A Morning Thunderstorm at Ravenseyrie Sorraia Mustang Preserve Manitoulin Island

A wonderful thunderstorm rolled over the East Bluff this morning and brought with it much appreciated moisture in addition to lovely sights and sounds.  I could not help but capture snippets of video, from inside and outside, to weave into a little iMovie.

May you enjoy this not-too-agressive storm as much as we inhabitants of Ravenseyrie did. (Be patient, it may take a few moments for the video to load after you have clicked on the window for it.  Once loaded, select for full screen if you can, for best viewing.)

Let's Play

Imagine you are a 2 3/4 year old stud colt living at Ravenseyrie Sorraia Mustang Preserve on Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario. It's a cold winter's day, but you are soaking up the sun and feeling very mellow. Your human friend, Lynne, has just completed grooming you and you look pretty spiffy having all the burrs and tangles removed from your usually wild-kept mane and tail. The sun and the tender ministrations have lulled you into a very comfortable standing nap. Lynne moves away to get some photos of how handsome you look.
Though your eyes are closed, you follow Lynne with your ears and give her a pretty pose.

But then, you sense some intrusion...

It's that playful mule, Jerry, come to pester you and ruin a perfectly perfect nap.



You try to ignore him, hoping he will go away and leave you to your pleasant afternoon nap, but he is persistent in his overtures.


"C'mon, Animado, " Jerry cajoles. "Let's play."

"Thanks, but no thanks, Jerry...maybe later", you reply.

But that clever old draft mule knows just how to tickle you awake and make himself irresistable.

You give in and after a few sleepy gestures of the "nippy-face game" you move around the big mule and say, "Okay, Jere...you want to play? We'll play!"


"Let's play a game where you pretend you are a mare and I get to be a big stallion!" And you mount that big old mule--no small feat considering Jerry is several hands taller than you!


This is one of the great things about the young stud colt, Animado (Sorraia x Sorraia Mustang) --while another horse might have retaliated with rancor having been awakened from a perfectly perfect nap, this splendid equine has a good heart and a fun sense of humor. "Why get angry? Playing is more fun than being mad at an old friend."

Mike and Sheri Olson of the Soul of Sorraia ranch are sure lucky to have purchased such a wonderful stallion. It will be hard, indeed, to let him go to Wyoming in the spring...

Complete Accord

Interessado and Encantara

I only very rarely seek out one of the many books on equitation in my private library, because for the most part, my interest in riding comes from an entirely different place now. I have acquired a mindset that no longer feels it is appropriate for me to place a bit in a horse's mouth or strap on a bridle or cavesson so that I can restrict the movements of her head and neck.

Coming from a background of first competitive dressage and later French Classical Dressage, I feel I have a thorough understanding of both the punitive and refined capacities of the bit and bridle as training tools. I have personally felt the delicate communication that is possible when riding a horse who has been trained to "accept" the bit in lightness and it can be exquisite--but the fact that a horse first has to be trained to accept the bit, bridle and reins and that this training necessarily entails initial discomfort, even pain and in many cases results in extreme physiological and psychological damage--well these elements no longer fit in with the feelings I have about my relationship to horses. Yes, the bit and reins can be used with finesse and articulate a dialogue with a horse for the purpose of guiding while being ridden, but once you begin to realize that you can communicate even more subtly with a horse without recourse to using its mouth as a translator for your thoughts, but instead develop your relationship to such a degree that your minds and bodies flow together in "complete accord", then the now obvious crudities of bits and bridles soon leads one to abandon them along with the traditional training that imposes the human's will over the horse's.

Encantara

For today's journal entry, however, I did dust off one of my equitation books because I remembered a quote I wanted to share to illustrate that even at the master level of equitation, it is revealed that more often than not is is the harmony of the most simple movements that are most deeply moving to the rider.

