibit features real horses, real people, real life, and real legend. And it is stunning.

From Achilles receiving his immortal chargers to Don Quixote’s farewell to Rocinante, literature is full of memorable stories and poetry about heroic horses and horse-people. This exhibit, touring public and school libraries, brings those legends to life by pairing up to 100 photos of today’s novice through Olympic horses and horse-people with quotations from the world’s great books.

The real elegance of this project lies in Wright’s ability to draw parallels between the epic past and the mundane present, showing that they are not so far apart.

Though legends may sometimes seem like nothing more than imaginary tales from long ago, they are happening again here. And though their horses may seem impossibly good and brave and splendid, they are living again now. Look closely, and you will see the great heart in both the horse show champion and the shaggy pony in your neighborhood. Look more closely still, and you will see the timeless hero in your neighbor, in your family member, in your friend, and, ultimately, in yourself.

Wright’s present is represented by folks who are anything but mundane: Clicker Training expert Alexandra Kurland and a unicorn; Kara Barnes and the Chestnut Hill Arabians; Darren Chiacchia and Windfall as Helios and his golden horse; (five-time sidesaddle champion) Rhonda Watts Hettinger and Christian Hettinger (creator of the internations fox-hunting emblem) portraying the love story from Rob Roy; and the University of New Hampshire Therapeutic Riding Program.

Here are just a few of the legends that appear in the program:

Silver Blaze, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Song of Finis, Walter de la Mare
The Spectral Horseman, To the Moon (poems), Percy Bysshe Shelley
Strife and Peace, Fredrika Bremer
The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains, Owen Wister
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
The Mabinogion, trans. Lady Charlotte Schreiber
Phaedra, Jean Baptiste Racine

The schedule of exhibitions has not been updated since February, which is a shame. I also doubt that it will arrive in Hawaii, where inspiration to read in any form is badly needed. Check it out, though. It may come to a library near you, in which case, make a beeline. And then let me know what you thought.

Enter your idea for a suitable caption below.

The winner will be announced next Wednesday, April 7.
The prize: one pound of fabulous Kona coffee, the best in the world, shipped right to your door!

The winning caption:

“He was terrified, not realising that it required two donkeys to attempt an ass-ass-ination.”

Submitted by White Horse Pilgrim, who is currently experiencing a Cold Day of the Soul. Maybe some fine coffee will help. Mr. Pilgrim, send me your address by email (see contact form) and you will soon receive your winter warm up.

Thanks to everyone for participating!

Enter your idea for a suitable caption below.
The winner will be announced FEB 2.
The prize: one pound of fabulous Kona coffee, the best in the world, shipped right to your door!

Edited Jan 31: Winner announced Feb 2.

and the winner is…..

CHELSEA!

And deep stretch… and exhale releasing all those negative thoughts about your trainer…

Chelsea, please contact me with your mailing address so I can send you your pound of delicious fresh Kona coffee. Don’t forget to specify whole bean or ground!

Giggling honorable mentions to…
Bonnitta Roy with this caption: “Whew! Beans AGAIN! for lunch, hombre?” and Kerry with this one: “Namaste School of Horse Yoga.”
Tamara Baysinger, I think you caught the honest spirit of this perplexing portrait just right.

Thanks folks, for participating in this photo caption contest. I think I’ll do one from time to time, so check back for the next puzzling photograph.

Enter your idea for a suitable caption below.
The winner will be announced next Wednesday, September 30.
The prize: one pound of fabulous Kona coffee, the best in the world, shipped right to your door!

This is a newborn foal by Taskin, a Gypsy Vanner Stallion owned by Villa Vanners of Oregon. These pictures were taken immediately after his birth on April 6. After the mare lay down, baby trotted around and crawled right into her lap.

All photos courtesy Villa Vanners.

© 2009 enlightened horsemanship through touch and Kim Cox Carneal

If you like what you have been reading, please subscribe to the RSS Feed, and visit Bloggers Choice Awards to vote for Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch.

When my daughter was away at college, I was able to dispense with television entirely because, well, I hate it. It serves no purpose in my life other than to introduce noisy and offensively mindless material into my home. I have never been able to understand why people keep the thing on endlessly and even eat in stupefied silence in front of it. What happens to family life? To conversation? Or to the life of the mind? How can you develop your mind (or stillness of the mind) if you are so busy filling it with garbage?

