The Soul Of A Horse Blog

Trust – It Changes Everything

by Joe

August 18th, 2015

He’s not Cash. But he’s doing a fine job of keeping my present tense reminded of why Cash was so special and will never be forgotten, in a way that is no longer so filled with tears but, once again, with joy. A fine job indeed. Thank you God, and Cash, for sending him. Kathleen named him Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a major prophet in the Old Testament delivering this message from God: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. Seemed appropriate. We call him Zeke. And he’s a joy.

When Zeke came into our lives, as terrific as he was, he had a lot of issues, especially around feeding time. He’s had seven owners during his seven years of life. And the one three months before we found him had completely abandoned him and several other horses when his show barn had gone into bankruptcy. The owners just walked away. Read More→

Categories Barefoot Horses, Horses, Natural Training, Relationship
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Sugar Promotes Chronic Inflammation

by Joe

August 6th, 2015

From Juliet Getty, my favorite Equine Nutritionist and author of the book Feed Your Horse Like a Horse, comes a very valuable article. This is so important to understand:

Sugar Promotes Chronic Inflammation

by Juliet M. Getty, Ph.D.

Inflammation. The very word triggers images of pain, redness and swelling. But in the case of injury or infection, acute inflammation is actually a beneficial means of restoring the body to health. Specific cells are called into action to remove the source of injury or infection and repair damaged tissue. It’s when inflammation becomes chronic that areas of the body may lose function. Any part of the body can be impacted by inflammation, including joints, feet, lungs, muscles, skin, digestive tract, reproductive function, heart, nervous system, pancreas, liver, as well as the hypothalamic brain centers responsible for releasing dopamine and recognizing leptin.

This article focuses on the inflammatory impact that sugar has on your horse’s health. There are several other causes of inflammation, such as stress and obesity, high dietary levels of linoleic acid (an omega 6), free-radical consumption from poorly stored fatty feeds, and trans fat (partially hydrogenated oils); however, the damaging impact of high sugar/high starch diets is commonplace. Read More

Categories Diet & Nutrition, Horses
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Words That Keep Us Going

by Joe

August 4th, 2015

An email from Coreen, a new friend: “I wanted to express deep thanks for such amazing material that you have shared in your books, and I have only read Born Wild and two others so far. This year has been a culmination of a decade of various stressful factors, and your books seem to be tying it all together in my horse world, and in my personal world. My hubby is away in rehab, probably for another 6 months now. Needless to say his issues have wreaked havoc on our marriage. I think Noelle deserves a big “hug” and many wondrous scritchins as she has helped me to see my husband with new eyes, and the two of you have helped me to feel secure in “getting out of the way” as in getting out of God’s way, AND the two of you have helped me to identify some areas about the horses where I owed my husband a HUGE apology, and we had one of the best conversations about the horses tonight that we have ever had. Read More→

Categories Horses
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On Changing the World…

by Joe

July 21st, 2015

A lot of people dream about changing the world, but very few ever try it. Let alone do it. I’ve tried it twice. And have been blessed by being successful at it both times. To actually change the world, even if only a little bit. The first time was the original Benji movie. Most people think it was a Disney film. It wasn’t. Disney turned it down. As did every other studio in Hollywood. Twice. Once in the script stage and again after we had raised the money privately and independently produced the film. We had no choice but to attempt to distribute the movie ourselves. We made a lot of mistakes. Read More→

Categories Diet & Nutrition, Horses
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Meet Ratatouille, Our Latest Adoption?

by Joe

July 8th, 2015

Last night while I was loading the Gator with hay to distribute in the pasture, totally spaced out, humming a tune to Zeke, the quiet of the moment was suddenly shattered by a blood curdling scream from the tack room. I raced in and Kathleen was in the corner totally trapped by and pointing to the cabinet where we keep our feeding buckets. “S-s-snake!!,” she squeaked out. Read More→

Categories animals
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Horses Need Their Whiskers!

by Joe

June 23rd, 2015

The trimming of a horse’s whiskers is illegal in Germany while many English and American associations still promote this practice.

One of the first things we purchased after our initial horses arrived was an electric clipper. We were told that we must have one so we could start desensitizing our horses to the noise they make. I am so ashamed that we had no more sense than to listen to these people. Thankfully, before the box was ever opened, we began to think. And ask questions. And ultimately, Read More→