My friend Valarie has a WordPress Blog called Connection using the name AV Singer. She is a multitalented woman and I am honored to share creative space with her in our writer’s group, Wise Women of the Well. She is a published author, classically trained singer, artist, and a sculptor. She created the cover art for my book, From the Heart of a Horsewoman, and we coedited the anthology, It is Hard to be Aware, voices speaking to the historical moment of the last election. It is my pleasure to share One Single Moment of Joy.
Usually, Sticky Willie, my dear Giant Australian Prickly Stick insect, recoils from my presence, especially if I open her door. She curls, rolls her tail over her back like a scorpion, and rocks frantically, trying to make it known – spikes here – be afraid.
What a poser.
One day, August 6, 2025, to be exact, magic happened: I opened her door. She looked up. Slowly, carefully, one leg at a time, she began creeping toward me. It was as if she were asking, “Who are you?”
Every few steps, she would stop and reach up with one arm as if to explore what was in front of her.
The third time she did this, she was close. Her little face seemed focused on mine. She reached out.
Gently, I touched her tiny claw with the tip of my forefinger.
She patted me.
I stayed there for her, letting her little claw explore my touch.
A sweet moment passed between us, a single moment of joy, shared by two beings of Earth, one homo sapien and one extatosoma tiaratum.
My heart dances each time I return to that exquisite, wondrous moment.
I can’t help but think how joyful this world would be if we as humans were patient with every living thing, waiting for their energy to come to us rather than us bullying our way into their lives’ plan. What would happen if all of us stopped to learn what trees have to say, what birds are really singing about, what the lady bugs at our feet are doing?
Sticky Willie has her agenda. Her agenda does not alter mine, except with the things she cannot do for herself because I have placed her in an artificial situation. She can’t keep her cage clean, nor can she leave her cage to hunt for her own rose leaves. She cannot squirt herself with water to simulate rain. She may no longer be in her native habitat, but she chose to come here, to trust that I will take care of those things she cannot do for herself.
I am rewarded with the chance to learn more about my world by watching her. And every once in a while we have a moment. It’s worth slowing down to wait for that one single moment of joy.
My heart pours out to him, this new horse. Every tottering step I take in his presence is rimmed in rainbows.
His solidness fills me. My body steadies as fingers touch his sturdiness. Anne gives me her time her horse her patience her confidence.
I can pretend to be the horsewoman I once was, a life-time practiced and intuitive in Horse communication.
Winter blanket drapes the Horse. My fingers disconnect from my brain, I cannot free the buckle.
You step into my helplessness, release the buckle and remove the blanket with an ease that once was mine.
His golden body revealed, brush in hand, I smooth the hairs that are already smooth. Using the curry comb I lift and scrape the mud from his legs.
Leaning into his shoulder for support I fumble mud from his unshod hoof. He is so patient, solid and real. I am half way to being a ghost.
Haymoney lips my hoodie, pushes his nose into my pocket, seeking cookies. He looks me in the eye. He sees me. I see him. Where’s the cookie? Connection
It has been a couple of years since my friend Barbara Alexander and I decided to collaborate on a children’s book based on my book From the Heart of a Horsewoman: Horse-A Bridge Between Spirit and Matter. It never quite jelled, yet we created a lovely first draft. All of the illustrations are collage, delightful, whimsical, filled with energetic color, and a love of horses..
I love horses
I love horses flowing manes and Tails
I love horses, they follow where I lead
I love horses, they let me ride them
I love horses’ hair that I brush
I love horses
Horses are beautiful
Horses’ hair sparkles in the sun when I brush it
My favorite horse color is Bay
My favorite horse color is chestnut
My favorite horse color is Palomino
My favorite horse color is gray
My favorite horse color is Pinto
My favorite horse color is buckskin
I love horses
When I am with horses, I see the world bigger
I hear up close and far away
I feel the movement of the air, I smell the air,
I notice if it is cold or hot
I can do this because the horse does this
And shows me with their eyes, with their ears,
with their nostrils, and the way they move.