Ok, enough ranting disguised as rhetorical questions.

I’m a huge fan of Netflix. I get to choose Netflix among a large variety of independent film and documentary, and on the rare occasion when a guest insists on a horror flick or my daughter is home and insists on SciFi, she can have that, too. On a limited basis. Hooray for a limited basis.

I can never find equestrian instructional DVDs on Netflix, and now I don’t have to keep trying.

Now, there’s HorseFlix, an online/mail video rental service for equine/equestrian videos.

Here are some of the categories offered:

Bits
Clicker Training
Documentary
Dressage
Driving
Eventing
Feature Films
Foal Care
For The Rider
Gaited Horse
General Interest
Grooming
Health – Horse
Hoof Care
Horsekeeping
Hunter
Jumper
Natural Horsemanship
Pony Club
Saddles and Fit
Travel
Trick Training
Western
Wild Horses

There’s a lot of good stuff in there, and there’s also some questionable stuff, but not much of it. I would very much like to copyedit the site, but that’s a bad habit of mine, so ignore that statement. I am thrilled to see that there are five Mark Rashid videos. *doing a little happy dance* and I can now watch Chris Irwin, which will make Shoshin happy.

Take a look, see what you think. Let me know what videos YOU most would like to see.

I couldn’t sleep last night. In fact, I didn’t sleep a wink. I didn’t even lie down for more than a few minutes. I don’t know why. I can’t remember having done this more than a couple of times in my life after college, when all-nighters were de rigueur. Maybe Frivolity Friday was pushing its luck, hoping for an early start. At 5:30 a.m. I got up and took the car to the local gas station-cum-convenience store, the early morning pit stop for the local fishermen and boat tour operators before setting out for the day.

I thought I’d be alone there at the Circus-Shop-Us, but I was greeted by about a half dozen sleepy but smiling men as they loaded up on ice, beer and diesel.

After morning social time, I went to the lookout point between the Circus and the small shopping center. Keauhou, the area of Kona where I live, was the birthplace of King Kamehameha III. Such a historically important area has lots of historical sites and markers. You can’t walk ten feet without seeing one. This one marks a pathway between two former towns, and a burial ground. Locals take their lunch breaks there, tourists stop to have their photos taken there, and you’ll often find offerings of flowers and fruit, or photos of loved ones wedged in the lava rocks. Sometimes even notes to Pélé, the goddess of the Volcano Kilauea, and all-around patron saint of Hawaiians.

Still dark and hazy when I arrived at the Heiau

That’s my coffee and breakfast there to the right of the marker. I stood by the wall and sipped my coffee and nibbled at my breakfast, a “traditional” Hawaiian musubi of sushi rice, spam and egg. I know, I know, but you have to try one before you scream yuck. It was quiet at the Heiau, except for the sound of the breeze ruffling the greenery. You can’t really watch the sunrise on the Kona side of the island, it being the West side and all, so I settled for watching as the lights of Kona twinkled and faded while the light of the sun grew stronger. I was surprised and delighted to hear the crowing of a rooster not far off above me, coming from Keauhou Estates, a posh neighborhood, where the homes start at two million. If someone has figured out how to keep a rooster in Keuahou, I’d like to know their secret. I’m just trying to keep two cats and a dog without getting caught.

One of the Plaques Marking the Ohi'a Cave Preserve

I tied to snap photos, but the early morning on voggy days makes it difficult. NOtice it’s difficult to discern the horizon where the sea meets the sky. That changes as the sun rises higher. The world is enveloped in a kind of blue haze that makes capturing detail impossible for those armed only with a point and shoot. Note to self: next time you’re awake at 5 a.m., take the good SLR.

These are the best photos I could manage. Lori Skoog, don’t look. I’m embarrassed.

The Lower Wall of the Lookout is Planted with Noni* Trees

For a much more interesting views of Keauhou, visit Loving the Big Island.

*Noni, most often marketed in the West as Tahitian or Hawaiian Noni Juice, is a wonderful if disagreeable smelling fruit, has medicinal properties. The fruit, along with the leaves, bark and sap, were very important cultural commodities for native Hawaiians throughout early history.

© 2009 enlightened horsemanship through touch and Kim Cox Carneal

If you like what you have been reading, please subscribe to the RSS Feed, and visit Bloggers Choice Awards to vote for Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch.