Taking Root
The weekly compilation of Stable Root happenings
I know I’m not alone in feeling like I’m spread out in too many different places. I think that’s a shared feeling we can all agree with and lean into. In an effort to consolidate myself I’m going to do a weekly round up of ALL THE THINGS in this spot, because I’m in love with Substack as a medium for creativity and growth and the platform works for me.
This will still be the home for all my writings that may or may not have anything to do with my other endeavors. Most of my work as a coach centers on being an accountability partner and a safe place to land and this little spot of the virtual world is my personal version of that role for myself. It’s the homework that I leave so many of you with at the end of a session but rarely take time to do in my own life.
If you’re here for my writing, I’ll try to keep this newsletter consistently titled so you can just skip over it in your inbox if it’s not your cup of tea.
This week’s roundup includes:
My Journaling Workshops
Adult Saddle Club
Stable Roots Apprentice Program
What’s been happening professionally in my world and links to this week’s writings
Mini-clinic at Tomorrow’s Rainbow Upstate
Monthly Subscriber Zoom
Journaling Workshops:
I’m hosting an in-person Journaling Workshop at Bramblewood Stables on Friday, April 19th from 6-8 PM. We’re going to be exploring our wants, our yearnings, our drives.
I have waited my whole life to share this work with you. I’m not kidding. So the creation of this event is the culmination of my wishes, the absolute thing I would have wanted to be doing when I grew up.
My plan is for this to be a recurring event each month at the farm and it will eventually branch out into an online workshop so all my peeps from near and far can indulge in their creativity.
We’ve met the maximum number of signups for April’s adult journaling workshop, but if you’re interested in being on the waiting list or attending next month’s workshop on Friday, May 17th, fill out the form and I’ll get back to you.
This workshop is for adults, but a sister workshop for teens is scheduled for Sunday, April 28th, 2-4 PM. Same deal, just click the link to the form above and I’ll be in touch with signup options.
Adult Saddle Club:
Maybe saddle club is a misnomer. Once a month we all get together at Bramblewood Stables and explore a topic and it may or may not have anything to do with horses. The thing that brings us all together though is our love of the horses and the communities that surround the beasts we love. If you’re looking for community — this is the place to be on the third Thursday evening of every month.
This month’s topic is Clean Language and by that I’m not talking about putting a filter on your mouth. I mean the opposite. We’re taking our filters off. And by filter I mean our filters of assumptions, presumptions, and metaphors. We’ll learn to describe what is actually in front of us rather than being led around by the leash of our projections.
This event is announced each month in my private Facebook group Stable Roots. If FB is not your thing, comment here or send me a message and I’ll make sure you’re on the list.
This month’s Saddle Club meeting is: Thursday, April 18th at 6 PM. We’re going to celebrate Moose’s 20th birthday with a luau theme and get to know our words, and how we use them, a little better.
Stable Roots Apprentice Program:
If you’ve always felt like there was a secret society working behind the scenes at Bramblewood Stables, you were right.
The apprentice program, currently called The Comprehensive Instructor, is a long-term commitment of exploration, professional growth, and transformation within the horse industry.
This is where the future of the horse business is being shaped: instructors, barn managers, equine-assisted practitioners.
Currently there are six apprentices working alongside me at Bramblewood Stables. We’re developing our course as we go and soon we’ll be launching this work into the world.
The horse world is changing and, as always, I want to lead the march. To have a future of riding schools in the US and beyond, we have to change tactics. The old ways don’t work anymore, for the humans or for the horses.
The Apprentice Program participants are the literal boots on the ground ushering in that change.
If you’re interested in joining us, the program is currently only available to participants who can join me for hybrid in-person and virtual work. If you’re able to spend time at Bramblewood Stables, then reach out.
But if you want to be the first to know when the online course is launched, get in touch with me so I can put you on my list.
EquineFlow Excellence Award:
Five years into my coaching practice, I was recently awarded the inaugural 5-Star EquineFlow Excellence Award. This is a top honor and, so far, I’m the only one that has received it. While I was blown away by the nomination, it’s the comments from my fellow coaches that made me realize I’d been climbing steep hills with my nose to the ground for so long that I hadn’t yet looked up to see what was all around me.
I want to nominate Kim for the EquineFlow Excellence Awards because Kim sticks out her neck for the field of equine assisted coaching. She got EquineFlow featured on Fox news, in published articles, and introduced the work during networking events that reached the world.
Kim is always pushing for innovation and growth, and with her pioneering spirit brings even the medical field into our field. She is gifted at writing and has the courage to share her own feelings and circumstances into the world, so people can relate to that and feel less alone with how they feel.
Kim inspires me because she leads many people to kinder and gentler ways of interacting with horses (and people as well.) Because she is so well connected and gifted with words, she has helped a LOT of people of all walks of lives, and all ages, grow stronger mentally and physically.
Kim is not afraid to try new avenues and integrate new things in her practice. She keeps on growing, and she demonstrates what it takes to be an excellent EquineFlow practitioner.
Having the privilege of crafting my life and work in a way that is in line with my core values is exactly the kind of work I do with my clients. None of this would have happened without me bumbling my way into understanding that hardships were the launching points, the warning flares, the invitations.
Regeneration usually feels like burning, but dang, it’s so much nicer on the other side if we’re committed to showing up for ourselves.
It is such an honor to be recognized amongst so many powerful peers.
I launched my coaching practice the day our world went into COVID lockdown. What began as equine-assisted work immediately became a hybrid of virtual and distanced in-person sessions that, while they may have the farm as a backdrop, are really about making time to show up for yourself in all environments, with or without the horses. I’ll bring the spirit of the horses to you, wherever you are in the world. To learn more about my practice or to sign up for a discovery session go here.
My recent writings:
Eclipses are for Poetry: resurrecting a love poem to my muse as the weird shadows covered the ground during the recent eclipse.
Ode To the Punk Kids: horses and the tribe of misfits who found me early and are still my dearest family are the reason why I’m able to write these words today. This is part of a larger work in progress.
I was laid low with strep throat this week and am sincerely thankful to everyone who kept the barn running as I retreated. I’m slowly coming out of the fog.
I had to postpone a clinic scheduled last week to bring the staff together with the herd at Tomorrow’s Rainbow Upstate, the only standalone children’s grief center in upstate South Carolina. This brain child satellite campus was brought together by Beth Jackson and Tomorrow’s Rainbow’s founder, and brings ponies together with trauma-informed therapists to provide healing to kids lost in the wilds of loss. I can’t wait to spend time with them all this week and I’m sure I’ll come back with stories to share in my next update.
Our inaugural monthly subscriber Zoom for paid members of Stable Roots is scheduled for Friday, April 26th 6:00-8:00 PM EST. I’ll be in touch with links and more info as we get closer to the day.
Let’s grow our roots strong together.
Love,
Kim
If you’re new here, welcome! If you’re interested in joining the conversation with monthly group zooms and a little welcome gift to get your creative flow going consider becoming a free or paid subscriber to Stable Roots. For a long time the part of me that writes was partitioned from the part of me that ran a farm and riding program. It’s time that I wasn’t split down the seams and the angels who support my work through paid subscriptions allow me to spend more time stitching words together.