I love horses
Horses hug my heart
If I’m big enough
I can stand close to my horse’s chest
Put my arms around his neck
and give him a heart hug
I always ask permission from my horse
To come into his space. My horse is trained to
ask permission to come into my space.
We respect each other
My horse makes me smile
Even when I am sad.
She listens quietly when I share my troubles.
She shares my triumphs
Her comforting presence
Always makes me feel better
I love learning about horses.
Horses are prey animals,
Predators eat them.
Humans are predators.
We have to show the horse we won’t hurt them
We asked permission to enter their space
Horses are social and curious just like us
When we give them time they will come
to us and hang out for a while.
Especially if we have a treat
Like a horse cookie or a carrot.
Horse’s eyes are set on the sides of their heads.
They can see on all sides
But not directly in front or behind.
That’s why we always approach a horse
from the side by her shoulder.
Horses breathe through their nose, not through their mouth.
My horse blows bubbles in the water when she puts her muzzle into the water trough for a drink then he sucks the water up through her mouth. She likes to play with the water
lipping it and splashing it.
I love wild horses.
They live in families and take care of each other,
Especially their foals. Foals are baby horses. They are born with very long legs and can play when they are a day old.
They play by running and bucking and kicking and rearing.
They are very cute.
I love horses because they let me ride them. My horseback riding teacher helps me ride so that I am in rhythm and harmony with the horse. She tells me to picture a balloon with a string attached to the top of my head lifting me up toward the sky. She says to settle my seat into the saddle and let my hips and lower back move with the swing of the horse just like swinging on a swing.
And when I go to sleep at night the horses I love dance in my dreams.
lifetime passion Horse/Human communion Oneness in Presence
It has been quite awhile since I have posted in Heart of a Horsewoman. I have a new project, Horse in Haiku. Haiku is a perfect form for presenting Horse in the present moment. In the process I am learning so much about Haiku. In my writer’s group, Wise Women of the Well, we understood Haiku to be 17 syllables written in three lines of 5/7/5 syllables with a reference to the four seasons and nature. It turns out there is so much more. I have joined the Haiku Society of America and am learning about the multiple layers of life, spiritual, moral and mundane that are expressed in the minute moment of syllables.
Haiku is just one of the forms of “short song” that come to us from Japan. I will use this blog to experiment with the different forms as I create this new project, Horse in Haiku. Thank you for joining me. I welcome comments and suggestions.
My granddaughter, Zephyra Paxton, has generously agreed to add her artistic talent to this endeavor. The drawing is one of her earliest horse creations given as a gift to her great-grandfather.
grass whispers Alert- mare drops her shoulder and shies I am on the ground
Delaya Diane, founder and administrator of True North Equestrians – Soul Inspired Equestrians, and member of Horse – Human – Spirit, is creating an Oracle Deck using real horses to illustrate her words of spiritual inspiration. My horse, Sparkle Plenty, is the image for “Holding the Space.” I have spent the past week contemplating and meditating upon this concept in relation to my horse. What does “Holding the Space” mean and how does Sparkle illustrate the image?
I was there when Sparkle Plenty entered this world and almost thirty years later I was there when her life spirit left this world. She was my equine soul sister. Through her I improved my horsemanship skills. She and I shared those skills with young, blossoming horse lovers. She allowed horse people and non-horse people to stand in and feel the peace of her presence. She and I travelled trails in the Sierra Nevada’s and the California Lost Coast together with friends. I have loved and cared for many horses in my life-time. She was, is still, special.
. In emotional overwhelm I dismounted, wrapped my arms around Handsome’s golden neck, and wept tears of gratitude into his blond mane. I felt Dianne join our embrace, the three of us holding one another in heart celebration.
