June 2025

Live Performances

Wednesday June 4 6-9 PM solo at The Taos Inn, Taos NM

Saturday June 7 5-8 PM The Serpent Herders at The Chili Line Depot, Tres Piedras NM

Tuesday June 10 6-9 PM solo at The Taos Inn, Taos NM

Sunday June 15 6-9 PM The Serpent Herders at The Taos Inn, Taos NM

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Musings – Happy Birthday to Drishti!

My good boy Drishti turned 26 on June 1. He’s my first horse; he came to live with me the day before his 14^th birthday. Being new to horses, I didn’t fully realize what a good horse he is. He came to me well-trained, and he’s confident and quiet. We had lots of adventures together before he retired from riding last year. He’s been a great friend and teacher to me (including learning a few lessons the hard way) and I love him huge.

At the risk of sounding cliché, I got into horses as a ‘spiritual practice’. Although not religious, I’ve always been a seeker of sorts, and after moving to this magical mountain north of Taos, New Mexico, I found myself looking for some sort of transcendent framework. One of the old communes on the mountain, The Lama Foundation, still exists as a spiritual center and I went to experience some of their offerings, but it wasn’t a good fit for an introvert like me. I dabbled in Paganism, but discovered that formal rituals weren’t my thing either. Then one day I was reading an essay by one of my favorite authors, Pam Houston, that talked about a horse she owned and described their relationship. I felt like I’d been hit by a lightning bolt. That’s it! Horses!

It turns out I had no idea what a ‘spiritual practice’ actually was. I envisioned getting on my horse and riding off into the sunset with birds and deer and bunnies all following along like in a Disney movie.

If you know anything about horses, you know that isn’t how it played out.

I took a few months of lessons and figured I was ready (never mind that our little homestead didn’t even have running water yet). I found a horse for sale on Facebook, fell in love with his picture, drove a couple hours south to meet him, fell in love even harder, ignored my husband when he said we weren’t ready to bring a horse onto the property, and made a deal. I changed his name from “Shot” to “Drishti,” a Sanskrit term meaning ‘gaze, view, or point of focus’. A couple of weeks later I had a horse in my yard.

I won’t go into detail, but the learning curve was steep. Horses are big, fast, and strong. They are herd animals, flight animals, prey animals. I didn’t have a friend for Drishti (surely I’d be enough!). The mountains are full of predators, real and imagined. Drishti was incredibly tolerant of me and my ignorance, but in retrospect I know he wasn’t happy. Still, we muddled our way through. Now he’s part of a herd of three horses, and I think he’s a happy old guy.

It turns out my practice isn’t about bunnies and sunsets. My horses have taught me awareness, tenacity, courage, trust, and gentleness. I have learned to pay attention to my breath and my surroundings on a level I never would have gotten to without them. And the practice is a daily thing, as that is what horses require. Luckily, there’s not much I love more than walking out to the corral as I wait for my morning coffee to brew, listening to the horses chew their hay and watching the sky transition from night to day.

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miscellany

~ my good friend Kiersten recently started a video podcast called Fiber Field Notes, and I’m honored that she’s using ‘The Sweater Song’ as her theme music

~recent reads: The Breathing Book by Donna Farhi, The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters, Burn by Peter Heller, and Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis

~hot off the needles: pattern – Shizen by Eri Shimizu, yarn – Folklore Fingering by Wild in the Woods

Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings…see you next month!