Personal Insights on Mondays class - by Kaitlin Medeiros

I also enjoyed getting to know Madison. Both Madison and Tucker are little new to the ranch, having been bought in the past couple years or so. In fact, watching the herd, I was slightly shocked to realize that I didn't recognize or know half the horses in the herd. It was very entertaining watching the horses come in and break up into their small groups, it is amazing that in such a big herd there are so many cliques! It kind of makes me think of a high school cafeteria. One of the things I learned in class was that the mare is the head honcho for the herd. I always had thought the stallion was always in charge, not the mare. Once I thought about it, it made sense, as the mare are the ones to care for the young and really need a constant food source. Another thing that really struck me was how demanding Madison was for attention. It seems amazing to me that an animal that endured years of basic abuse can love and seek for human attention. I also enjoyed the exercise of centering oneself. I realized that as a possible future psychotherapist, I would also have to learn how to enter the patients room leaving behind my daily problems and personal matters. All in all, the class was very interesting and I can't wait for next weeks class!

~ Kaitlin Medeiros