There’s just something about a horse

I love horses! I really do. There is just no question that they are at least a part of what lead me to conceive Rocky Mountain Rescue Ranch. I don’t talk about horses much, and the other day, a friend started asking me about them. I started talking to her and realized that I REALLY LOVE HORSES. Talking about them makes my heart beat faster, my breath changes. I realized, in explaining to her how they make me feel, that it is like poetry. I have never been much of a poet, but I don’t know how to describe the experience of a relationship with a horse that does not sound like poetry. I realized that I don’t talk about them much, because I don’t have access to them. It makes me stir crazy, makes my heart ache with longing. I cannot focus on anything but wanting to go find one to hang out with. I had forgotten that passion, temporarily. Stuffed it deep down inside where it could not tug at my heartstrings, and focused on passions I could manage where I am today. The last couple weeks, it rose to the surface in a most undeniable way. I can hear hoof-beats on my heart, all of the time, and it overwhelms me with joy. I can smell the aroma of a horse. If you are a city gal, this may not make sense to you, but there is something about the smell of a horse that is like no other smell. I tried to tell my friend what it feels like when your breath matches up with a horses breath, when your heartbeats are as one. When you are in a sync with a horse, there is just nothing on this planet that can compare to that feeling. When a horse looks in your eyes, you can see that he is looking into your soul…to the very depths of your being, and making a split second decision about you. Once he trusts you, your ability to share secrets is a bond like no other. Its replenishing, revitalizing. It is good for the soul! If you have never had the opportunity to ride a horse, I recommend you try it some time. I am eagerly anticipating the day I can visit my horses out back every morning! I long for the day that my entertainment involves taking my horses to the trail-head and saddling up. It is so nice, feeling like that goal is just right around the next corner.

The other thing on my mind today is extended nursing It has been all over the news, all over facebook, and everywhere you go. For the folks who don’t wanna see it, they sure do like to talk about it. I guess I just don’t care how long a mother and child nurse. Some mothers think three years is perfect, others think six months. Or maybe, you can’t nurse at all for some health reason. Who has a right to an opinion about this, aside from a mother, her husband, and the child? As far as I can tell, it is not harmful to breastfeed past the first year, and it is common in other countries. It is becoming widely known that American/Western healthcare is failing, and that Americans are the least healthy ever. I have read so many articles lately about the declining health of the US population, and I wonder why we are so scared to adopt new ways? Only a pervert would think that it is a sexual bond, between mother and child, and that a four year old is being perverted when nursing. That is asinine. It’s absolutely absurd! At that age, children are still afraid of the opposite genders “cooties”. There is nothing sexual about it. Just as a man can get excited  for no reason in particular, a child can nurse without it being a sexual act. Nurture maybe, but that is what moms are made for, first and foremost. The reality of the situation is that we are the only society I know of that doesn’t accept extended nursing. We are also a very unhealthy society unwilling to adopt other means of medicine and healthcare. The research shows that breast milk is good for babies and nursing is good for mothers, even extended nursing. So why all the controversy? Who’s business is it? Why do people think it is their business? I am pretty dumbfounded that this is as big in the news right now as the political campaign going on in the background. My feelings on the TIME magazine cover, I think they were trying to stir controversy and did. I guess if that is what they were looking for, then good job TIME. I also feel as though it is magazine covers like these that lead to a lot of sadness and bickering in our country. Are you mom enough? Really, like moms don’t have enough pressure on them. They need it to be all the hype in the media too? Every mother questions her abilities at one time or another. Do we really need a major magazine egging on our negative self talk? I am a little disappointed in the cover, for the controversy it stirred over a situation that should be a private, family decision. For making mothers feel like they have to live up to some societal standard. Who imposes these standards? I vote we let people be themselves. These nursing mama’s aren’t hurting anybody, and they are probably doing our medicare system some good in the long run, as they are likely to raise healthier children and even adults. A cure for breast cancer?  Maybe not, but the best deterrent science has found yet. I just do not understand what the big deal is. As long as we walk around expecting parenting decisions to be political choices, picking on each other and comparing ourselves to each other, and how we add up, we will never be a peaceable society that works together. We need to gather up, support each other, work together. Teamwork folks! That is what we need. A society that supports and listens to each other, opens their mind to new ways of doing things. A society that works in conjunction with instead of against each other. We need to stop expecting moms to live to a certain level of expectation that probably exceeds out own abilities, and accept them for the human beings they are, with strengths, weaknesses, and opinions, just like the rest of you. When it comes to parenting, their opinion about whats best for their child really doesn’t affect you, does it? We are all human, and we are all struggling here, so why not work together? It is killing me that this is the news. How petty have we become as a nation that we are publicly discussing whether it is ok to extended nurse on all of the nightly news channels? It feels more like gossip than news.

And, I will climb down off my soapbox now. It is too pretty a day to be ranting. It is a gorgeous day to do some light gardening and open all the windows and doors. Its time for me to get my butt in gear and get out to the greenhouse. I hope it wasnt cold last night, I think I forgot to shut the door. Oops…

Wishing you all a blessed day…