Archive for Living life
2012: Believe in Yourself
Posted by: | CommentsI grabbed Carolyn’s hand as we stepped off the train. A nervous chill of anticipation skittered up my spine. People were rushing past us, anxious to get on with their morning, and we timidly tried to keep up. Someone spoke, and smiled, then spoke again and hurried off. The words meant nothing, but we smiled back just the same.
I was bristling with excitement. Gone were the miseries of the long, sleepless flight over. Gone were the first flashes of Milano, seen as a drowsy blur of television stations and newspaper reporters. Now, after a good night’s sleep on a long train ride, my senses were alive and tingling again and the whole feeling was like I had dozed off in Dallas and awakened here.
It was our first trip abroad and my first time out of the country except for three days in Nassau and a few hours in Juarez. So, maybe you can imagine. I mean, anywhere would’ve been terrific, but we weren’t just anywhere. We were in Rome!
The Eternal City. Born nine hundred years before Christ. Home of Cato, Nero, Constantine and the Caesars. A magical place where it is said, you can actually hear the breathing of the centuries; Read More→
Why Relationship First Works
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We were lucky enough to stumble onto Monty Roberts’ Join-Up before our first horse ever arrived, so that’s where we began with each and every one of our herd. And it made such an absolute difference to establish relationship first and true leadership right from the get-go. Our herd members are now all willing partners who never stop trying. Never stop giving. Stacy Westfall says Read More→
Two Year Anniversary in “Founder Valley”
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Horses eat grass.
They are genetically programmed to eat grass. 18-20 hours a day. Their bodies must have it. Their hind gut must have it. But from the moment we landed in middle Tennessee, the warnings began to pour in from the locals.
Your horses cannot be out 24/7 on the rich sugary grasses of middle Tennessee.
You’ve just moved into Founder Valley!
It freaked us out. Could grasses be that different? Read More→
Six Popular Questions… and the Answers
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A few short years ago I could never imagine a time when we would be receiving so many questions about our experiences with horses. How they should be living. And eating. How the barefoot thing was working out. How we achieved such terrific relationships. How our horses transitioned from dry rocky California to wet green middle Tennessee. Questions about pastures, Join-Up, ground work, lifestyle, leadership. Read More→
High Desert Horses on Middle Tennessee Grasses
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From dry rocky southern California (above) to lush
green – and wet – middle Tennessee (below)
I wrote this article for the latest edition of The Horses Hoof magazine, adapted from the book The Soul of a Horse Blogged – The Journey Continues
Our timing was perfect. The move from dry rocky southern California landed us right in the middle of record-setting rainfall in Tennessee. Seven inches the day the horses came in. And it rained for days prior to their arrival. Gail Murphy’s Personalized Equine Transportation Service has a reputation for never being late, but on this day they were. The rains slowed them to a crawl causing them to arrive after dark. Which is when we learned that the turn onto our road was too tight for their rig to make. We had to shuttle the horses off the transport trailer onto our 3-horse trailer which had to be pulled by a generous new neighbor with his 4-wheel drive tractor because my truck would’ve been mud-bound for sure.
They hadn’t been out of the trailer for ten minutes when every one of them began to wallow in the mud like little pigs. And through it all I could only think about what all this wet and mud might do to their beautiful, dry, rock-solid barefoot hooves. Read more…
One fantastic reason to jump into Kindle right now Read More→
Okay I Give Up. Kindle Has Won Me Over.
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Amazon announced last week that Kindle Books are now outselling all of their print books – paperback and hard back – combined!
Wow. It happened so fast.
I finally broke down and ordered my first non-fiction book on Kindle… and it took me almost a full hour to throw off the shackles of the printed page and become a huge fan. Why? Because I can Read More→
The most amazing thing happened today!
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We’ve posted a new video because the most amazing thing just happened! It reminded me why we have been so obsessive about getting the relationship right with each of our horses before anything else. Even before training. Relationship that gives the horse the choice, the free will to make it so. And what a difference it has made to this newcomer as he has stumbled his way through the learning process. Our horses have never stopped trying, never stopped listening, never stopped giving. And they are with us because they want to be. As you will see in the video. Please take a look: Video: Relationship First! Read More→
Trust Yourself to Try and Err
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For years I’ve called the process of making Benji movies trial-and-error film making. I always – well, usually – know what I want to see up there on the screen, but almost never know how to get it on film. I remember late one night in Oregon on Benji the Hunted there were about twelve of us crammed and bundled around the camera which was sitting on the dirt pointed down at a tiny little cougar cub who was supposed to be looking up at Benji, pleading with his eyes to not be left alone to be eaten by Read More→
Free Box of 10 Note Cards with Kathleen’s beautiful horse photography when you purchase The Soul of a Horse Blogged – The Journey Continues. An $18 Value Free with Purchase of the book. Each card is blank inside for your individual note or greeting. Ten cards with envelopes. This offer is exclusive to Newsletter and Blog subscribers and Facebook fans. Go to the Summer Sale page and order from your favorite bookseller. Send us a copy of your receipt and we’ll take care of the rest. Event ends July 15, 2011.
