Archive for horses
First Pasture Outing for Saffron and Firestorm
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Look at all that space Mommy!
Stormy was coming up on seven weeks old and had never been out of her paddock and the adjacent paddock. We figured it was time. So we locked the herd in the eastern pasture, opened the gate from Mustang Paddock to the western pasture, and Read More→
A Special Telling Moment with Baby Stormy
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Over the weekend we took Firestorm out for an adventure away from the paddock where she was born. Her first trip away from home. While mom munched away I walked little Miss Stormy into the round pen for the first time… and was blessed with a special telling moment. Read More→
Saffron and Firestorm – Progress and Photos – Lots of Both!
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I have to keep telling myself that a mere six weeks ago this mustang, fresh from the wild, had never willingly been touched by any human. And I keep hearing about domestic mares who go all crazy when they’ve had a foal and won’t let any human near the new baby. I pinch myself several times a day. Actually several times an hour. Because, as those of you who have followed the blog/newsletter know, on the evening of my birthday this very special lady, who had already trusted me to handle her new baby virtually from birth, threw a switch inside herself and gave me the best birthday I think I’ve ever had. Read More→
An Amazing Birthday Gift from a Wild Mustang!
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Barely a month ago we adopted a pregnant mustang from the BLM facility in southern Mississippi. At that time she had never been handled or even touched willingly by any human. Her seven-hour trailer ride home turned into nine, delayed by two wrecks on the freeway. She was covered in stressful sweat and not a happy camper. But still, less than an hour after arriving home, she took a bit of forage from my bare hand.
This was clearly an unusual mustang. Read More→
What the Devil is the Wild Horse Model…
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…and why did I need to know about it?
Because domestic horses are wild horses.
Excuse me??
That was exactly my first reaction. But it’s true. Domestic horses and wild horses are genetically precisely the same. The horses in our back yard are really wild horses in captivity. Just like a baby tiger Read More→
No-Agenda Time – So Much Value
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No-agenda time is a ritual Kathleen and I began with Noelle after Malachi died. We’d go into Malachi’s playpen, open it up to Noelle, scatter a bit of hay around our feet, then sit there and talk, with no agenda whatsoever. Seriously, none. It yielded some of the best moments and lessons ever with Noelle. We began No-Agenda Time with Saffron and Stormy a week or so ago and the yield has been amazing. Last evening, just after sunset, Stormy fell asleep right at my feet. Shortly after, her mom, Miss Saffron, an untouched mustang from the wild just a few weeks ago, turned away and sauntered off to the water tub for a drink, maybe fifty feet away. Leaving her baby asleep on my boot. She won’t even let Stormy interact with the other horses through the fence. And has never before left her in our care. The trust it took to do that both surprised and overwhelmed us. How can we not exert every effort to be worthy. Read More→
Firestorm’s Amazing First Day in the Playpen
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Malachi had a playpen. We knew from the beginning that Noelle would not willingly allow us near her baby so we had no choice but to devise a way to separate them in order to imprint and train Malachi. But this time around (Here We Go Again), Miss Saffron, like Noelle an unhandled mustang from the wild, tricked us. She has been so Read More→
What an Extraordinary Weekend!
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Stormy and Saffron
We’re only a week into this new journey and the most amazing things are happening. Barriers are crumbling like crazy. This past Saturday marked the end of Saffron’s first week with us. An un-handled pregnant mustang captured from the wild August 1st of last year. According to the BLM, she was supposed to deliver in May. But Stormy was born three days after Saffron stepped out of the trailer into her new home. We’ve been told that even mares Read More→
OMG Y’all… It’s a Girl!
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Yes, already! So much for BLM predictions of May :). Born yesterday morning (March 21) around 8:00am. We know because there was no baby at 7:20am when Kathleen drove off to work at her new passion, teaching American Literature to 11th graders at the renowned Webb School in Bell Buckle. And there was a baby when I went down to feed around 8:30am. A mere three and a half days after a nine hour trailer ride for mom! When Kathleen got my photo-text Read More→
Here We Go Again
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For those who remember Noelle and Malachi, you’ll know why this is entitled Here We Go Again. Last Friday, March 16, we hitched up the trailer, called Laura to sit with the house, horses, dogs, and cat, and drove to the BLM facility on the campus of The Piney Woods School south of Jackson, Mississippi, arriving way too close to midnight. The next morning we adopted our second mustang carrying a foal conceived in the wild.
