Scratchings-and-Sniffings

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The Soul of a Horse: Joe Camp Teaches Life Lessons Worth Learning Posted: 21 May 2009 05:45 AM PDT Everyone always wants to know what you're reading and at any given time I'm reading two or three books at once. No, no...not at once like I have each of them open on my bed and I switch from one to the other every fifteen minutes. Hmmm...I wonder if anyone does that. What I mean is that one day I'll read book A, the nest I'll read book B. And so on. I know people, mostly business people, who profess to read a book a day. I find that a bit unrealistic. A book a day? Are they really short books? Do they just skim the beginning and end and consider the book 'read'? I don't know. It takes me longer than a day to read a book because I read it page by page, from beginning to end. And, with really good books, I stop now and then to think about what I just read. Contemplate it a bit. Today, I want to talk about a book that has little to do with dogs or cats. It has to do with horses. However, it came about because of a dog. So, it counts. The author of The Soul of a Horse: Life Lessons from the Herd, is Joe Camp. Joe Camp also happens to be the writer, producer and director of all the Benji movies. Who doesn't remember Benji? That adorable, lovable terrier who charmed us all back in the ...days of my youth. Let's just put it that way. The Dallas Morning News calls this book "The Ultimate Love Story." I so agree. When I was offered a chance to read Joe Camp's book on horses, I almost turned it down. "My blog is about dogs and cats," I told his PR person. Then, I thought again - "Well, send it along and if I can weave it into a story for S&S, I will," I told her. I am SOOOOoooo glad I did! This is one of the best animal story books I've ever read. It's not a story book, per se. It's a book about the soul of a horse. Many horses. Of the herd. It's about learning to be patient and let the animal tell you what he needs - and not assuming that because you're the human, you know all the answers. It's about treating animals, especially horses, as intelligent, thinking beings. They do think. They do have intelligence. And, they do love. Joe talks about how to be "with" the horse. About how to understand the herd mentality and why horses need good leaders - not just people to pet them, feed them, ride them, and 'own' them. It's so astonishing that we, human beings, insist on dominating other creatures. Why do we not stop, pause, allow the animal - horse, dog, cat, whatever, to be what it is. Why do we not ask permission to be with the animal - the better to form a lifelong bond? Domination is not the answer. Understanding and acceptance is. If the animal chooses to accept us - what joy there is in knowing we have formed the beginning of a relationship, the start of a lifelong bond, the connection of two thinking beings speaking the language of friendship and love. I am only half-way through this amazing book. I have laughed and I have cried. I have ached over the stories of how we mistreat horses - in the name of "safety" or "warmth" or just because we believe the horse needs what we humans have - when, as Joe points out over and over again, the horse needs what a horse needs. A life that is intertwined with the humans it accepts into the herd, but not next to, or with them. A horse is a herd animal and the outdoors is its playground. Anyway, you'll hear more about this book. More because it touches upon more than how to be one with your horse. It touches upon the qualities of leadership needed to take proper care of all animals in your home, or your barn, or whatever. It touches upon the realization that our animals do talk to us, they do make their needs known - they just do it in subtle ways sometimes, and destruction ways (to us), sometimes. Their language is not our language. We teach them our language and seldom take the time to learn theirs. Get a copy of The Sould of a Horse - you'll be glad you did. Give one to your Mom or Dad. Give one to your boss. It's very clear to me that horses can teach our leaders a thing or two about what it means to be a leader. I'm learning a lot. (oh, and he feeds his horse Purina - the 'other' Purina, not the Purina I usually write about; but hey, that counts, right?)

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