8 March

Maria And Piper

by Jon Katz
Maria And Piper
Maria And Piper

Maria and Piper crossed paths months ago at Blue-Star farm, and they connected to one another. Piper opened up a channel in Maria has deepened, and when she saw Maria today, she came up to her and pressed  her head against Maria’s a way horses have of connecting with human beings. Maria closed her eyes and I could see something passing between them. This is new to me, and still strange, I am learning to accept it and trying to understand it.

When I met him in New York, Chief Avrol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Sioux Nation, told me it was a natural thing for horses to bond powerfully with human beings, I should accept it. My connection with the horses seems spiritual to me, even ideological, not  literal in my mind. It is a difficult thing for me to understand, a beautiful thing to see. Perhaps Maria’s experience can lead me there. I sometimes think I am too old to do what she does, but perhaps that is just a hiding place.

8 March

Horsepower

by Jon Katz
Horsepower
Horsepower

I saw something powerful today, and it was a spiritual exchange between Maria and some of the big draft horses at Blue-Star Equiculture Farm in Palmer, Mass. I was drawn into the world of  horses and domesticated animals last January, when I went to New York to see the horse stables and was stunned to see how well cared for and healthy the animals were. It was not what I expected.

Since then, the horses have been talking to me, I don’t understand it and can’t explain it, but I hear and feel their messages to me, so often and so clearly that I no longer think much about it, I just accept it. Maria has been touched by the horses in a different way, not to write about them but to communicate with them, feel their ancient spirits, they touch her as an artist, and as a spiritual being.

Today, when we left Blue-Star, she could barely speak, she was spent. I asked her what was wrong, and she said nothing was wrong, she just felt very emotional, very drained, a lot of feeling, but it was not bad. I could see that the big horses had affected her in a very powerful way, one she is not yet ready to talk about and does not yet understand.

She will, I am sure. Animals, nature, spirituality and artistry are all coming together in her work, in her self. She is exploring the possibility of bringing a pony to Bedlam Farm, riding it on our property. I see the horses spirit’s have entered her consciousness in ways I cannot understand, but can see. It is a joyous and wonderful thing to see, I feel this is where she has been heading, in her life, her art, her search for spirituality, her love of nature and the animal world.

I am in  my own process with the horses, their message to me is very clear – they need to stay among us and remain in New York, we need them, we are falling apart in many ways, they can help us heal. And they can help heal the earth, they speak for Mother Earth.

Maria’s experience with the horses is so different, it is a spiritual and artistic experience, her emotions are so close to the surface, I think she was communicating with the horses in a powerful way, and that’s what drained her. I think I can see it in the photos. She is returning to Blue-Star next month to spend a few days there, I think one way or the other, horses have entered our life.

This is a circle I have not yet fully entered in my mind, yet people tell me I have and just don’t see it.  Very possible. I am the last one to see the changes in my life.

8 March

At Blue-Star, Horses Work

by Jon Katz
Horses Work
Horses Work

Blue-Star Equiculture supports working horses. When I see these horses up close – many of them are retired carriage horses – it is clear to me that they need exercise and work to stay healthy and sound. They are big animals with powerful muscles, they are eager for work and eager to move. Work heals horses, it grounds them, as it does for border collies and therapy dogs. It is uplifting to see.

At Blue-Star they live and work and rescue working horses, I learn much from watching them and listening to them. They teach the horses to work and find work for them, they also demonstrate the work horses do all over the area.  Sadly, many people think work for horses is so cruel and abusive they seek to ban it, rather than understand it,  change it, improve it, or learn about it. I support working animals, I  have lived with them for a long time and see the power of what they do.

8 March

The Newlyweds: Visions Of A Meaningful Life

by Jon Katz
Visions Of A Meaningful Life
Visions Of A Meaningful Life

Pamela and Paul Moshimer got married recently, we went to their farm, Blue-Star Equiculture to give them a quilt Maria made in commemoration of their marriage (I actually forgot to photograph it, sorry, I will get to it later) and to see them and their beautiful horses, most of them rescued or retired work horses. We both admire them and the life they lead, it is life filled with vision and meaning and passion.

Much of their life revolves around the horses, they have a very powerful spiritual vision of the horses and their meaning to the world, their farm is a place filled with energy and love and connection, there are students and interns and friends and a motley crew of creative hangers-on, who hear the message of the horses and are stirred by them.

And then, there are the very beautiful and mystical work horses.

I am also stirred by the message of Paul and Pamela and by the way they live their lives. They have found love and purpose and meaning, often in the face of cruel and relentless harassment and challenge from people who believe it is cruel for working horses to work. Their farm is evolving. It is, in part, a retirement home for the New York Carriage horses, but also a rescue center for horses in need all over the Northeast, and beyond that, an organic farming center exploring ways to help Mother Earth and respect the human animal bond.

Pamela is a mystic, she has lived all over the world and is very close to Chief Avrol Looking Horse, the spiritual leader of the Sioux Nation. She shares his passion for the horses remaining in our world. Paul is a former fire and rescue worker and manager who is not ruffled by anything, even the raucous lives of work horses. He seems to have found his place on the earth at Blue-Star, he is co-director of the farm. The horses, he says, have changed him.

They love their life, which is not a simple or easy life. It is filled with hard work, openness, a commitment to helping animals and people, it is a nourishing place to see and visit, their farm has a life of it’s own, it takes on more vitality, strength and purpose every time we see it.

They are also a wonderful couple to be around, they love and compliment one another, Maria and I see something of our own relationship in them. We are grateful they live close enough for us to visit, we mean to keep them in our lives.

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