In the past;, Baucher once said to L'Hotte, 'I often opted for movements that were complicated. Today it takes me six months just to get my horses to walk straight and turn well...When total lightness is achieved by making a horse walk straight and become well-balanced, the feeling that the rider gets is the sense of complete accord with the horse's strength. One then hesitates to pass on to any other movement which will modify the combination of forces and destroy this feeling of harmony.' (pg. 50 Alexi-Francois L'Hotte/The Quest For Lightness in Equitation by Hilda Nelson, pub. J.A. Allen 1997)

I'm using this quote of Baucher's as a springboard for a very simplistic, yet profound bit of riding that I have recently engaged in.

Archived entries of the Journal of Ravenseyrie, discuss the type of communication with equines I have been devoting myself to. It is extremely subtle, based on mindful intention and arises from a "heart connection", a term used by Carolyn Resnick which describes a magnetic entrainment of two beings--a very real phenomenon thoroughly researched by Stephen Harrod Buhner in his book, The Secret Teachings of Plants. I describe some of the ways I engage this form of communication in earlier journal entries which feature Doll (twice), Jerry, Bella and Encantara.

I have taken in the past few days some video footage which, while extremely clumsy, nevertheless demonstrates the type of interactions in which I find some of the "complete accord" mentioned by Baucher.

Before getting to these videos, I first feel it is important to talk a little bit about how conscientious we humans need to be regarding the placement of our weight upon the back of a horse (or mule). Though a mature, robust equine back looks like the perfect place for a human to sit, the physical structure of a horse is not designed to bear weight from above. Open any book on equitation and you will find discussion regarding how to minimize the deleterious effect of our weight upon the equine back. Likewise, stroll through any tack shop and you'll see an entire industry of specialized pads are available to deceptively lure us into thinking we are not causing damage while riding.

For myself, I feel that with a well muscled horse, very brief reprises of riding are not damaging if there is a complete willingness of the horse to accept such an activity and the horse takes pleasure in being ridden.

For the deep thinking human, who looks upon horses with egalitarianism and friendship, a determination against riding is something that should be decided not just by the human, but by the horse as well. Some structurally weak horses should definitely not be ridden, even if they appear to be accepting of it--and some horses that have the most robust bodies which could physiologically support a little judicious riding, should definitely not be ridden because psychologically they do not take any pleasure from a human sitting on their backs.

Doll

Questions I have come to ask myself are:

--Of what benefit is it to my horse for me to ride it?

--What are my intentions for riding?

--Is the act of riding something I do only for my own pleasure, or is it, from the very first, an activity that the horse enjoys as well?

--How will I know if my horse is simply obeying a request she feels she cannot refuse or if she genuinely is accepting of my riding her?

--How will I know if my weight upon the horse's back is damaging?

--Is my horse psychologically diminished by my presence on her back or enhanced by it?

Doll

The topic of the harm of riding is not the main point of today's journal entry, so I will not address it any further, but save greater scrutiny for a future entry.

I think it is important to place the videos I'll be sharing in the context of which they arose...

In October, here in Canada, a Nevzorov Haute Ecole International Seminar has been scheduled, and several individuals I became dear friends with (during my time within the NHE online school) decided that it would be a great time to meet in person. While none of us are any longer part of the NHE school, we each maintain respect for many of the people involved and appreciate the worldwide efforts NHE makes to provoke a perceptional shift in how we view our interactions with horses.

While we were making arrangements to attend the seminar, we became aware that a statement had been released that further refined the restrictions placed on an NHE student with regard to riding. This prompted a dialogue between us regarding the issue of riding and the damage that a horse's body (and mind) can sustain from it. It is a discussion we four have had many times, each of us holding opinions that differ depending on the many variables involved with each horse and rider combination and the situation of each new day. Because of our differences of opinion and knowing, once again, that my views regarding the minimal riding I engage in with the equines here at Ravenseyrie are not acceptable to followers of NHE, I decided it would be inappropriate for me to participate in the seminar, and instead I would wait for a more neutral venue for the merry gathering of friends.

