My story · Loes van Dijk
Following the path of the horse.
I am Loes. I could read horses before anyone taught me how, and everything since has been a long walk back to that.
Where it began
Before there were words for it.
I grew up reading horses. We had small rituals between us that had no name. They were simply how the horses and I be in togetherness. Bonding rituals, I call them now.
Nothing here was invented. The horses were living it long before I had words for it. The words came later, so it could be taught and passed on.
What I learned, and unlearned
Somewhere along the way I was taught to make horses comply.
It is a common road, and for a while I walked it. What turned me was quiet and stubborn: the horses kept showing me there was a softer, truer way, and in the end I listened.
Now I work in freedom and consent, because that is what they were asking for all along. I lead by listening, and I let the horse keep a voice in the conversation. It is slower. It is also the only thing that ever really held.
A note for Loes: this is the place for the real turning point, the horse and the moment that changed your mind. Tell it here and it will carry the whole page.
A return to origin
The name changed. The horses did not.
For a time this work carried another name. Nomadic Horsemanship is not a method I invented. It is a return to origin: the oldest way of being with horses, given a name so it can be taught and passed on.
The name is the youngest part of everything it describes. Everything under it is old, and belongs to the horses.
“No one can teach you more about horses than horses themselves.”
If this sounds like you
Come and say hello.
If this is a way of being with horses you recognise, I would love to hear from you. Tell me about you and your horse, and we will find the right way in.