Maeve Birch Home

    Tag: Horses

    • Excerpt from the Chapter Rex: Cleverness

      It’s springtime, which means my little mini horse buddy, Rex, is suffering from spring allergies again. Until I started volunteering at the horse rescue I had no idea that horses could have allergies, but they can! Here’s how we found out that Rex suffered from them: “One day in spring, a high-pressure front was moving…

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    • Grief and Patience

      The past month or so has been a lot of me asking for others to be patient with me. Be patient while I struggle to care about anything besides being helpful to a sick family member. Be patient as I comfort loved ones while barely able to function myself. Be patient with the brain fog,…

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    • Check In, Breathe In, Breathe Out

      I teach a course locally on how to recognize the very beginnings of a dangerous situation developing with a horse. Part of it is being aware of your own body, it’s relation to the horse’s body, and recognizing how your emotions and the horse’s are interacting. I had to take my own advice the other…

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    • Not Alone

      The past week has been a little chaotic, as a close family member had emergency surgery and is still in the hospital. It’s the first time in my life when I’ve been so directly involved in helping care for a family member. Thankfully I have mentors I can reach out to who have been through…

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    • Self-Aware, Horse-Aware

      The equestrian world is intent on the appearance of leadership and strength. Perhaps I should back up a bit and say that it’s true for the entire dominant culture of the United States. Don’t quit, don’t cry, don’t back down… When things get tough, we’re encouraged to beat the odds, fight to win, and make…

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    • Coming In Strong for the New Year

      I took a two week break from the blog for the holidays. Between family visits, holiday parties, work, and travel, this introvert was exhausted. Isn’t it strange that we take time off only to fill it with activity? Some folks thrive on social activities, but I tend to get more worn down as they pile…

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    • A Task Without an Outcome

      There’s a pony at the barn where I currently volunteer who is afraid of putting her face in a halter. She had been rescued from an abusive situation and is taking a while to warm up to the idea of voluntarily having something approaching her face. To catch her in the field, usually someone has…

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    • Good Days, Bad Days, and a Request

      One of the things that continuously tripped me up in learning how to work with horses was that I would make a lot of progress and then one day it would seem like none of it mattered. The horse would suddenly regress, spooking at things they had accepted before, refusing things, getting fidgety, or outright…

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    • Book Launch Sunday

      Three days to launch! Well, less if you count that it’s late afternoon on Friday where I am. I hope you’ll forgive me if I end up doing multiple posts this weekend… Is everything going to go smoothly? Yes. Am I still losing sleep over the launch of my first book? Also yes. Enjoy the…

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    • Intuition and Experience

      Intuition, or “going with your gut.” How do you view it? Is it a valuable tool used in gauging a situation? Or does it bow before the irrefutable evidence of experience? In my book, Standing in a Field With Horses, initially intuition, even messages seeming to come from the horses, were dismissed as folly. Of…

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