Mistral and Fada

Having canceled my plans to attend, I was in need of a walk, so went out to the north west sector to look for Altamiro and the family band with my thoughts very deep on the subject of riding and questioning whether I was deceiving myself that on those rare occasions when I mount up it was as much a suggestion put to me by the horses (or mules) as something I ask of them. I also reflected on the sensation that there was truly mutual pleasure from these "rides"...and, of course, I contemplated whether these rare rides were damaging their bodies.

As I was crossing into the northwest sector I was surprised to find Doll there, all by herself, quietly grazing! To my knowledge, none of Mistral's group has ventured this far into Altamiro's "territory" in over a year, and I figured she was there because she was in heat again and looking for Altamiro, too.

Even though I take these hikes without horse treats in my pocket, Doll hooked into me right away and without much thought, I put down my camera bag and went over to stand on a rock. Doll came right up, offering me her back, so I got on her and gave her at least five to eight minutes of really excellent itches. Then I asked if she would take me for a few strides of a walk to the right, and she did, so I stopped and gave her another round of itches from my mounted position. Then I got off. I probably was up there ten, maybe twelve minutes. I gave her some under the belly and buttocks itches and then turned to go back to get my camera back with the idea to resume my looking for the family band. Instead of going back to grazing, Doll followed...then the idea came to me to see how much of a mounted itch session I might be able to get on video. As mentioned above, the results are very clumsy but I think they reveal the harmony of the moment and the "complete accord" between us. While viewing it, I hope you can see, hear and feel the subtle communication between Doll and I:

This type of riding is a very intimate thing, and certainly the intrusion of the camera, (especially because I was holding it and trying to interact with Doll while also hoping I was keeping the view finder in a good position), impacted the quality of the itches I would normally give. I made up for this once I got off and put the camera away and then Doll went back to grazing.

Doll

Lest readers think this teenage mule will let just anyone climb aboard because she might appear to be a slow-moving dullard, I'm sharing footage of what happen after I left Doll and found Altamiro's family band:

Though Doll would like the affection of this rock-star-bird-chasing stallion, he doesn't share the same feelings as she does and promptly drove her out of his territory, during which time she demonstrated just how agile and quick a draft mule can be!

I found myself recognizing the synchronisity of Doll being there in that particular moment just as I was reflecting upon whether or not my mounted itches and simplistic riding were things that perhaps I should turn away from. When I mounted the rock for the first time, it was a sort of test, I suppose...if Doll had not come over and positioned herself for mounted itches, I would surely have taken it as a "sign" that indeed this silly game of ours was something that only I appreciated and I should refrain from it in the future. Doll gave me a very clear answer, or so it seems to me. If Doll didn't want me up on top, being tackless, at liberty, in the big wide open, she certainly could have avoided me to begin with, or rid herself of me once I was on top...but she did not, in fact, she came back for more, which is what prompted me to video tape it for you to see.

A day later, I went down to the beach to be with Mistral's group. Everyone was in nap mode, so I just let the sound of the waves and the wind and the birds and the grasses bring me into a very mellow state of being. I took out my camera and began taking photos of the horses and mules, then I went over to stand upon a rock and simply admire them all. Here is what happened next:

What is remarkable about this bit of footage is that I did not call Jerry to me, or ask him if he would like mounted itches. I did not want to interrupt the comfortable position he and Dee were in for their companion napping.

Jerry and Dee

It was Jerry who took note of me standing on the rock and decided to take leave of his nap to come for a visit. Remember, I do not take treats for the horses when I go out on these hikes--he is not coming to me for treats, nor did he come to me when I was on the ground taking photos. But, when I was standing on the rock, just hanging out, he made his own choice to come over and see if he could get me to participate in a mounted itching session. Again, the presence of the camera severely impacted the quality of the itches I could give, and also the rock strewn terrain made it tricky to have him take me around in a circle as was my intention, so in the end I asked him to take me over to a good place for me to dismount, which he did perfectly, and before dismounting, I turned the camera off, slung it around to my back and then gave him all the great mounted itches he has come to appreciate so well.

