I choose to be a Warrior

Elder's Meditation of the Day September 23

Elder's Meditation of the Day September 23
"When that spirit comes, we don't ever ask questions. If I don't understand, I just hold onto it. Then later down the road, maybe in a couple of years, I understand what that spirit meant."
--Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA
At certain spiritual events or happenings, it is possible for the spirits to come. Sometimes these spirits look like sparklers of light, sometimes you can feel them, sometimes they will look like live human beings. The spirits always come for a reason. When we deal with the spirit world, we need to be patient. The Great Spirit will tell us the meaning of these happenings when He is ready.

Great Spirit, let me be aware of Your presence.

YOUR HORSE'S HEARING

YOUR HORSE'S HEARING
Understanding how your horse's hearing and reactions to sounds differs from yours can give you valuable insights into his behavior.

You're riding along when your horse spooks, then freezes: Head held high, ears flicking back and forth like bug antennae. Your heart pounding, you strain to hear whathe's listening for but, as seconds pass in silence, come to the conclusion that your horse is hearing things.
He is hearing sounds that you can't hear. Understanding how your horse's hearing differs from yours and how his reaction to sounds differs, too, can give you valuable insights into his behavior. It can help you anticipate and perhaps avoid a dangerous spook, or reduce his anxiety in such noisy environments as horse shows.
The Sound of SilenceLike all animals (including you), your horse has binaural hearing, meaning his ears can hear sound concurrently. His external ears, known as pinnae, act like satellite dishes to capture sound waves and funnel them to his inner ears. Because of the large, cuplike shape of his pinnae, especially when compared to your small, flat ones, very little sound spills out of them, so he can capture noises you might miss.
Another reason your horse can detect sounds you can't is his ability to hear a wider range of high-frequency tones, such as the ultrasonic squeak of a bat. For a prey animal, which he is, this hearing acuity makes sense. In his natural environment (open plains), other animals, including predators, are the only things besides weather that generate noise. Predators generally don't vocalize when stalking prey, so your horse is hard-wired to listen for the sounds of stealth--the snap, crackle and pop of grass and twigs under, say, a mountain lion's paws.
These telltale rustlings contain high-frequency sounds, which your horse uses to locate the direction from which they came by gauging which ear hears them first and at what intensity. Unlike animals that can hone in on a precise location, your horse needs only an approximate indication of where the sound erupted, so he can prepare to run in another direction. If the sound tells him action may be warranted, he'll follow with eye movement, then finally raise and turn his head so he can better focus, freezing his body so as not to give away his position. (You've probably seen grazing horses do this. You'll notice they also quit chewing, the better to hear.) If he perceives danger, he'll likely spook and run.
Emotional HearingAh, the spook. Then there's the spin. And let's not forget the bolt. These equine survival tools underscore the fact that your horse not only hears differently from the way you do but also can react quite differently to sound. That's because horses have a very strong emotional response to whatever sensory input they might receive. And the emotion is fear. Fear triggers your horse's flight mechanism (and puts you in danger of being run over, into, or away with). We humans often curse it, but that hair-trigger response is an important thing to have. A horse doesn't want to be brave. If he is, a lion is likely to eat him. His best shot at survival is to run first and think later.
If you spend much time around horses, you've likely noticed that some, like some people, are more "emotional" or reactive than others. One horse may spook at the slightest sound; his "Steady Eddie" barn mate takes everything in stride. Male horses may react more strongly to sound simply because they're traditionally the herd watchdogs. They don't necessarily hear any better than females do, but they feel a need to alert "their herd" to perceived danger. That's why some horses suffer more anxiety than others at shows or in any new environment. A strange place can put your horse on high alert for danger, causing him to be emotionally aroused and to make his reaction to noise even stronger than it would be in a familiar setting. If he's of the "bombproof" variety, his anxiety may not result in undesirable behavior. But if he's reactive by nature, it could not only hamper his performance but harm you.
Hearing Loss in HorsesLike you, your horse can lose his ability to detect sound as he ages. Age-related hearing loss in humans begins at about age twenty (roughly the same point as age five for a horse), starting with the higher frequencies and working down the scale. High-frequency hearing loss isn't generally obvious in humans until sometime after fifty (equivalent to fifteen for a horse). But because your horse has a wider range of high-frequency hearing than you do, he can lose more of it before you notice a lack of response to sounds you hear.
The more tuned in you are to your horse's hearing, the better off you'll both be.
A professor of psychology in the Laboratory of Comparative Hearing at Ohio's University of Toledo, Dr. Rickye Heffner has specialized in mammal hearing since 1976.
This article first appeared in the August 2000 issue of Practical Horseman magazine.

Take to the Land Lightly...

Crock Pot Breakfast

Breakfast casserole in the crock pot! Cooks while you sleep!

*To SAVE this recipe, click SHARE so it will store on your personal page.*

Ingredients:
1 bag 26 oz. frozen hash browns
12 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon ground mustard
1 16 oz. roll sausage
maple, sage or regular sausage.
Salt and pepper
16 oz. bag shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Spray crock pot and evenly spread hash browns at the bottom.
2. Crack 12 eggs in a large bowl.
3. Mix well (and slowly) using a whisk.
4. Add the milk.
5. Go ahead and sprinkle in the ground mustard. This might sound like a weird ingredient, but I've come to love (and use) this in most of my recipes.
6. Add plenty of salt....
...and lots of fresh pepper. Mix well and set aside.
7. Cook the sausage on high heat, drain and set aside.

8. Add sausage on top of hash browns.
9. Is this enough cheese? Maybe? Probably. Throw the whole big bag in there.
10. Mix it up well. Or good, depending on where you're from.
11. Pour the egg mixture over everything in the crock pot. Using a wood spoon, even everything out so it's spread evenly.
12. Turn the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours.

Idle No More

Elder's Meditation of the Day September 22

Elder's Meditation of the Day September 22
"I think the spiritual values come first and everything else follows."
--Leonard George, Chief Councilor
To properly develop, the human being needs to learn the guiding principles. It is from these principles that we make our decisions. Spiritual values are the guiding principles given to us by the Great Spirit. He says if we live by these spiritual values, the results we experience will be good. These spiritual values will develop and guide the human being by helping us to think right. Right thinking will improve our choices and decisions. Doing this will bring good consequences.

Great Spirit, teach me values first.