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Life Lessons from the Herd
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It was the beginning
of an entirely new lifestyle and career for
Joe. It wasn't at all what he had planned. "If
the fourth Benji movie had done well, I would
have been out there doing another," he
says.
He's written, produced and directed several motion pictures (including all of
the Benji movies) which have cumulatively grossed well over the equivalent of
$600 million in today's dollars, making him one of the most successful independent
filmmakers of all time. He's written three novels from
his own screenplays, the |
inspirational
nonfiction book Benji & Me and several children's books. He has also written,
directed and produced four network television
specials and a network series.
And after all that, Joe was suddenly a horse owner. With more questions than
answers, he and Kathleen began to dig and learn as much as they could about the
three new occupants of their sunset-kissed horse stalls.
One of Joe's earliest questions was related to his horse Cash who came with shoes
on his front but not on his back feet. "We lived a quarter mile down the
road from the local horse club arena, and I was seriously worried about being
able to take this horse down the asphalt road without hurting his feet. It never
occurred to me that horses have been around for 50 million years, taking good
care of themselves in the wild without the use of shoes," he explains. When
he asked around about why a horse would have shoes on only two of his feet, the
answers he got from other horse owners didn't make sense to him.
On a token trip to the "Boot Barn" Kathleen picked up a horse newspaper
and began reading aloud an article about Monty Roberts, the man who inspired
the movie "The Horse Whisperer". Joe went straight home and ordered
Roberts' book The Man Who Listens to Horses and one of his DVDs. What he found
blew what little he knew about horses out of the water.
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He calls it "life changing." Joe learned that horses are nomadic prey
animals and that "domesticated" horses are, genetically speaking, exactly
the same as wild horses. Their natural lifestyle is shaped for survival, and
their primary method of survival is to flee. "In the wild, a herd will travel
10-30 miles a day for food and water and to evade predators," explains Joe.
Horse stalls, like the ones he and Kathleen owned, were therefore more of a prison
than protection. Wild horses also have strong, rock-crushing hooves that can
manage even the rockiest terrain. Joe learned that in captivity, with the proper
care and habitat, Cash doesn't need shoes on ANY of his feet. Traditional assumptions
about other things like blankets, feeding and leg wraps also didn't make sense
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to
what they were learning about
a horse's natural habitat.
As important as daily care, but possibly even more significant, was what Joe
learned about the heart and soul of a horse. Watching their language in the herd
and observing Monty Roberts' video demonstrations taught Joe how
to become a trusted companion, partner and leader of an animal that instinctively
sees humans as predators. As he began to work with, care for and communicate
with them, Joe was able to build a trusting relationship in which he gives his
horses the choice to be with him and earns the right to become part of the herd.
It's a completely different way of relating, one that's free of
struggle, stress or violence and that respects the natural language of the animal.
Three
years into their journey of building
a relationship with their horses and
providing a habitat that would keep them
happy and healthy, Joe has written and
published a book about their experience. THE
SOUL OF A HORSE: Life Lessons from the
Herd (Harmony Books/Random House;
April 29, 2008; $24.95) is a compelling
and heartfelt story that lures the reader
into the heart and soul of a horse, while
exploring through Joe and Kathleen's
eyes, the life lessons learned along
the way.
"The
book became the story of our journey.
It's not a horse book or
a text book," says Joe. "And
what we discovered about horses applies
to other areas of life as well. When
you walk in another person's shoes or
are able to look at a situation from
the other person's perspective, it affects
your communication with them," he
shares. "I'm not a patient person," says
Joe. "I've always believed the shortest
distance is a straight line from A to
B, but that doesn't work with horses.
And it doesn't always work with people
or life either."
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Today, Joe and Kathleen have six horses, which hardly ever linger around those
stalls near the front
porch. Instead, they are usually off together
on the other side of the hill exploring and living
as parallel a life to the wild herd as their
one and a half-acre pasture allows. Although
Joe and Kathleen still sit on their front porch
dreaming of that picture postcard, they know
they've gained priceless wisdom about the heart
and soul of the horse and realize their own hearts
will also never be the same.
For more information about Joe, his book, his horses or any of the topics Joe
has studied to learn more about providing a healthy environment for his horses,
please visit www.soulofahorse.com.
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