As I’ve listened to podcasts and read posts in the Warwick Schiller Facebook group, I’ve noticed he reads a LOT. Honestly, since Covid started I have found it very hard to focus on reading. As an avid reader I’ve been left feeling quite guilty that I haven’t really read a book in a couple years. I’ve felt that begin to pass and picked up a few books from Warwick’s book list.
One of the ways he suggests to help create connection with your horses is to go out to the pasture with a chair and just sit and read. It’s honestly one of my favorite parts of the program… sitting, reading, horses… what’s not to love.
Yesterday the weather was warm enough to sit outside so I headed to the pasture with a chair and a book. I’m currently reading Mind to Matter on my kindle, but I wanted to take an actual book to the pasture so I grabbed The Body Keeps Score. Warwick’s book list scares me a little, it’s not a light hearted book list. It’s a book list that’s going to make you work on yourself. The Body Keeps Score is one of those books. It’s about overcoming trauma, which is a topic I generally push out of my mind and try not to think about. But like they say, the things you don’t deal with keep coming up until you do.
I got to the pasture and got settled in. Instantly Fiddler came over trying to see what I was doing. He grabbed my book and ran off with it. I got the book back, sans some corners. Then he tried to eat my chair. I love this horse. He will always make you feel loved, but I wanted to just sit and be, which is not really possible with him around. I took him out of the pasture and came back to read. Goose and Nora are also in this pasture. We got Nora a couple months ago. She’s super obedient. An amazing cowhorse, and a bit shut down. I really wanted to be able to have some no expectation connection time with her.
She checked out my chair a bit while I was putting Fiddler up, and then mosied off to the hay. She kept looking up at me. She just looked like she didn’t quite understand what the heck I was doing just sitting in her pasture. Goose swung by for a bit and then wandered off to stand by the gate Fiddler had left through. Which is all perfectly fine. The point of hanging out in the pasture is to NOT have expectations. To let them do what they want, to just be. I also like this hanging out in the pasture while I pick poo. I enjoy being in the same space, doing my thing, they’re doing their thing. They sometimes come over, they wander away. These well trained horses who do great at their job… I think most of their lives they’ve been asked to be DOING something, specific, by a human. It’s good for them to know sometimes being around us doesn’t come with demands.
I was a little worried starting The Body Keeps Score, but once I got started it seems like it’s going to be a very interesting book. I’ll give you a review when I’m done. The next few days are going to be VERY cold… so I’ll have to read in the house. 🙂
I mentioned in the Warwick Schiller Facebook group that I was outside reading and someone asked if I was reading the book out loud to the horses. I was not, but it was an interesting thought. Do you read outside in your horse’s pasture? Do you read out loud to them? Tell me in the comments. I’d love to know.
