After Goodbye, the Farm Holds Us

It is a funky kind of mood that settles over a farm after a goodbye. Over these past weeks and months, the Rainbow Bridge has seen crossings of our barn’s shy Lucy kitty, then Charlie Bear (Berries), our sweet, amazing poodle schnoodle doodle (also known as Bear Bears and Bear Boops, our 15-year-old old man Berries and recently Uncle Berries to the puppies). And yesterday, April 16th, Athena, the lovely horse Jillian and Morgan brought here.

Today I had to cancel a lesson, which I truly never do. The farm keeps moving, the horses and puppies and my family still need tending, the days ask what they always ask. But we are all sad today and pausing to reflect and recalibrate as these transitions ripple outward.

What I keep thinking of particularly is how much these animals give. Not just in their work, but in their way of being. The farm has never been a place driven by the pursuit of a dollar. We are open for business, yes, but that has never been the heart of it. The quiet, potent exchange between humans and animals, that is what lights me up over and over. A place where both can feel safe enough to soften, to learn, to grow.

The horses teach presence in a way nothing else can. They ask for honesty. They mirror what we bring into the space. And in return, they offer something steady and grounding that is pretty impossible to find anywhere else. Dogs like Charlie, our sweet Berries, remind us what it means to be devoted without question. To stay close by and bear(ie) witness. And horses like Athena carry people through more than just a lesson. They hold emotion, uncertainty, fear, and transform it into something lighter. Again and again.

This is the true healing that happens here.

Moose Ridge Farm is a magical place and I love it so very much, even on the hardest days.