Welcome to another installment of The Rewarding Recap! This week was a busy one, but it was also a very productive. I have quite a bit going business-wise including picking up an exciting new blog writing gig as well as meeting with a couple of prospective new horsemanship students. In addition to that, I had another big week exploration within the Intuitive Equestrian course I'm taking and made some pretty solid progress with Annie.
As always, I'm excited to share some of my musings and experiences with you. I hope you enjoy reading about my week as much as I enjoyed living it!
In this week's "We're Not Really Strangers" prompt I asked my followers "What is one of your favorite things about yourself?" I answered that one of my favorite things about myself is my ability to be empathetic towards just about any human and animal.
I absolutely loved hearing what everyone had to say in their responses to this prompt! Your answers were so heartfelt and there was such a range of positive qualities. Everything from also being empathetic, to being able to de-escalate situations subtly, to just generally being a positive person.
Someone honestly answered that the prompt was really hard for them to answer, which sparked my own thought process around not only how we talk to ourselves, but how so many of us don't feel like we can or should "brag" about ourselves.
We're often shut down if we start to talk "too much" about ourselves, whether that be negatively or positively. I feel like so many people take this too far and end up not wanting to talk about themselves at all, finding it incredibly uncomfortable to even think about being perceived as self-absorbed.
But the thing is, we happily "brag" about others all the time! I know I am the first to talk about all the amazing things everyone else is doing from my horse, my husband, my friends, and basically anyone but myself. It's not that I'm not doing amazing things, too, but I know I catch myself downplaying my achievements like they're no big deal when they're often actually a huge deal!
And this wasn't even about achievements, this prompt was simply asking about our innate qualities that we love - things we don't even need to work to do, but are rather just a part of who we are. Why is it so hard for us to recognize all of the good in us, whereas it is so easy to point our all of the areas that we think need to be fixed or changed?
Sure, I'm sure negativity bias plays a role here (in that our brains much more easily latch onto negative things versus positive), but I think a lot of this stems from the fact that our society is constantly telling us that there is something wrong with us that we need to pay someone else to fix through a product or service.
This eats away at our ability to see everything about ourselves that is actually perfect just as it is. So this is my challenge to you - start bragging about yourself and complimenting yourself, even if no one is around to hear! We each have our own unique qualities that make us amazing human beings, but without sharing them, no one will know about them and get to celebrate those qualities with you.
As for my Annie update, we had another quiet but powerful week that I am really happy with as I sit down to write this. She had another chiropractic adjustment on Thursday this week which was all great news. Our vet was very pleased with how well she held her adjustment from five weeks ago which means we get to go to about eight weeks until her next appointment!
On Friday, after her 24 hours off following the adjustment, I popped on Annie for the longest bareback ride we have shared in a while. And not only did we ride for longer, but there was so much going on around us that she did not even bat an eye at - all things that would have used to make her incredibly anxious. The neighbor was mowing their lawn, she and Phoebe hadn't been fed dinner yet (I thought she had!), the other horses were being turned in and fed, and Phoebe was just outside the arena tearing around the pasture (unfortunately upset by the combination of being bombarded by the horrid bugs, not being fed dinner yet, and being separated from Annie). I was so beyond proud of her!
We practiced some simple liberty work in the pasture on Saturday to keep things light after our great ride on Friday, and I did a little energy work on her in the pasture today. After that, I was just hanging out in the pasture with the mares when the mood struck me to hunt for a four leaf clover.
I had been looking around for a while when Annie approached me, clearly curious about what the heck I was doing. I scratched her neck under her fly sheet (something she loves right now!) and decided to ask her out loud if she could help me find a four leaf clover. I (almost) couldn't believe it when she put her head back down to graze and there was a four leaf clover right next to her muzzle.
This was such a powerful reminder that we can't get what we want without asking, whether that be a physical thing or an answer to the question. I totally owe a special shoutout to Molly of Spirit Horse Collective who explained the importance of simply asking questions to me months ago when we were chatting about how I could practice connecting to my intuition.
Empowering Observations:
Spend some time thinking about all of the things you like about yourself! We spend so much time thinking about what we don't like or want to improve on that it takes our focus off of what we actually do like and what we're actually pretty happy with right now. Talk to yourself like you'd talk to your horse if that helps!
If you want something, ask! Whether this be from someone, yourself, your horse, the universe, whatever - you can't get answers without asking questions.
Things I'm Loving This Week
If you're still feeding your horse based on volume not on weight, we need to talk. But for real, weighing out feed and supplements is paramount to dosing/feeding them correctly and this super nifty digital scoop from Custom Equine Nutrition (my favorite, local + woman-owned supplement company) is probably my new favorite thing EVER. And for $25 and free shipping, you have no excuse NOT to get one! You can also get 5% off your first Custom Equine Nutrition order with my referral link!
With the heat and humidity that we've been experiencing, we started offering the mares an electrolyte water in addition to their regular water trough. I'm a huge fan of Finish Line's Apple-A-Day Electrolyte because it dissolves easily in water, inexpensive, widely available, palatable, and sugar free!
Equestrian Reflection
Journal Prompt: The lesson my horse is trying to teach me right now is...
I think that the biggest lesson Annie is trying to teach me right now is that we are allowed to be okay. I don't always need to be fixing or correcting something, it could be exactly what we have been working towards and it's okay to enjoy that.
Affirmation: I am grateful for all of the lessons horses have taught me. What a beautiful gift.
Equestrian Oracle
Theme for the Upcoming Week
Play
Soon after a foal is born, they begin to play. They have an innate desire to create, explore, and interact with those around them in a fun and curious way. They allow themselves to zoom around, leap and frolic in whatever way they please with zero analyzing behind it.
They are simply fully expressing themselves in the moment without judgement, and it is utterly beautiful to see. You can't help but watch them for hours as they show off with complete authenticity.
Now, just like a foal, you too were born feeling completely authentic and free to be exactly who you are. As a child, you allowed yourself to play and explore without judgement. You simply just wanted to have fun.
This card is calling you to experience more play in your life. To tap into this, you might ask yourself, when you were a child, what activities did you love to do? Make a list of them and start to sprinkle them into you life without them needing to make sense. Let your guard down and simply allow yourself to play.
*The Equestrian Reflection and Equestrian Oracle cards are courtesy of Felicity Davies and can be purchased directly from her here. Full transparency - I receive no financial gain from sharing these, I just love them and find them to be helpful on this journey!