Interessado and Encantara

To close, I will leave readers with several quotes by Carolyn Resnick from her book, Naked Liberty published in 2005 by Amigo Publications. It was Carolyn's experiences relayed in this book that prompted me to recognize if one has a relationship with horses built upon a magnetic heart connection, and the moment is right, riding at liberty in the big wide open is not only possible it is a rewarding feeling that both partners share. Though very rustic, very "untrained" and very simplistic, the riding shown in these videos is for me much more sublime than any haute ecole movement I use to perform with a bridle in an indoor arena.

"Why is it that some people can use a small gesture and get a favorable response from a horse, while others make the same gesture and get no response at all? It comes from a strong bond shared between horse and human, and from an innate ability to emote the kind of feeling that will influence a horse's behavior in a positive way. The naivety of a child lends great insight into how to connect with horses. Our childhood memories can return to us in the indelible connection of the heart." (pg. 153)

"My dad said, 'If there is unity in the moment with the horse, you can direct his next movement with aids almost as light as a thought, like geese flying in formation. Do geese practice how to be united? No! They just are. It comes naturally from the bond they share together.' He went on to say that harmonious acts seldom lead to trouble." (pg. 227)


"Her invitation [she refers to a wild mare named Moonlight--lg], convinced me that horses do have a desire to be ridden without domination, capture or restraint. If these methods were the only means to riding horses, I would have given up riding." (pg. 228)

"Everyone has experienced moments when everything feels right or safe, a moment that makes you feel you will live forever. These moments I have no name for, but they can be trusted. They are all around us every minute. The trick is to recognize these moments and act upon them." (pg.230)

What makes these simplistic rides I've shared with you especially meaningful is that Doll, Jerry and me engaged in them together, in complete accord, and this harmony in riding came at a time when I was reflecting on whether or not riding in this context was something that is harmful and for my pleasure only. I'm satisfied that the pleasure is not mine alone and that no damage results from these rides, even if others might hold a different opinion.

Jerry

Rites of Passage

There are many opinions of Nature's way of being...many figure she is flawed: she is cruel, she is merciless, she is apathetic. Others see her as: perfective, benevolent, merciful, empathetic...

I see her as mysterious, energetic, transformative, volatile, harmonious, disruptive and always, always flowing. Heraclitus thought of her as the tension of opposites, and I believe this is so. Nature is yin and yang, not at all the same as the human preoccupation with good and evil, which hinges upon subjective judgmentalism. There is that which is edifying and that which is unedifying...that which is expedient and that which is not so, and then there is sheer expression which the human mind either accepts with a certain awe, or condemns as "that which ought not to be". It's my feeling that Nature deals in expediency, edification and sheer expression with no preoccupation with what "ought to be" or "what ought not to be". Besides human beings what other creature in the universe proclaims, "That ought not to be!" and so wages wars bent on complete annihilation of plants, animals, insects, germs and each other?

But wait...I want to speak of rites of passage.

In the opening photo of today's entry in the Journal of Ravenseyrie, you see me at the "Top of the World" spot at the edge of the bluff overlooking Lake Huron's North Channel. The pups and I frequently hike to this place to see the view from above. Sometimes I sit and contemplate topics which have preoccupied my mind, sometimes I bring a journal and write, other times I just go to repose and melt into the landscape (though for this magic to happen I find it is best to leave my chair and sit directly on the ground.) I think the dogs do some of these meditative things too as you can see in this photo:Ganja, enjoying a timeless moment at Ravenseyrie's "Top of the World" spot.

Rites of passage--certain observances and ceremonies undertaken at precise times to usher individuals into a new phase of their lives, do you think these are only human constructs?

Living here at Ravenseyrie, I have been swept into the many rites of passage which Nature engages in and for me they have as much ceremonial elements as do institutionalized traditions. I'd like to share a few with you.

We had a peculiar winter here on Manitoulin Island. After that first frightful mauling winter gave us last December, our weather was milder than usual and with much less snowfall than we typically receive. Lake Huron was not held hostage by ice until mid-January and already even though it is only March, it has begun the process of breaking up.