Hoofbeats pulse earth’s heartbeat
Rhythm of life in matter, incarnation,
Particles, strings, waves of potential
Flooding the energetic body
Thrumming through flexing feet,
Calves, thighs, and hips,
Root chakra humming,
Sacral chakra strumming,
Hara spinning, caressed and massaged
By the Horse Heart I embrace.
Handsome is as Handsome Does
I am 76 years old and a passionate, lifetime horsewoman. In the past 8 years, I have been unable to get on a horse unassisted. The last two years I reconciled myself to the idea I would never ride again. Severe osteoarthritis was eating at my joints. After two complete shoulder replacements, a right hip replacement, a degenerative nerve to a muscle in my right hip (which cost me the ability to lift that leg and swing it over the back of a horse), and severe sciatica in my left leg leading to a looming option of back surgery, I decided to try physical therapy one more time. I was assigned a therapist who listened to me: a 75 year old woman bent over a cane, not able to step up and down from a street curb without help. Exercise by exercise, Logan began to bring my body back. In the beginning, it was exhausting, physically, emotionally, and energetically trying to negotiate pain limits, general weakness, muscles that just would no longer respond. Fear of pain got in my way. My belief that arthritis, gravity, and designed obsolescence was the natural way told me I was aging out. Logan never asked too much while continuing to encourage me to do the exercises, a little at a time, and gradually increasing the time and intensity of the workout. Yes, I know, common sense, but not all Physical Therapists are created equal. Some have a work out regimen, and that is what is followed, an irrefutable dogma. Finally, with Logan’s guidance, my body began to strengthen. I was able to put aside the cane; still careful at curbs, my dog and I could walk a flat mile. My Medicare-allotted time with Logan was running out. I reached inside for one more goal: to mount a horse unassisted. Without hesitation, he directed my exercise to mounting from the off-side, the right side of the horse. Faith in his knowledge allowed me to begin to believe that this goal would be attained. However, we ran out of time before the goal was realized. I continued the exercises, slowly reaching the pinnacle of standing in firm foundation on my right leg and swinging my left leg over the back of a chair.
The second ingredient of realizing my goal was the horse. After my last horse, Sparkle, died, I sold, gave away, or tossed all the accouterments of horse ownership, including my mindset. Now I needed a safe partner to mount myself on: a safe horse, a safe human, and a safe environment. If she agreed, I knew just the horse/human combination: my long-time friend Dianne and her honest Haflinger gelding, Handsome. I reached out, and she responded with a resounding “Yes.” The day we chose for the “big event” was one of those perfect, midwinter, spring-like days we sometimes glory in the Sierra Nevada foothills. We met at Laughton Ranch in Jackson where Handsome is boarded. From the barn, we passed through a leaning pasture gate, negotiated a goose-grazed green pasture, passing a pond and horses standing in the sun. We went through another gate and walked a dirt road towards the out barns, round pens, and sand arena, all well-used. Handsome lived here in a big paddock. He was nibbling his grass hay when we arrived. He nickered to us, knowing the routine. Dianne collected the saddle, bridle, and brushes; then, together, we collected Handsome. We curried and brushed him at the hitch rail. Dianne saddled him and warmed him up in the round pen and then took him through his paces in the arena. There was no mounting block in the arena. My goal for unassisted mounting was not from the ground but from the solid base of a mounting block. It was back near the hitchrail. We walked back. Dianne aligned Handsome to the black steps and asked if I was ready.
This was the moment. I knew I was ready, and yet I trembled. Not my horse, not my saddle, not the left side. Remembering to breathe, I looked down on that neck, knowing it was his round barrel that I would swing my leg over and settle onto, not this short neck reaching out in front of me. Dianne counterbalanced the saddle, steadying the already steady Handsome. I put my right foot in the stirrup. I may have collected some mane, I remember reaching for it, and swung my left leg up and over. I felt the skim of the cantle on my calf, and then I was on. I was on. I was mounted on the living back of a horse. Somehow, I heard Dianne ask what I wanted to do. I wanted to feel the horse walking under me. I wanted to feel that earthly energetic connection. All I wanted was exactly what I was doing. And she let me do it, she facilitated the experience. I am so grateful.
