How it all BEgan

Chapter 1

In 1992 I had my first ride on a horse. I was 47 years old and had been born and raised in Greenwich Village, New York City. Since graduating from college and for the next 25 years, I had prospered with a successful and gratifying career in the film and television industry eventually owning and operating my own television commercial sales and marketing company. I had always longed to travel and see the world and now that I had the time and means, I decided to begin by going out to see the American West.

         I started in the Montana foothills and continued on to the grasslands of Wyoming. My trip ended in Idaho and I arrived in Boise a day before my flight back home allowing time to say hello an old friend from the New York named Linda. It was a warm September afternoon as I sat with Linda on her front porch. We were reminiscing about mutual friends in New York when an old white pick-up truck pulled into her driveway. The man driving the truck got out and I remember thinking; “That’s a real cowboy.” Linda introduced me to her friend Okie. Suddenly Linda said to him: “Let’s take Tim on a trail ride.” Okie said: “Yup, put’m on Spot.”

       The ride turned out to be fun and easy going. I felt so incredible when we got back I asked Okie if I could ride Spot again but this time by myself inside Linda’s 100ft x 200ft. Corral. And just like before, Okie said: “Yup.” Up until this moment I thought horses were all the same: it was only the knowledge and skill of the rider that made the difference in what a horse could or could not do. I was greatly mistaken and I experienced something that would change my life forever.

This horse could read my mind! Many years later that I discovered he was actually reading my body language and what I was experiencing is scientifically referred to as Proprioceptive Changes.

A Proprioceptive Change is the smallest imperceptible physical change that occurs in one’s body right before a large perceptible physical change occurs. My intention creates a thought…my thought creates this invisible physical change in my body. Although I am totally unaware of this change in my body, my horse, the most physically sensitive and reactive animal on the planet, feels it, and thus my intention, immediately.

I rode for another 10 minutes, got off and walked over to Linda and Okie. I said: “This is incredible, I love it!” Linda, a kind, big hearted, and generous woman, smiled and said: “Well, if you really like it that much, why don’t you come back in a year and you can ride one of my horses.” Without a second thought or even a question I said. “I’ll be back.