The view above
and the view below:

The Ravenseyrie beach area shows a mosaic of floating ice with open water further out. Looking to my right, I noted that a large mass of ice has jammed up against a portion of the shore to the east.
Spring break up of the lake is always an exciting rite of passage into the warmer seasons, and is a bit different each year depending on weather conditions. The process is initially gradual, with the sun and rain softening from above and the swelling and heaving of the water working from below. Sometimes there are moaning sounds and strange sensations of some slumbering creature beginning to awaken. Then the high winds come, violent cracking noises can be heard and pressure ridges explode, forming long narrow rivers of open water which abruptly break into large and small individual planes of ice that are moved by the wind and water and thrown into the shore with a grinding force that causes significant alteration of the beach, shifting around even huge boulders on a whim.
There are three phases typically in any rite of passage:
--separation
--transition
--re-integration

Something as seemingly common place as an apple falling from a tree demonstrates a rite of passage. Like the spring break up of Lake Huron, when an apple falls from the tree it's separation is abrupt and the process is violent. The apple falls, thudding resoundingly as it hits the ground. Bruised and perhaps even split open, the apple goes through a transition period, losing its integrity as a solid orb which once dangled among the family of other apples and leaves and branches--now it exposes its inner fragrance, auto-macerating, enticing itself to be eaten by some passing animal. Later its seeds are consumed, carried further afield, expelled, covered by debris and await germination, after which they reach tentative tendrils upward, re-integrating with growing kingdom once more, though not as fruit this time, but as the tree itself.

Kevin with a Ravenseyrie apple tree in 2008

"But...oh, dear Altamrio, she is only ten months old!"

We are very pleased that Altamiro has grown into such a fine stallion with incredible expressions of instinctual protocol. We were very impressed at his innate wisdom when last year he banished his colts Animado and Interessado from the family band once his new foals began to arrive. Later, as well, when he made no attempt to hold Fada back when she determined for herself that she wanted to leave we applauded Altamiro's fantastic fatherly qualities...but we did not expect this past Sunday that he would expel his 2009 filly, Encantara, on the very day that Bella (who is not Encantara's dam) delivered her new foal!

We remain pleased, yes, with our stallion's sense of duty, but it was difficult to see Encantara thrust so early into a forced change of circumstances...

Here again, we have Nature showing us a ceremonial rite of passage, replete with violent abruptness to facilitate separation, with a period of transition, followed by re-integration.

Would you like to see how Encantara's rite of passage transpired, effectively putting her life as a nursing foal behind her and presenting her to the world as weanling and soon to be yearling?

When Kevin and I were heading out with our food laden toboggans to the far northwest sector where the family band was absorbed with the excitement of Bella's new foal, we could see and hear Encantara calling from the edge of the central wooded copse. After taking care of the family band, we immediately set about making Encantara as comfortable as we could.
I dropped off her pan of oats and cubes, while Kevin took the toboggans back to the house, promising to return with hay. While Encantara was eating her breakfast, I checked her over for injuries and found two places where Altamiro felt it necessary to use harsh means to impress upon his filly that she would do well to leave the family band. She has one bite mark on her abdomen and one on her thigh, neither of which required any doctoring:



Kevin, true to his word, came back with hay. And, can you see in the photo who has appraised the situation and come to lend his own brand of support to the displaced filly?
Uncle Jerry first checked out to see if there were any goodies left in Encantara's pan and then settled in to graze while she ate her hay:
Soon, she left her hay and went over to graze aside Uncle Jerry:
After an hour or so of grazing together, it was time for a nap:
Thanks to the thoughtful care-taking of Uncle Jerry, I was free now to take the dogs for their usual morning hike. When we returned, (I didn't have my camera with me), Doll, one of the molly draft mules, had joined Jerry and Encantara. Encantara was laying flat out now, napping and processing on a subliminal level the unusual events of the morning. I made lunch and Kevin and I watched from the kitchen table as first Jerry decided to wander over to the east sector where Mistral's group was grazing, and later was joined by Doll. Before she left, Doll prodded Encantara with her muzzle, "Get up, kid, we're leaving now." Encantara's answer was to raise her head and sleepily look at Doll briefly, then she flopped her head back to the ground and resumed her nap. "Suit yourself!" Doll's expression seemed to say, and in no time she too wandered off to the east.

