As you have seen on my business card, I have some words that circle the logo itself.  I’m writing this little article on why I chose those words and what they mean to me as a horseman. 

TRUST to me means earning the trust of the horse.  So that he may allow me to share breathing space with him without being afraid. It also means TRUSTING my horse!  Yes, trusting that I’ve taught him his responsibilities well and allow and trust that he will do the right thing.  Stepping in ONLY when he doesn’t. 

COMPASSION to me, means caring enough for the horse and for myself to allow mistakes, learn from them and move on.  Having COMPASSION for this animal, who, if left to himself and his herd, would be fine without us. Handling him with COMPASSION means caring enough to learn how HE feels about how he’s being handled! 

COMMUNICATION to me means learning the horse’s language. That’s our responsibility as horse owners to learn how the horse thinks, feels, acts and plays. We need to have an understanding of this and be able to apply it. 

EDUCATION to me means educating myself to become the best horseman I can be.  It means dedicating myself to learning.  Surrounding myself with like minded people.  Being willing to experiment with the information and learning to apply it. Most importantly finding the RIGHT person to learn from!  A person who puts the best interest of the horse first.  Someone who can help YOU understand what that means. And sometimes learning means learning what NOT to do with horses. 

COMMITMENT to me means committing to myself to learning.  It means committing myself to the people I’m helping and the horses I touch.  It means being committed to finding out what works best for horses according to the horse. 

PROMISE to me means making a promise to the horse himself that I will never intentionally hurt him.  Understanding that I will make mistakes, but promising to try too never make the same mistake twice.   

All of these words are very important to me because of what they mean to me in my own horsemanship journey.  Perhaps they might mean something else to others.  I chose these words to surround the logo as a reminder to myself and anyone who carries this card that horsemanship is important, intricate and has several layers to it.