I recently visited one of the many spiritual stores in my hippie new age artsy town of Nelson. I came home with a packet of color therapy for the bath. I picked green for my hyperactive son for supporting calmness and compassion.

I also brought home the book "The Afterlife of Billy Fingers."  It is about a women whose brother dies tragically at the age of 62 and then starts communicating with her from the other side. I won't go into too many details in case you want to read the book. This book totally confirms the work I do as an Animal Communicator.  He reports his experience and the transformation of his soul as he progresses from "Billy" to becoming the Universe. It is truly an inspiring book and it will get you excited about life and death.

Towards the end of the book he describes to his living sister the background music he hears in "heaven" as his soul goes through a ceremony of detaching from his earthly memories.  Billy describes the closest thing on earth to this joyous sound is Mahler's 8th Symphony. I definitely felt moved to the core while listening. So here it is for your convenience. Enjoy!

I enjoyed a very relaxing, therapeutic and enjoyable visit to the Halcyon Hotsprings over the week-end. It did wonders for my knee! The range of motion has increased radically and the muscle strength is slowly coming back too.

I have been lunging Toby with side rides since I am not able to actively ride him yet. It is disappointing not to be riding but still very heart warming to be working with him. He was so calm and docile today that I tried going for a  brief ride. Unfortunately, sitting in the saddle with my foot in the stirrup create tension in my knee so I got off right away. People tell me that my recovery has been going very quickly. So I am grateful for the 10 second ride I had. Maybe tomorrow it will be 20 seconds...

I look back at this footage from mid-January with awe and sadness. I haven't ridden in nearly two weeks. What happened?  Well, I was skiing in some heavy powder on a steep mogul run.  I went to turn left but my ski was buried in the snow so didn't move. Pop! The meniscus in my right knee tore. It was very painful and I could not weight bear for several days. Now I am hobbling around the house and I hope to be driving soon. I don't know when my knee will be strong enough to ride...

In this lesson we worked on controlling the canter speed in between jumps with a intermittent half halts. Not too hard so that Toby would transition to trot but just enough to package the canter in time for the next jump. We worked on simple changes to get the correct lead after a jump. Toby is still green so he often picks the wrong lead on the landing. I am still green too, so I need to work on putting my weight on the outside stirrup to help him. We also worked on steering. You will see we make a tight left hand turn to go over the last jump. I would use the outside rein and relax, outside rein and relax. This helped achieve accuracy in the turn. All this would not be possible without my amazing coach.

Three jumps in a row with one stride in-between them is called a bounce. It is very good for riders to work on their body position. With three jumps in a row it is very important to have proper form. For me I have to think about keeping my shoulders away from the horse's neck, heels down, legs by the girth and giving with my elbows on the landing. The horse has to be very snappy with his feet. So he has to be quick about jumping and landing. It is demanding physical exercise so it helps build strength.

I had a super fun jump lesson with Teddy today. We have been working on his canter and making him more responsive to aids over the last few weeks. As he is a big, wide horse who is a little lazy, it can be a lot of work to ride him. We are teaching him the basic game of stop and go. As he is heavy on the forehand it is challenging for him to have a naturally balanced canter. He is learning really quickly as we are noticing how is easier for him to jump into the canter and sustain it. Overall, he feels much lighter. Here is a video clip of us taking a tight turn in the canter, which has to be balanced in order to make the turn, then going over a skinny fence and an oxer jump. I have my brilliant coach to thank for all the progress we have made so far.

In mid-November I flew to the Edmonton Shambhala Centre to participate in the Rigden Week-end. This is the sixth week-end of intensive meditation combined with the Shambhala teachings. We had an amazing teacher, Acharya Susan Chapman. What I really loved about completing this level is that we learned to manifest our vision for the world. I am fortunate to be doing this already as an Animal Communicator. But there is still work to be done. I am deeply troubled by the massive crimes committed daily to other sentient beings and the environment. If I had unlimited resources I would abolish the Industrialized Agriculture System and replace it with small hobby farms. I know this is a lofty dream as there are billions of people on the planet to feed. One promising trend is the rise of veganism and the products that are being developed to mimic meat although completely plant based (ie. Tofurky)

A very helpful meditation technique we learned is Raising Windhorse. It is a quick and abrupt practice. One is to be present, then touch in with one's heart and be genuine, and then radiate what is in your heart. I love this concept of radiating as it a tool to help bring positive change to those surrounding us. I feel like I am making the world a better place, even though it is on a small scale, which is deeply moving and rewarding.

I am pictured here with the Acharya receiving my name: Brilliant Moon of Goodness.

I've been having a lot of fun jumping Toby over the last few weeks. Now that the weather has changed we have been working in the indoor arena. He is an absolute angel in there! There are no distractions so he stays focused on me and does everything I ask with a sweet willing attitude. In this video clip he shows a balanced well paced canter and nice jumping form over two cross rails.

All horses are bent a little to the left or a little to the right. They spend 23 hours a day in positions that is likely crooked but comfortable and familiar to them. When we ride them it is our job to straighten their bodies and encourage them to be using their core.
My horse Toby is shaped like a banana to the right. He does not like bending to the left. So when we do dressage I have to ride with extra awareness about my left side. He also has a slight weakness on his left hind. I over compensate by raising my left shoulder and giving with my left elbow. However, it is very important that I straighten my own body so he can be straighter. I really have to work hard to anchor my left elbow because slowly but surely he starts to pull to the right and after a few circles on the right lead the reins are loopy. You can see in this picture how good he looks collected and how strongly anchored my left elbow is. I'm so thankful I have an amazing coach to guide us through these technical details.

For our group jumping lesson we learned the technical side of adjusting our body position for going up hill and down dale. It's about leaning forward and holding onto mane when going up hill. Lean back and kick your feet forward for going down dale. Ultimately you want to maintain your body position as balanced and upright regardless of what the horses body is doing beneath you.