Lynn Cross, the director of Little Brook Farm, where Izarra lived before coming to me said that the Mustangs are “wild made” instead of “man-made.” That in the wild, they either had to pay attention or die.  Izarra was culled from a herd of Mustangs in Nevada and has never really had a human of her own.  Someone adopted her, but then was willing to let her go to a slaughter auction, which, thankfully, was when LBF intervened.

When I tell this story, shockingly, many (most) people are unaware that in this country, we do indeed kill horses.  We just send them to Canada or Mexico and let them do the dirty work.  Food for the Asian and European palate.

Summer Brennan (daughter of Lynn Cross) drove to South Carolina to rescue Izarra and bring her to the sanctuary where she lived for about six years.  When I first saw her, what caught me was not only her loveliness but her incredible responsiveness to movement when we first played together at LBF.  Now we are improvising, listening, being as curious about stillness as movement, letting whatever this dance is reveal itself. I am not in a hurry.  I do not have an agenda or a timeline.

I am incredibly grateful to Little Brook Farm for entrusting me with Izarra.  I have known them since 2012, when I choreographed All the Pretty Horses, with their rescued horses and community of children and adults.  One of the horses in the dance was Amado, a Mustang that they had recently rescued, and that Summer was gentling and training.

At that time, I got to experience first hand their big-heartedness and generosity. Please consider supporting this wonderful organization.  You can donate to LBF HERE.

Stay tuned for more Izarra stories!

On Saturday, November 9, at 10 am I will be presenting a demonstration of Embodied Horsemanship: Deepening Your Connection with Your Horse Using Movement and Touch at Equine Affaire in the Mallory North Demo Ring. My talk will be followed by a book signing and Q & A at the Trafalgar Square Books Booth #846 in the Better Living Center.

It is an honor to be included among the many presenters at this exciting equine expo.  There will be demos and performances from Thursday – Sunday, with opportunities to meet people and of course SHOP!  See you there!

I finally finished this video.  I am happy with the way it captures parts of my recent workshop in Bulgaria.  In the middle of the video is a moment where I am knocked down by a horse.  This has only happened to me once before, when my first horse, Djuma, knocked me down and then ran over me, carefully not stepping on me. Memorable, seeing the landscape of the underside of a horse passing overhead.

In this moment, there was an unexpected bit of play between two equine brothers that put me on the ground.  I left it in because I think that the way that I responded is important.  Intuitively, I practiced what my dear friend and mentor Pauline Oliveros called the delay strategy.  What that means in this case is that I fell and then I waited.  I did not spring up, but made a series of feeling, bodily decisions about how and when to respond.

So often our responses with horses are hair trigger, immediate, strong and quick.  Sometimes that is necessary, but not always.  Learning to delay gives us more amplitude in our possible responses, more ability to feel what is actually called for in a given moment.