The Natural Course of Things

Tourist season is winding down, August has begun trying on September's clothing and I still am unable to devote the necessary time to writing journal entries dedicated to the mares, as promised, or give the virtual museum tour of the art exhibition many requested and also I know many are wondering if Encantara, Animado and Segura made their trip to Cheyenne, Wyoming to begin their new life with the Olson's at their Soul of Sorraia ranch. Next month we will do the mare articles and take you on the virtual art tour, but for now, at the very least (before this summer month completely ends without any journal entry whatsoever!) I thought I'd better steal some time at the studio to provide an update on how things have been going here at the Ravenseyrie Sorraia Mustang Preserve.


Altamiro (our amazing Birdchaser) has been recovering from a ligament injury since June 1st (story of this in a future entry) which slowed him down, but did not keep him from tending his harem stallion duties. Though it took awhile, he is almost completely back to his usual vigorous self.

Our Manitoulin Island summer this year has been unusually humid, with quite a bit of rain and high temperatures causing the horses to most of the time stay hidden in the forest during daylight hours and reserve grazing times for the early mornings and evenings. The biting flies have been like a plague and keep the horses is perpetual motion even as they while away the day in their chosen shady groves. It must feel like heaven to them when it rains!

Zorita's filly, Levada, takes advantage of her mother's tail during a rough day of being pestered by flies

Belina's filly, Tocara, itching a fly bite

Quite some time ago, Kevin completed the special fencing in of a "holding pasture" which ties in to the old cattle sorting corral, where he also erected a run-in shelter. When it comes time to bring in off the range those youngsters destined to live away from Ravenseyrie, they will receive their veterinary inspections and more formalized halter training in this segregated space while they await transport to their new lives.

Here we have (back to front) Encantara, Interessado, Fada and Animado, the four half-Sorraia youngsters who were expelled from the family band and now run with Mistral's group.

The Polish Arabian gelding, Mistral

Those who have checked out the "offspring sold" page at the top of this blog will know that Mike and Sheri Olson of the Soul of Sorraia ranch in Cheyenne, Wyoming where expecting to come pick up Animado, Encantara and Segura in mid-July. However, there is one unanticipated delay...Altamiro has not yet expelled Segura from the family band.


Typically these natural weanings have occurred at Ravenseyrie when the fillies and colts approached their first birthdays. In 2009, Animado and Interessado were hazed out of the natal group, but Fada left on her own. Early this spring, when Encantara was only ten months old, Altamiro hazed her (quite roughly) until she was convinced that he would no longer accept her presence in the family band.


We would have expected Silvestre and Segura to have been ousted by now and joined up with their half-siblings who run with Mistral's group, but so far, there is no sign that Altamiro is contemplating a shift in herd dynamics.

Ravenseyrie is not presently set up with the type of infrastructure which allows for more than one holding area, and the one that we have cobbled together is located on the east side of the house and yard which Altamiro considers to be the camp of Mistral's group and therefore will not allow his family to go near this sector. While it is possible that we could lure Segura and Silvestre into our yard, in the likely event that they and other family members panic at a forced separation, the area is not sufficiently secure or safe from potential mishaps.


I had been mentally and physically cramped up inside, finding sleep difficult and the future tenuous to think that we might miss this opportunity with the Olson's and the more I contemplated trying to make things happen so that we could have everyone ready to go by the end of July, the more it felt "wrong". Both Kevin and I decided to not force the situation, but instead wait for Altamiro's proper timing, whatever that may be.

Leave all things to take their natural course, and do not interfere. --Anonymous (from the book A Little Treasury of Chinese Wisdom)

Thankfully, the Olson's feel the same way and are willing to wait for things to "take their natural course", even if it means that the coming of winter will postpone them bringing the youngsters home with them until next spring.

Zorita's 2009 filly, Segura (foreground), with Silvestre and Ciente

There are positive aspects to this postponement, one of which is that when the leading authority on Sorraia and Sorraia Mustang horses, Hardy Oelke, and his wife Rose come to Ravenseyrie in early September, they will be able to see all the primitives in the setting which they were born.

Meanwhile, I get to enjoy these wonderful young horses a little longer. I'm certain things have transpired the way they have for a special reason and though I do not know what the future holds, I continue to recite my personal affirmation: "believe in goodness prevailing."

Not Transferable

Here I am at the studio, on a very busy day during the height of tourist season, but after reading this morning a very moving entry in a blog called: Chloe, the Pony Who Wouldn't, I feel compelled to direct readers to this entry.

I'd also like to direct readers to an interview that appeared on the Nevzorov Haute Ecole website: Interview with Michael Bevilacqua by Cloé Lacroix and Kris McCormack

In this interview, Michael Bevilacqua sums up very clearly how an egalitarian partnership with a horse based on a friendship relationship is likely to be ill-appreciated by individuals who prefer to be with horses who are trained to accept a human as hierarchially dominant and submissive to our desires.

