Out of the Starting Gate - First Class

For one thing we're full--almost had 1 too many, too. For another thing, it's an unbelievably diverse group. We have:

3 med students
1 pediatric endocrinology nurse practitioner*
1 clinical coordinator for one of our oncology clinics
1 mechanical engineering PhD candidate (w/ biz comm background)
1 transpersonal psychology PhD candidate
1 biotech consultant w/ a psychospiritual & relationship training practice

*This gal has done research on natural substitutes for estrogen products made from PMU (pregnant mare urine)-cruelty farms.

Thirdly, in the good feelings dept, since this is about the 6th time I am teaching M&H at Stanford, I find that the course has finally fallen into a familiar rhythm. After years of experimenting with different time slots and exercises, the main structure of the course is more or less established. I can now attend to making it better from a place of being confident that the core pieces are in place. That is, from a place of confidence, I can get more creative.

"Established," however, does not mean autopilot, as witness Unintended Consequence #1: Background: The weekend before class, I e-mail our horse requests to the ranch owner. I describe what activities we'll be doing and she selects suitable equine assistants. I used to know everyone in the lesson herd, now I know maybe half.

So, we get the schedule back and come to see that I didn't know any of the 3 horses we're assigned. So Liz and I go out to introduce ourselves to the horses the day before. (We also mentally tell them about the class and what we are going to ask of them.)

We get to the lesson herd and find out that we are assigned 3 black geldings. Ay! Ach! Oy! [big forehead slap] We had to explain to management that we need horses that are visually distinctive, especially for folks who aren't used to seeing horses. Heck, Liz and I could hardly tell them apart. Having different looking horses is also important for inducing projection dynamics.

Day #1 once again opened with the drama of round-up: 40 horses funneled into a smallish corral, re-establishing boundaries, staking out real estate, chasing eachother, making ears, swishing tails, kick-gesturing, swinging haunches--much fodder for our intro to body language,leadership, hierarchies, etc. Body language is the start of doctor patient communication. Patients notice this about us as soon as we walk into the exam room.

We then went over to where we had put the 3 horses (now, thankfully, a black, a chestnut, and a strawberry roan) into an arena. Unintended Consequence #2: the mare was in season, the dominant gelding chased his rival at a full gallop all around the arena. We decided it wasn't a safe situation for Choose or Be Chosen. So we ended up doing our meet-and-greet over the fence line, and not being able to get the students in w/ the horses. Oh well. As Sugarland says, "Shhh, It Happens."

Today is class #2. Take 2 with Choose or Be Chosen. This time we have Mr T, Dream's ("as seen on TV!") old boyfriend, a cuuuuuute little chestnut Arabian. Hopefully they all behave so we can get all 8 students, 3 facilitators, and 2 press people in the (very large) arena.

More gorgeous weather predicted--75 and sunny.