March 3rd marked three years since Malachi was born (see the blog). And June 3rd will mark the third year since his sudden and shattering death. We felt as if our hearts had been ripped right out of our bodies. It was a terrible time. So how did we know the time was right to have another go? That God was saying, “Now!” Read More→
When we were first starting with horses less than five years ago we dove deeply into the training books and DVDs of several of the top clinicians in the United States. We owned virtually everything ever written or videoed by Monty Roberts, Clinton Anderson, and the Parellis and we were bouncing back and forth from one to the other testing what worked best with our horses. But I was secretly longing for a compressed, congealed, shuffled together guide to the basics. Read More→
Winter Breakthrough – Got Water!
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Last December was the coldest in middle Tennessee since the early 1940s. Another record. Of course. At least we’re consistent. We had just limped through eight days of below freezing temperatures. It got so low the first night that the pond totally froze. I kept trying to break up the ice along the edges so the horses could get to water (the remnants seen on the gravel in the photo below) but it soon reached the point where it was re-freezing before I got back into the house. So finally
– remembering well Mariah’s fall through the ice the winter before – I closed off the entire pasture and 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→
Training with Treats – Stepping Out of the Box
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I’m not a professional trainer. I do not do it for a living. But I am a student of what works. Logic and common sense to a fault, I suppose. Which lead us quite unexpectedly to the discovery that horses can develop a vocabulary.
Yes vocabulary!
Horses can learn the meanings of words and, like children, as their vocabulary grows they can put those words together into different phrases and sentences. Even actual conversations. That’s not supposed to be true according to most, but Kathleen and I have found it to be absolutely true. And now there is even a scientific study proving it. 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→
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→
Meet Happier, Healthier Horses
Posted by: | CommentsRarely a day passes that doesn’t bring emails or posts heralding happier, healthier horses who have left their stalls, shoes, and sugars behind and are living the Wild Horse Model as closely as circumstances allow. Horses who now trust and forge relationship by their own choice, not ours. Unsolicited stories from people we did not know before they wrote. And they are the fuel that drives us ever forward, learning and writing, to make a difference for horses everywhere. After reading just the few below, grouped together for the first time, Kathleen said to me, “When you first contemplated writing that first book, when you told me how important you felt these discoveries were and how much you believed that we should make an effort to get this word out, you said, ‘If just one horse-human relationship could be changed for the better, if just one horse could be living a happier, healthier life then the all the effort would be worthwhile.’” She paused for a long moment and wiped away the beginnings of a tear. “Congratulations my Sweetie,” she said. “Mission accomplished.”
I hope you’ll open your heart and listen to what these horses have to say.
AnneMai’s mare Taiga – out of the stall for good!
From AnneMai on the Island of Mallorca: “After reading your first book we have given our mare as much freedom as possible, no irons, outside at all times (she has an open shelter) and as natural feed as we can get :). She takes herself for walks all day eating a bit here and there. It is a joy to see her and to have her at home for the first time in my life. Thank you for giving us the courage to change all these things :))”
Carri’s mares – no longer stressed!
I love this story from Carri in New York. Like so many of us trying to find a way out of the boarding stalls and unhealthy lifestyle, she looked and looked for a place she could afford to buy. One day she realized that the hay field that abuts the back of her property was no longer a hay field. She had a “bright idea” Read More→
Thinking Outside the Box!
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This is simply the Coolest Thing Ever! Your horse is fifteen to twenty feet away from you when you step up onto the mounting block. You cluck a couple of times and lo and behold he sidesteps all the way over to the mounting block and stands there patiently waiting for you to climb on.
No way, I said. How in the world would you teach your horse to sidestep to you? From fifteen feet away! It’s just not in the logic pattern of everything we’re told to teach the horse… “give to pressure”… not step into it!
But I saw it with my own eyes and was blown away. Read More→
Reading the Eyes of a Horse
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I can remember the vet checks on our very first three horses. I was walking Cash down to the arena with Dr. Matt and he casually mentioned, “He has a good eye. A soft eye. That says a lot.” I could only wonder what he meant. What could he see that I couldn’t? And what did it tell him? But I chose not to embarrass myself and I kept quiet.
Much later – after learning that either I lose the fear of being embarrassed or I would never learn anything :) – I asked him about it and he told me what he had seen. Read More→
New Video About Our California Paddock Paradise – What We Did, How We Did It & Why?