When Encantara arose from her nap (imagine how tired she must have been!), she looked longingly off to the northwest where the family band was, and she looked off to the east where Mistral's group were now filtering further east to slack thirsts from the creek. I thought she would maybe join them, but instead she quietly went back to work on her left-over breakfast hay, only briefly, for soon she was ambling up to the house. I went out and gave her a few more alfalfa cubes. She ate these and then wandered while grazing off to the southwest, until finally she slipped into the woods.

Having a feeling that she was planning to clandestinely work her way northward to slip back into the family band, I wanted to be on hand for what might transpire. I was just in time to catch a bit of how things went for her on video:

Encantara was damp from running, but not breathing too heavily and had no new wounds, only a few burrs catching a ride on her fur. She looked back to where her mother, Belina, and the rest of the family band remained, watching her even as she was watching them:
I heard a whinny from the Cedar trees and zoomed in to see if it was Belina calling for her. I was surprised that it appeared to be Ciente who was calling, while the others were already moving on to other things:
"C'mon, Encantara, it's time to go," I said. She paused for a minute or so, lost in thought:
Soon she decided to follow me back to the house, where I assured her we could convince Kevin to bring us some afternoon cookies:
Along the way, Encantara appeared to want to take a shortcut through a small copse of Cedar trees:
It was a good idea, saving us from having to walk all around this copse. But I misread what Encantara was doing...what she actually wanted was a drink of water, and she knew there was maybe some standing water in this copse. And there was:
While Encantara was drinking, I weaved through the copse and waited for her on the other side so we could resume our walk together back to the house:

Once back by the house, I called to Kevin, who was busy organizing his workshop attached to the sorry, shabby structure we have been using as a garden shed and feed room. Kevin brought out some hay cubes for Encantara to munch on and took some photos while I gave her a little grooming:

Kevin thought I should look at the camera and give you all a smile, so I did:
After this attention from her human friends, Encantara went off to the knoll at the edge of the "barnyard" where Kevin had put some more hay out for her. While she ate her hay, I laid down nearby and let the sun lull me into a very peaceful state of bliss, so peaceful that I fell asleep! I awoke to the sound of Kevin's voice. Encantara was gone and Kevin hadn't noticed which direction she had taken leave to. After scanning the landscape, we finally could see that she was grazing among the Trembling Aspen trees on the south fence line. She remained there by herself until that early evening.

While we were having our dinner, we could see Encantara crossing over to the far east where Mistral's group was grazing. Soon she was among them! There was much excitement, but no hazing and within fifteen minutes or so, they were all grazing again...little Encantara had been officially accepted into Mistral's group. What a brave and decisive filly. I felt so proud of her!

Separation. Transition. Re-integration.

Abruptness, violence, sense of loss, disorientation, acceptance of the situation, awareness of change, a seeking of new horizons, finding a place to belong--these were all part of Encantara's rite of passage, and all in one day!

It may not have been necessary for Kevin and I to dote upon this young filly to help ease the transition she was forced into experiencing, but it felt good to us to be able to support her and it provided us with a greater appreciation for the ways of Nature.

To so violently and abruptly force the separation between mother and child seems at first to our human oriented senses to be a cruel thing...and yet, neither Belina or Encantara have been crying for each other, and both have smoothly transitioned into new phases of their lives, almost effortlessly. I cannot call it cruel, I must embrace it as a beautiful rite of passage, which is easy to do seeing how readily a part of Mistral's herd Encantara is. I feel honored to have been able to participate in it!

Encantara shares breakfast oats and morning hay with Mistral's group.