We didn’t over do. After riding, I dismounted, then mounted, rode, and dismounted again. I felt the rhythm of Handsome’s movement flow between my legs. That was all I needed. In emotional overwhelm I dismounted, wrapped my arms around Handsome’s golden neck, and wept tears of gratitude into his blond mane. I felt Dianne join our embrace, the three of us holding one another in heart celebration.
My friend Dianne, editor, writer, artist, energy worker, horsewoman.
At 71 here I am with a very green 3 year old Andalusian mare. Fortunately she’s got a willingness to learn and sensible nature. Continuing to live the dream, one day at a time with a heart radiating gratitude.
5.7KYou, Tam Warner, Cherie River Maitland and 5.7K others
Equestrian Senior Poster Boy: 57K Responses and Counting
What is this platform, and who is this man? My brother sent me a text early this morning that said, “It’s unbelievable, my post has 57000 responses.” The platform is Facebook’s group “Equestrian Seniors.” It has a huge international following. It is a place where older horse-folk share images and stories of sorrow and joy, all of us celebrating the fact we are still horse people enjoying our horses in the later part of life. I have shared posts in the group a few times. Equestrian Seniors truly is a gift for horse people of all nationalities, religions, genders, and cultural points of view, and we all come together in a loving and caring relationship with horses.
So who is this man? He is my brother, four and a half years my junior, which automatically sets up the Little Brother—Big Sister syndrome. It is a lot of years that we have shared this life and this horse passion. And of course, if you know anything about siblings, you know that the relationship can be wrought with great challenges in ideology as to who is right and who is wrong, emotionally charged, with seemingly mountains of murky mess to navigate in order to find some level of communication. Gratefully, we have matured, and we can now share each other’s joys and sorrows with a full heart, not tainted by embedded triggers that come from growing up together. You can’t know how honored I am to call this man, this horseman, my brother.
Why does one posting generate tens of thousands of responses out of all of the posts that are entered daily, weekly, and monthly on the Equestrian Seniors platform? Certainly what Kurt had to say was very simple, so is it the image? A beautiful, golden dappled Andalusian mare standing so regally next to a humble man, honoring that space of still being in the presence of Horse. Is it the idea that at our age we take on the challenge and reward of a young horse?
To say the least, Kurt was not born with the proverbial “silver spoon.” He bought his first horse with his own money diligently saved at the age of 13. Horses were in his blood as they were in mine. We did not have an easy family life. More than me, Kurt dealt with childhood physical and emotional abuse. On the flip side of that, we were embraced by a loving and nurturing mother. The love of animals came through her. As he matured, Kurt faced gender prejudice. Hard work and a passionate nature gave him a fulfilling career. He dealt with the addictions of alcohol and drugs. He was caregiver to both our mother and father in their last years and days. He now is caregiver to his husband of thirty years. My brother-in-law, Michael, was diagnosed with acute myeloma leukemia three and a half years ago.
Kurt carried a big, big load of life “baggage.” While our father was at the end of his life in my brother’s care, Kurt kicked his addictions on his own. The vibrant passion of his nature once again glowed in the sunlight. The gleam of his dream of riding a beautiful horse with grace beckoned. He returned to living fully in his life. I had my brother back.
So much has been happening in the realm of Equine Spirituality: A Book Genre since my last post. Two other authors in the genre and I are creating a Facebook Group and Page for sharing the written experience, exploration, and expression of spirit in the horse/human relationship. I proudly introduce my partners, Nancy Lee Gerson, author of The Horse Who Changed My Life: A Serendipitous Journey Through Equus, and Janet Wolanin Alexander, author of At Home on a Horse in the Woods: A Journey into Living Your Ultimate Dream and Braiding Horsehair Bracelets: Your Beginners Guide. It is our intention to create a safe space for writers and readers to share their spiritual relationship with Horse. It is a “thing,” this resonance and validation of spirituality in the Horse/Human relationship.
