A student of mine discovering the joy of hacking (trail riding).

One of my students learning about balance on a trotting horse.

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer…” Rainer Maria Rilke - Letters to a Young Poet. Anna Ancher - View from the Garden Gate at Markvej, Skagen, 1859/1935.

The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness. #GM

#GN

Good morning! Claude Monet

Play, joy, and love are biological necessities. 🧬 The emerging science of epigenetics shows that your environment, your emotions, and your relationships can switch genes on and off, regulating everything from inflammation to immune function to how fast you age. Your nervous system was designed for love and belonging, and when you deprive it of that, everything downstream suffers — your hormones, your immunity, your brain, your longevity. Think of joy, connection, and play as part of your health stack; just as essential as what you eat, how you move, and how you sleep. So laugh more, love deeply, and stop treating joy like something you have to earn after all the “real” health stuff is done. It IS the real health stuff. (Mark Hyman)

Good morning!

Milestone! First hack with my big girl this morning. Now, you may ask 'Julia, you've had this horse for over a year, what took you so long?' And the answer is 'Foals, winters and life in general.' Life in general has a way of getting in the way of horse training I find, and your own horse is usually the last one in the queue. All went really well, we had our trusted seniors and ponies behind us and everyone enjoyed the experience.

I hope you had a good day! #GN

Picture Postcard Material from the homestead

#catstr