Encantara's dam,Belina is likely pleased to have a month off of nursing a foal at her side, while she prepares to deliver her new foal in late April. She appears in good spirits, robust health, and very appreciative of me helping her itch away some of the winter coat she is shedding.

Belina, moves in to push Zorita over to a different pile of hay.

Altamiro with Silvestre...is he perhaps the next to be weaned by his father?

Jerry and the Animistic Lightness of Being

After my last rather heavy journal entry, I thought it would be appropriate to offer up some lighter fare this day.

One of the best ways to be lifted out of gloomy negativity is to hang out with Jerry.


Come with me, for a little interaction with this magnificent draft mule, won't you?

Along the way, let's think a little about how alive the world is and how meaningful it is to engage with all of it in a way that reflects our awareness that each entity we encounter (whether mule, or wind, or bulb of garlic) vibrates with what Goethe called "exact sensorial imagination". How thankful I am for this wondrous aliveness of all things!

"Appreciation is the sunlight of love that makes relationships grow and bear fruit. It is the sunlight that can awaken the seed of greatness in another. And it must be admitted that only great individuals can have great relationships. The future of society, if there is a future, will have to be built upon great friendships--friendships between men and men, women and women, men and women, adults and children, of civilized man with the so-called uncivilized, of the privileged with the underprivileged and of people with animals of all kinds." --J. Allen Boone, from ADVENTURES IN KINSHIP WITH ALL LIFE, pg. 27

My friend, Jerry, was born to a Belgian draft mare and fathered by a Mammoth Jack. Jerry, came into our lives, along with his pasture mates, Dee and Doll (also draft mules) in the autumn of 2001. Their former people were moving to the city and knowing Kevin and I already lived with mules on a nice farm (we were still in Michigan at that time) they asked if we would give them a home. Dee, Doll and Jerry were long time companions and their former people did not want them to be split up. We were not looking to expand our equid family further, but in the end, we decided to make room in our hearts for these fine mules even so.

After we moved to Manitoulin Island and established our Sorraia Mustang Preserve, Hardy Oelke (an ardent advocate for the preservation of Sorraias and Sorraia Mustangs) initially encouraged us to create separate environments so that the domestic horses and mules did not mingle with the primitive group of grullas. Both Kevin and I felt differently, however...we desired all our equine friends to have free range over the entire Ravenseyrie landscape. I'm very glad that we allowed this because it provided Jerry (who is in his late teens) with a very stimulating environment in which to fully express his playful qualities and gave us reason to admire him even more than we already did.

Jerry will play with everyone, no matter how old or young, and he is very careful to tailor his games to reflect the age, size and skill of his gaming partner. This is a marvelous re-channeling of Jerry's energies--you see he used to terrorize calves on our old farm, and even attacked Altamiro when we tried to integrate him into the herd as a yearling stud colt. At some point it seems Jerry came to realize that Altamiro and the mares were part of something very special and if he wanted to be a part of it too, he'd better find a different way into a closer connection with them. All by himself, he gave up his thug-like tendencies and created a new persona-- "Uncle Jerry" is a name he now wears proudly.

The half-Sorraia foals, Encantara and Silvestre spend a little time with Uncle Jerry (with Doll in the foreground.)

Past journal entries show Jerry at play with Altamiro and also with Animado.

Earlier this month I was present for a rare instance where Altamiro allowed Silvestre and Encantara to spend a few minutes with Uncle Jerry. Would you like to see how Jerry and Silvestre engaged in their first tentative game? Please enjoy the video clip below:

The games Jerry plays with Silvestre's older brother, Animado and with their father are much more intense...and in time, especially when Silvestre is banished from the family band by Altamiro later this year, he and Jerry will have many more opportunities to develop greater strength and vigor in their game playing.

I went through some older photos in which Jerry appears, and thought I'd share some of them with you.

Isn't this landscape fabulously beautiful and surreal? Jerry, Dee and Doll enjoy the cool breeze coming off Lake Huron on a gorgeous summer day in 2008.