Read what renowned education writer Jack L. Kennedy wrote about The Soul of a Horse Blogged – The Journey Continues for the Joplin Independent:
by Jack L. Kennedy
Joe Camp knows dogs and did well as the creator and producer of Benji movies a few years ago. Joe Camp knows and loves horses, too. He went into seven printings with The Soul of a Horse–Life Lessons from the Herd, a mixture of autobiography, prayer, insight and horse and dog raising skills. Now Camp has produced The Soul of a Horse BLOGGED–The Journey Continues.
Camp has a feel, a heart, a sense of perception that compels the reader to see the relationship between Read More→
No Dog Should Be Without this…
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For all of you who have a dog: The Benji Method – Teach Your Dog To Do What Benji Does in the Movies… EBOOK with 90 MINUTES OF VIDEO demonstration embedded in the book (Benji and yours truly). Only $5.99. Also available in paperback :).
It’s a non-regulation Read More→
EBooks with Video – Who’d've Thought?
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I cannot believe that a few short weeks ago I had no clue about any of this. Kathleen had been into it for some time, but for pleasure, not for horses. Then a conversation with Casey Pugh, a vet tech friend, clicked on the light bulb. Quite by accident because she, like Kathleen, was using it only for pleasure.
What the devil am I talking about?? Read More→
The Soul of a Horse Blogged – The Journey Continues Now Available Everywhere
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Available Everywhere
Barnes & Noble – Paperback & NOOKbook
Buy personally inscribed copies
This book has had more pre-sales than any book I’ve ever written and I can’t thank y’all enough for that. If you plan to buy it, for yourself or as a gift, please, please, please, go to Amazon and help kick it off with a good ranking. Personally inscribed copies are still available on the website.
Thank you so much for all the support you have given to us and our efforts through the years to make life better for horses (and people) everywhere. Kathleen and I feel very blessed at a very blessed time of year.
We wish you all a warm and wonderful Christmas filled with love. – Joe
Happy Thanksgiving! Hope Yours is as Wonderful as Ours!
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Kathleen and the twins have been here for a week of unbelievably beautiful Indian Summer weather. Unreal for late November (more records?). We’ve ridden as a family four times… all with the three B’s…barefoot, bareback, and bitless. We figure it’s the first time Mariah and Pocket have been ridden in at least two years… and the first time ever that these two have been ridden bitless. But all concerned were delighted with each ride. Above Allegra, Kathleen, and Dylan on Pocket, Mariah, and Skeeter pause for a picture, a rare occurrence that I’m allowed behind the lens.
Allegra was convinced that should could do the Kevin Costner/Silverado running/leaping mount onto Mariah so I told her to give it a shot. Read More→
Look into the Heart and Soul of a Horse
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Due out December 1st.
I want to thank each of you who caused our publication year to be so incredibly special by helping to push The Soul of a Horse into seven printings and make it an official best seller. We are indebted to you all and appreciate you very much. This new book, this continuation of that journey which began with The Soul of a Horse, is for you. And for every horse on the planet. – Joe
Now the commercial :)
The Soul of a Horse BLOGGED – The Journey Continues can be pre-ordered and personally inscribed in time for Christmas. Click here.
This is Joe and Kathleen’s continuing journey from the end of the best selling The Soul of a Horse: Life Lessons from the Herd through their adoption of a wild pregnant mustang and on through their move from the dry rocky hillsides of southern California to the wet grassy hillsides of Read More→
What a Year!
Posted by: | CommentsToday marks the one-year anniversary of our southern California herd’s arrival in middle Tennessee, and what a year it’s been, moving from this:
To this:
Last September 17th our horses arrived, after dark, amidst seven inches of rain that went on to become 26 inches over the next four weeks. We were worried sick Read More→
Blogger News Network’s Maryann Miller Reviews Who Needs Hollywood
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“Granted, not everyone wants to buck Hollywood and the odds to make a movie, but everyone has a dream of some sort, and this book encourages people to fight for that dream. Work for that dream. Even if it takes half a lifetime to make it come true. Who Needs Hollywood is so much more than a story about a dog or about making a movie. Like Camp’s best seller, The Soul of a Horse, this one is full of insight and inspiration. And how to make things happen against all odds. Who Needs Hollywood is written with candor, and at times a self-effacing humility and is a refreshing break from some celebrity books that are all about me.” – Maryann Miller, Blogger News Network
Link to full review: http://www.bloggernews.net/125128
After Eleven Months of Record-Setting Weather…
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Cash’s left rear – Photo taken two weeks ago
Eleven months ago we moved from dry, rocky southern California to middle Tennessee. I had done my homework and had conversed a lot with my pasture mentor Melanie Bowles (The Horses of Proud Spirit Sanctuary). Still I was very nervous. Our guys and gals had been living on hard rocky desert-like ground. All barefoot. Their hoof trims every eight weeks amounted to maintenance trims as they were wearing their hooves much like they would if they were in the wild. But they were moving to the soft (it turns out mushy) green grass pastures of middle Tennessee and we were being advised by many that our herd simply could not be out 24/7 on the “rich grasses” of this area. Read More→
Are You Living Your Passion?
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Every time I look at one of these photos of Kathleen’s and think about how much I lusted after the very life we’re living I have no choice but to reflect upon how very blessed we are. Have always been. I’ll never forget asking my dad when I was a junior in high school, “How am I supposed to go about choosing a career? Where do I start?” His response was profound, and not of the times, and for some reason that surprised me. Read More→
