08/25/2026
So you may have heard, but I’ve recently started working with horses again.
It’s been on my list of things I’ve wanted to get back into for a while now, and being in the middle of summer and slowly shifting into fall, I finally have a few projects I’m able to give some focus to.
I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed being in the barn. Being outside in nature, sweating my ass off, getting dirty and spending time with these gentle giants again.
Horses make me a better man. A more present man, a more patient man and honestly a man who is more sure of himself.
I’ve never really looked at horses as animals that are just here for me to train and ride. They are beings that allow me to work with them, and a lot of what I do is helping them better understand our reality and this strange human world we ask them to live in with us.
I used to say that I specialized in “breaking horses,” because for a long time that was just the term people understood for what I did. But nowadays I don’t really like saying that anymore because I’m not interested in breaking anything about a horse.
I gentle them.
For me, that means helping a horse understand that we are safe to be around and teaching them how to navigate the environments we put them in. I don’t force a horse into submission, I convince them that what I’m asking is okay.
Sometimes that’s something as simple as taking a step forward, standing still, ground tying or letting me mess with their feet. Sometimes it’s convincing them that the plastic bag blowing around in the wind isn’t going to kill them. 😂
All of those little things eventually transition into much bigger things later on.
I’ve always kind of seen myself as a translator between the horse and the human world. I’m trying to understand what they are telling me while also helping them understand all of our weird human tendencies.
I’ve worked with horses for over 10 years now. I’m not going to sit here and tell you I’m the world’s greatest horse trainer, because I’m not. There will always be more for me to learn. But with my mind, my heart, my intuition and the experience I’ve gained over the years, I’m definitely a damn good horse trainer.
Something a lot of people may not know is that horses are actually a big part of how I transitioned into the holistic community in the first place.
Horses are master observers. You really can’t bu****it a horse.
They’re watching your body, your intention, your nervousness, your confidence and whether or not you are actually present with them. Long before I had words for things like energy, grounding, intuition or presence, horses were already teaching me about all of it.
They taught me how to slow down and pay attention. They taught me that sometimes I need to lead and sometimes I need to wait. They taught me that being forceful and being a leader are two very different things. And they definitely taught me that trust isn’t something you’re entitled to just because you’re the human standing on the other end of the lead rope.
Looking back, I realize a lot of the man I am today was shaped in a barn somewhere, covered in dirt, probably sweating, trying to figure out what the hell a horse was trying to tell me. 😂
And the funny thing is, while I thought I was training them, they were training me too.
So being back around horses again doesn’t really feel like I’m starting something new.
It feels like I’m returning to a part of myself that I’ve missed.
And damn, it feels good to be back.