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When we first discovered that the genetics of a horse prescribe a lifestyle of living out 24/7 with lots and lots of movement we threw up our hands in frustration. We had no access to land other than a 2.5 acre plot behind the house that was virtually straight-up-and-down steep with some of it totally unusable. Horses in the wild out in the Great Basin of the western United States – where their genetics evolved – travel 10-20 miles a day looking for grass forage, water, and staying away from predators. How could we even get close to replicating that with what we had to work with? But ultimately we discovered that it’s amazing what you can come up with when you really put you mind to it. With less than 1.5 usable acres we wound up creating a Paddock Paradise that generated approximately 8-10 miles of movement every 24-hour day for all six of our horses, and we did it quite simply and inexpensively using what we had available. It’s all explained in the new video, with specifics and on-the-scene videos (one of them quite whimsical according to Kathleen and I’m not sure how to take that :). Click this link and take a look: Our Paddock Paradise: What We Did, How We Did It and Why? 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→
Another Amazing Experience at Road to the Horse!
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Just imagine! Pat Parelli, Clinton Anderson, and Chris Cox all under one roof for three incredible days! That was Road to the Horse 2011 which wrapped up last night. It was such a close, tight competition that I would’ve hated to have been one of the judges trying to make a decision. You always hear folks saying “everyone who competed here was a winner” but Kathleen and I can vouch for that statement in this case because everyone was a winner, especially the sold-out coliseum audience because Read More→
Winter Breakthrough!
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This has been the coldest December in middle Tennessee since the early 1940s. Another record. Of course. At least we’re consistent. We just came through eight days of below freezing temperatures. It got so low the first night that the pond totally froze. I kept trying to break up the ice along the edges so the horses could get to water (the remnants seen on the gravel in the photo above) but it soon reached the point where it was re-freezing almost before I got back into the house. So finally 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
Barnes & Noble – Paperback & NOOKbook
Buy personally inscribed copies
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→
Fear and Faith: Sometimes It’s Hard to Stay on the Horse’s End of the Lead Rope
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Mariah Healed Herself
I’ll never forget standing out in the rain one cold October day, soaked from head to foot because the rain wasn’t expected. The temperature was only in the mid-fifties, but to me, sopping wet, that was freezing.
I looked at our horses, heads down, dripping with water, and I just couldn’t stand it. Read More→
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→
The next Tele-Workshop is set for July 17: Diet & Nutrition
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This 6-pound stone was taken from the tummy of a horse. It was
given to us by Dr. Matt and we keep it on a prominent
pedestal to remind us how important it is that we get
the diet right for our horses.
By popular demand the next tele-workshop will be on diet and nutrition. A Crazy Little Thing Called Love (TW2) – OR – Why Would You Ever Let Your Horse Eat That? This topic is a slippery slope, like running a military obstacle course, but we have a super group of guests who know the subject inside and out. First Read More→
Noelle Has a Sweet Spot
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Unfortunately it was a tick bite, but at least it served a purpose. I could give her something she loved. This became the routine for more than a week, until the bite began to heal and was no longer itchy. I immediately looked around for another tick…nooo, just kidding. Anyway, around here you don’t have to look far to find ‘em.
I love it when Kathleen comes home, camera in hand. I tend to forget about these sweet moments until I start browsing through her weekend of photos. I didn’t even know she was standing behind me when this next batch was taken. Read More→
Other Things That Make My Day
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Kent Maddock was after us for months and months to allow them to acquire Scribbles. If you’ve read the book you cannot help but remember Scribbles. One December Kent called and begged, saying he wanted Scribbles to be a surprise Christmas gift for his wife Laurra.
“Ohhh that’s so sweet,” Kathleen cooed, and my resistance shield Read More→
A Crazy Little Thing Called Love
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Finally we’ve got the date set for our barefoot TeleWorkshop. Sorry it took so long. It’s called A Crazy Little Thing Called Love – or – Why Would You Ever Let Your Horses Go Barefoot? It’s not a “how-to” but rather a “why-to” workshop designed for people who are not yet convinced barefoot is the right thing to do, the loving thing to do. And for everyone who is already there but needs ammunition to ward off and convince all those friends and “not-so-friends” who think you’re nuts. This is a two-hour workshop with Joe, Kathleen, and Eddie Drabek, one of the foremost natural hoof specialists in the country, jammed full of facts, undeniable truths, and real-life experiences, with lots of Q&A after. Send your farrier! Check it out.
Benji and The Soul of a Horse Are Big Hits at Road to the Horse
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Being called an entertainer had little effect on Benji. She’s been there, done that. Me? I think I’ll have my badge framed as it’s the first (and probably the only) time it’ll ever happen to me. But what a fun, fun weekend it was. Kathleen and I feel very honored to be invited into inner circle with Read More→