Jerry splashing in the "tide pool" down at the beach in the summer of 2008. Look how big he looks compared to Belina and wee Fada!

Looking magnificent even though covered in clay mud, Jerry of Ravenseyrie, surveys his private beach.

A favorite photo! Taken while I was sitting on top of Jerry (completely at liberty) giving mounted itches.

Jerry, all "fat and shiny" as my friend Jean, once said.

I have been lately peeling what's left of last year's garlic harvest so that we can mince it and dehydrate it before it sprouts. I like to do this outside, so the wind whisks away all the papery layers, keeping me from making a complete mess of our small house. One day I was sitting out on Kevin's stack of barn beams when Jerry noticed me and decided to come investigate.

Can you feel the "heart connection" present? It's far more potent than treats or a halter and lead for bringing together horses (mule) and humans.

"Still, there is a great power in the world around us. It has not disappeared just because we no longer notice it. Redeveloping the capacity for heart-centered cognition can help each of us reclaim personal perception of the living and sacred intelligence within the world, within each particular thing. It moves us from a rational orientation in a dead, mechanized universe to one in which the unique perceptions of the heart are noticed and strengthened, to a deep experience of the living soulfulness of the world."--Stephen Harrod Buhner, from THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF PLANTS / In the Direct Perception of Nature, pg. 21

This past Sunday, I was once again outside peeling garlic, sitting this time in the yard, with the house at my back sheltering me from what was on that particular day a rather cold March wind. In the lee side of the house, with the sun warming me nicely, I was able to watch Mistral and his group grazing off to the east and also enjoy the vision of Altamiro and his family band off to the northwest. During this very pleasant time of day, Jerry came up once again to see what I was so absorbed in. It pays to keep one's camera handy, and I'm glad I had hung mine off the back of my chair, because Jerry looked so handsome standing there watching me at work:
Unable to disrupt my work by putting his nose into the middle of the garlic basket this time however, Jerry took to making himself look as goofy as possible. The more I laughed at his faces and took rapid fire photos, the more he posed in outrageous ways.

What a clown, eh?!

"Our most immediate experience of things, according to Merleau-Ponty, is necessarily an experience of reciprocal encounter--of tension, communication, and commingling. From within the depths of this encounter, we know the thing or phenomenon only as our interlocutor--as a dynamic presence that confronts us and draws us into relation. We conceptually immobilize or objectify the phenomenon only by mentally absenting ourselves from this relation, by forgetting or repressing our sensuous involvement. To define another being as an inert or passive object is to deny its ability to actively engage us and to provoke our senses; we thus block our perceptual reciprocity with that being. By linguistically defining the surrounding world as a determinate set of objects, we cut our conscious, speaking selves off from the spontaneous life of our sensing bodies.

"If, on the other hand, we wish to describe a particular phenomenon without repressing our direct experience, then we cannot avoid speaking of the phenomenon as an active, animate entity with which we find ourselves engaged. It is for this reason that Merleau-Ponty so consistently uses the active voice to describe things, qualities, and even the enveloping world itself. To the sensing body, no thing presents itself as utterly passive or inert. Only by affirming the animateness of perceived things do we allow our words to emerge directly from the depths of our ongoing reciprocity with the world."--David Abrams, from THE SPELL OF THE SENSUOUS/Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human-World, pg. 56

Why did we ever decide as humans to accept an unconscious world and shut off our perception of our rich heritage of unity? How much more meaningful is this world when all things are perceived as alive and in communication with us! What an exquisite lightness of being we experience in this animistic realm! This is our true heritage, not lost to us, rather, waiting for us to embrace once again. All we need do is set aside those cultured shapings we grew up with which told us animals and plants and the elements were not conscious beings. We are not separate from all that is, but are intricately experiencing all that is, even as all that is is intricately experiencing us. As you've now seen for yourself, Jerry is a good reminder of this. Thank you, Jerry for lifting us up with your playfulness and light-hearted way of being.