the playlist track 25: Sweet Amarillo by Old Crow Medicine Show

Photo by: Crackerfarm - Live at Red Rocks July 6th, 2013

If you haven't already heard of this amazing old-timey-country style band, then you should be ashamed of yourself and go listen to every song you possibly can by them. They have stuck to the traditional styles of original country music, and have done a fantastic job with it! 

Their most popular and well-known song "Wagon Wheel" was done in cooperation with one of the greatest musicians in the folk music world, Bob Dylan. Old Crow and Bob Dylan have teamed up yet again for my new favorite song obsession "Sweet Amarillo". 

This song sticks to the traditional country sound with a little tiny bit of a modern country kick to it. The lyrics keep with the style of Bob Dylan, and the voices of OCMS bring out the southern charm in it. The song itself is bittersweet, as is the music video directed by Philip Andelman. Take a listen and enjoy! Stay tuned for more!

get your geek on: "Assassin's Dream"

adventures in Colorado (equine assisted psychotherapy)

Recently, I have participated in two workshops involving EAP (equine assisted psychotherapy). EAP focuses on having the rider/client concentrate on some kind of conflict in their life, whether it be work related stress or the loss of someone close to them, and then do certain activities involving the horses to help cope or problem solve. 

In the first workshop/demo I did, we focused on one conflict and were then told to use paint on the horses to try and illustrate the conflict. We could write a word or paint a symbol or do anything we wanted to paint. The conflict I chose to illustrate was indecision and direction.

While we were painting the horses, we were encouraged to think and talk about what things we were painting, what they symbolized, what the horses' reactions might symbolize, etc. The horse I had chosen to paint, Jacky, was very restless and distracted at first. Horses are incredibly sensitive to emotions portrayed through body language as well as more subtle things like a person's heart rate. She must have sensed my confusion and restlessness while I was thinking and painting her. I have been feeling lost and without direction for a while now, doubting myself and unsure of my future. I was thinking about these things as I painted her, and I'm sure she was picking up on it. I tried calming her down by rubbing her and moving slowly, talking to her in a low voice, and stopped painting her. It worked, and I was able to finish painting her.

Her restlessness and nervous behavior was her reflecting my own emotions. By slowing down and comforting her, I was simulating what I needed to do for myself to make my doubts and fears go away. I realized that I need to just slow down and take pleasure in what's going on in my life now and not worry about the future. I'm usually pretty optimistic and not much of a planner, so me having stress over my future and what I'm doing has been very stressful and hard on me. 

By the end of the session, Jacky was all painted with symbols like arrows and dotted lines to represent different directions I feel pulled in and she was also partly asleep. I also felt much calmer and more at peace after thinking through everything and working with Jacky. I most definitely am going to try this out with other people!

adventures in Colorado (typical day on the ranch)

Hey y'all!

So much for weekly posts and updates! I've been pretty busy working on the ranch and doing paper work for school credit and whatnot. Here's just a typical day on the ranch for me!

Almost every morning, I get up and head out to the ranch around eight in the morning. Since I'm staying in the house right next door, I just walk everyday to the fence line and through a gate. I really like that I'm so close because it means I can sleep in just a tiny bit longer!

The first thing to do on the ranch is feed all eighteen of the beautiful, handsome, friendly horses that live there. There are two barns, and a row of run-in sheds with little dirt lots for each. I spend about a half hour throwing hay and feed and saying good morning to each and every horse there.

After everyone gets their breakfast, I go through and fill up all the water tanks to the brim. It's pretty hot out here, but it's almost never humid! I don't miss the hot and humid part of summers in the south! Since it's so dry out here though, the horses go through a lot of water in a day. Sometimes when it's really hot in the morning, I'll hose down the horses' legs as I fill up their water and try to cool them off a bit.

Once all the water is topped off, I turn out any of the horses who have finished eating. Some horses are older and take a little longer to eat, so I keep them in till they are done. The younger horses go out first, and while they are out in their turn outs I clean out their pens/stalls. One different thing about caring for horses in Colorado vs. southern region is that, since its so dry, all you have to muck out is the poop! The urine dries up fast so there's now hauling ammonia-scented wood shavings everywhere. In fact, only a few of the boarders use shavings in their stalls, so mucking out fifteen plus stalls here is faster and easier than mucking out less than ten back home.

After all the horses have been fed and turned out and all the stalls have been cleaned, it's usually around time for a riding lesson to start! So far, I have helped out in leading the horse, side walking, and even instructing for part of a few riding lessons! I was so excited and proud of one rider when I helped her learn how to canter her horse, she laughed and had a huge smile on her face for the rest of the lesson!

In between working at the ranch and working with the different riders, I've also been doing a lot of researching and writing as well. I gave myself the personal goal to educate myself as much as I can about the effects of equine therapies on different disabilities, disorders, and other personal problems. I've really been interested lately in the effects of equine therapy with veterans, specifically those with PTSD. I don't really know much at all about PTSD, so it's been really educational for me personally with all this researching I've been doing. I'm also looking at equine therapy for troubled teens with many different cases of things like abuse or depression. It's a mix of science, psychology, education, and social work which are what I've been studying at school lately!

I haven't been a complete 24/7 barn rat though! I have been into Boulder a few times, as well as a small town called Hygiene. I'll be writing more about my trips around town later!

Stay tuned for more!
Jess

adventures in Colorado (4 days to lift off)

First post on this new page! This is just a quick little blurb about my newest adventure to Colorado!

I will be working as an intern at an equine-assisted therapy facility for ten weeks and I'm getting college credit! I'll be flying out there on Saturday and I am SO EXCITED!! I've never flown by myself before and the last time I did fly I was fifteen and terrified. Hopefully I'll make it all by myself this time without being so freaked out.

I will try to blog weekly about what I've been doing and hopefully have a few pictures to share.

All I have left to do is pack and print out my flight info! Wish me luck and stay tuned for more!

~Jess

the playlist track 24: Fever by The Black Keys

Soooo I have been a HUGE fan of The Black Keys since their most recent album came out in 2010, and I even got to see them live last summer (best damn live performance I've seen in a while too!). It's been four-ish years since their last album "Brothers" so I've been pining for some new jams from them.

Well, they dropped a single from their upcoming album Turn Blue (which is out May 13th) a few days ago AND IT IS JUST PERFECT.

I was a little worried that they would sound different since it's been a while, but the song "Fever" has that classic Black Keys sound with a fabulous rocking guitar rhythm and an energetic drum beat (as per usual with these god-like musicians). I will for sure be getting their new album ASAP!

Stay tuned for more!

~Jess

Daily Doodle 001

I'm gonna start doing some self portrait type things in an effort to draw people better. Most of these doodles will be just quick sketchy looking things, nothing really too crazy. I'll throw in some nerdy related things eventually, just whatever I feel like when I have time to doodle!

Staaaaaay tuned!