"The horses showed me a side of themselves that gradually changed my thinking more and more. It came to a point that I had to train the people, not the horses. Horses that I worked with at home would be so good with me. They would also be pretty good with the owner if I were present. If an owner showed up when I was not around, I would hear that they could sometimes not even halter the horse and would completely give up and leave in anger and frustration. What I realized after dropping one training tradition after another, was that my horses, or all the horses I trained, because no force and pain were involved, were not `broken`. It was a trust and a bond that we developed. This trust and bond, comprehension, and willingness were part of our unique relationship. That relationship was not transferable."--Michael Bevilacqua

There are those people who want to have friendly relations with horses, yet still want their horses to yield in all circumstances and respond in push-button manner to the directions of humans. Horses trained in this manner by and large will allow themselves to be used by any human.

And then there are those individuals who are interested in more than "friendly relations"--they want a two-way friendship with this fantastic being, the horse. Horses "trained" within this type of framework will not allow themselves to be passed around and used like a piece of sports equipment.

As Michael states, such a relationship is "not transferable".


You will read that June has found that nurturing a relationship with horses that allows for free expression from both the equine and the human establishes a much richer marriage between the species. However, during a visit from her friend, June learns that the type of relationship she has with her horses is "not transferable", nor is it understood or appreciated by those accustomed to horses that are trained to be subordinate.

The difference is that one approach is a "method" and the other is a "relationship"--a coming together between two beings who desire a friendship. Such friendships may not be understood or appreciated by traditional horse folk, but as June reminds us by quoting Imke Spilker, "Who inspects my work? Who supervises me? My horse."


June's blog entry does a fantastic job of processing the criticism of a knowledgeable horse friend--even understanding its reasoning, but in the end she knows for certain traditional training modalities no longer suit her and her horses, and why. I hope you will take the time to follow the link and read what she has written. It's an honest and profound testament to how difficult this journey can be at times when we realize "A Delicate Balance is Disturbed".

A Precious Mischief

Zorita's 2010 filly is just over a week old and from day two has been a very spunky gal, reminding me very much of the cavorting Pinoteia engaged in as soon as she discovered what her out-of-womb foal body could do. Only, with this new filly, there is an element of the "devil-may-care" scamp in her. Any mother who has felt the frustration of trying to contain a toddler on a tear can sympathize with Zorita's frustration in this video:

Knowing that Susan Mathia (proprietor of a lovely bed & breakfast establishment called The Queen's Inn) enjoys the occasional video clip from Ravenseyrie, I emailed her a copy of the above sequence, to which she replied: "What a precious little mischief she is!"

Of course, between the activities of the new filly and the comments of Susan, I soon was deep into my Portuguese/English dictionary and researching words which might make potential names from online translation sites as well.

Precious by itself did not convey the imp quality to this emerging personality of the new filly, but "mischief" certainly did. There were many offerings, one of which came back with "maliciosa" meaning "playfully mischievous". "Perfect!" I thought. That evening, I sat near her, on a log that she was sampling with her tongue. "Hello, Maliciosa." No response. "Filly, would you like to have the name, Maliciosa?" Without altering her position, or ceasing to lick the log, she gave me a dubious sidelong look. "You do not care for the name, Maliciosa?" Zorita's new filly, walked away, without a backward glance in my direction. I would take that as a pretty distinct, "no", wouldn't you?

Some of the other suggestions provided by dictionaries which in one way or another defined impish/scampish behavior were: moleque, diabrura, pressa, and levada. The only one that had a direct connection with "mischief" was "levada" which is another adjective meaning "mischievous". I presented it to the new filly this morning and when I spoke it, she immediately pricked her ears and looked straight at me, almost with a look of, "Well, finally, you've found it!"

Here is a video clip of Tocara (my hasn't she grown lovely!) attempting to make friends with Levada. For her part, Levada is making it plain that she's not easily won over. A very similar scene (near the end of this blog entry) was presented to me when last year Silvestre was hoping to befriend Levada's full sister, Segura. How marvelous that even very new foals have such a sense of self!

Zorita has come into her foal heat and this has Altamiro enforcing a wider "buffer zone" between the family band and Mistral's group. I took a short (but poor quality) video clip during a "conversation" Altamiro was having with Jerry, as the Sorraia stallion defended his territory. The conversation looked something like you see below (from a combination of still scenes extracted from the video and one photo):







The conversation was ardent, but brief and essentially non-violent.

Here are a few photos taken during one of Levada's mad dashes which she engages in for the sheer joy of being (and also maybe for the "precious little mischief" delight she receives in provoking her mother's ire as well.)

And lastly here are some photos of Tocara attempting to befriend Levada:

(That is Silvestre in the foreground)

(I apologize to those of you who have maybe subscribed to the Journal of Ravenseyrie and today received three versions of "A Precious Mischief"...I must have hit the wrong key while working on the text, not once--but twice, which accidentally caused the entry to be published before it was ready.)

And not to be left out of images of the 2010 fillies, here's a quick head shot of Pinoteia: