So many people have asked us what we did, how we did it, and why. So we put the answers in a video (above). BTW, see if you can spot the star and co-star of Benji Off the Leash :)
Yay! More happy horses! And more happy humans :). Have you ever wondered what kind of person could begin writing a book like The Soul of a Horse less than a year-and-a-half after acquiring his very first one? I have. There were times when I thought I was crazy. How could all of the discoveries we were making be true? Surely someone would have been talking about them before now. “Keep writing,” Kathleen said. And I, the dutiful husband, did. And I’m so glad I did. Below is the result:
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“Joe Camp is a master storyteller.”
The New York Times
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 some larger predator (his mama had been shot by a hunter). The look in the cub’s eyes had to be right. It had to make us (the audience) choke up a little, feel the plight of this poor helpless baby. So there we were, this huge crowd of people all scrunched in a ball gawking down at this wee cub with a bevy of bright lights in his eyes, and I was supposed to be holding the “look” of the cub (as if he were gazing up at Benji) and I was also supposed to be doing something that would evoke just the right expression. Something that would make the cub’s eyes beg pleeeze don’t leave me here…
This is Saffron. Affectionately Saffy. One of our mustangs who came to us right out of the wild. And now is one of the sweetest horses on the planet. How did that happen? Read on:
You might remember that, for me, the most important element in Monty Roberts’ Join Up is that the choice to join up, to trust, belongs to the horse. It is not forced by the human. And when the horse makes that choice freely, of its own free will, everything changes. No-Agenda Time takes longer than Monty’s Join Up (which usually works for him in 30 to 40 minutes). Our No Agenda experiment with our mustang Saffron took 35 days, but when it happened everything changed, like a flash, right before our eyes. Everything! As if she had just flicked a switch.
When we adopted her she had never willingly touched or been touched by any human. She would eat hay near my feet so long as I was sitting down, but if I stood up she was gone. And if I dared to attempt to touch her she was gone. And she came to us pregnant with a baby conceived in the wild. Read More→
This is the best, all encompassing science on why horses should not be blanketed or groomed in winter, and should be fed free-choice grass hay 24/7. Well done! Natalija! All documented and referenced at the end.
By: Natalija Aleksandrova
Holistic Horse & Hoof Care
In order for a mammal to survive, internal body temperature is kept within a very narrow range. If the temperature exceeds these limits either above or below, the chemical reactions on the cellular level function improperly. Or they stop functioning at all. Fluctuations outside of the normal temperature range result in health problems or death of the animal. Mature horses maintain their internal body temperature at a range around 38℃. Foals, rapidly growing youngsters, pregnant and lactating mares have a higher norm of their internal body temperature (Hines, 2004). Most horse owners are aware of the damage and crisis inherent with fever states. Few horse owners realize how well adapted horses are to deal with cold when certain aspects of their lifestyle are in place for them.
Over thousands of years, the wild horse has spread over the entire world. Whatever place in the world they live, the horse was exposed to constantly changing temperature — through a day/night rhythm or a seasonal rhythm. Yet even today wild and semi-wild horses, as well as domestic ones, provided with species appropriate living conditions, survive perfectly any conditions Nature exposes them to. Whether it is the north of Europe, or Australian deserts, the horse is exposed to all of Nature’s changing elements — wind, sun, rain, snow, fluctuating temperature, etc. Never in nature seeking such excessive enclosed shelters as man-made stables and barns nor caves, never in nature seeking ways of covering themselves with fabric. The horse has naturally evolved ways of thriving.
Getting that first Benji movie made was like careening through a mine field of slammed doors, unplanned disasters, catastrophic mistakes, and a noticeable vacuum of money, knowledge and experience.
I was convinced that God did not want this movie made. But it turns out he absolutely did. I just wasn’t ready! He had work to do. I had what Lee Domingue calls “a God-sized dream, which is what you have whenever it seems impossible, unreasonable, and too expensive, but you have a passion for it nonetheless. A passion planted by God.”
So it’s up to him to make you better, stronger. Many times I thought this is the end of life as I know it, but it all had to happen exactly as God planned it or neither Benji nor The Soul of a Horse would exist today. All of those adversities and obstacles were there to season me, to build my competence, my knowledge base, and to test my passion. For passion is what kept me from ever giving up and gave me the drive to find ways around those impossible obstacles. God was literally molding me with experiences that would provide the wisdom and tenacity to ultimately make it all happen against a great number of apparent odds.
The memoir below begins on my second day ever on the set of a real movie. The first time was back in college. I was an extra. This time I had written the screenplay and was producing and directing the film.
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