Can Two Words Whispered by a Horse Lead to Personal Transformation? With limited horse riding experience and no formal equestrian training, native New York attorney, Nancy Lee Gerson, travelled to Colorado on a whim to attend a women’s retreat with horses. She spent five days riding and communing with a special horse named Cherokee, who became the ambassador for Nancy’s life-changing, serendipitous journey, guided by interspecies connections and inspiring synchronicities.
A series of beautifully written essays and prose poems that come together as a memoir/meditation by one woman’s love and transcendent connection to all things equine. [The Author] opens her life and heart to the reader, sharing her personal struggles, longings, joys, and spiritual journey as well as her ever-widening discovery along the way of the beauty and wonder of God’s world through the beloved horses in her life. Patti Liskay, author of Equal and Opposite Reactions.
Author Janet Wolanin Alexander learned about horsehair jewelry when a friend showed her a bracelet she had purchased out West during vacation. Entranced, Janet vowed to braid one from her own horse’s hair. After spending years seeking instruction and practicing her skills, she wrote this comprehensive guide to save you some of the time and frustration she went through.
EQUUS Film and Art Festival has honored From the Heart of a Horsewoman: Horse-A Bridge Between Spirit and Matter with the coveted 2021 Winnie Award for the category Equine Spirituality. I am beyond grateful.
We invite you to join us in the exploration and expression of the spiritual experience with Equus. Please share your favorite books, fiction and nonfiction, that you feel fall under Equine Spirituality. Looking forward to reading of your personal experiences.
Thank you for riding this special trail with me, Lynnea Paxton-Honn
What is Equine Spirituality? I first saw this as a heading category in a small used-book bookstore in Placerville, CA. It was an “ah-ha” moment for me. I was in the process of writing From the Heart of a Horsewoman: Horse–A Bridge Between Spirit and Matter. The book had neither title nor form direction at this point. When I shared the material in my blog, one of my writing mentors asked me if it was a spiritual book. My immediate reaction was denial. Who was I to write a spiritual horse book? I saw my audience as the horse people I recognized from the “how-to” horse world. Yet I knew this book was not an instruction manual. What I taught was not something that could be expressed in a curriculum. Each horse/rider combination was unique. Underlying and spanning the teaching of how to interact, communicate one species to another, was the passion and love of the relationship, the Horse/Human relationship.
Artist George Dillon
I wrote in the introduction to From the Heart of a Horsewoman: Horse–A Bridge Between Spirit and Matter a presentation to the precepts shared in the text.
“In these writings I will use words describing the spirit bridge, the reach for experiential oneness. These words include God, Holy Spirit, Oneness…. These are not religious based words but words to take us to a place that contains wholeness, the completeness of the horse/human experience. But it is not limited to this relationship. As we explore this one relationship, we discover life is all about relationship. This is just a spanning of the one passion for unity to a passion for unity in all of life. The very word “unity” holds its opposite, disunited or separate. In our quest for the perfect ride, we are seeking unity on this level. This amazing, beautiful connection we have with horses is but a schooling place for the bigger connection that we have with all Life. This connection is in relationship, knowing that we are part of a whole ecosystem held in balance within our living home, the Earth, the Solar System, The Milky Way, The Universe.”
Again, the question, what is Equine Spirituality? I define it as coming into Presence in the company of Horse. It is moving into the space of Now as it is held by the heartbeat of the horse. This is expressed over and over by those who have experienced the Intimacy of Moment shared in the Horse/Human relationship.
Artist my granddaughter in her early (young) work. Zephyra Paxton
I am using my blog to present the concepts of my new writing endeavor Equine Spirituality: Everyday Presence with Horse. Please share your personal story, ideas or comments.
From the Heart of a Horsewoman 