Open Letter to Jennifer at HelpExchange

> Could you answer some of the questions I put in the previous email so that I

> can gain a better understanding of what kind of work you have helpers do,

> plus what sort of amenities are provided for helpers?


Your previous questions:
1. Could you tell me some more about what you offer, and what you are looking for as far as a helper goes?

2. Will you be training people to train horses? How much equestrian experience are you looking for?

3. Is this in exchange for room and board? What about food?

4. What other kind of duties would be required of me, and how many hours a week?

Answers:
1. We offer experience. We are looking for someone who would rather do something than nothing and that can take direction. Someone that has a positive attitude and doesn't have to be coerced or cajoled to participate in a helpful way.

2. As a training assistant, I would expect that person to take direction. I would not want someone to show up all full of their own training philosophy and not open to how I am doing things (which is different than most). The more experience they have, the bigger of a problem it is, to a point, and then they are aware that there are "many roads to Rome". So lack of experience is not a problem. Nervous energy is a problem, anger and impatience are both problems. Fearfulness is also a problem. Horse trainers have to be rather systematic, steady, and patient.

3. This IS in exchange for room and board. Board means that I provide food. I don't provide junk food or soda pops. We eat meals prepared from unprocessed foods (whole foods). We all help in the prep. and planning for the meals. We can do vegetarian or a modest amount of meat. I think meat is stinky but I'm an omnivore.

4. You would be helping me do what ever we are doing. For example we might be building a fence, plastering a wall, weeding the garden. What ever we need to do. It's very zen, really. We will have horse manure to put in the compost piles and water troughs to clean and fill. We might have green chile to roast by the time you get here. I don't partition the work to be done by status, we just do what needs to be done. I expect volunteers to give me four hours a day, which doesn't include the time it takes us to cook meals or do our housekeeping chores like sweeping. It depends where the animals are in their training as to what we might be doing with them. Primarily you would be working on the ground with animals and not training from the saddle.

I get the sense that you want everything tied down and all the t's crossed and i's dotted. You might not like the fact that we live more in the moment. I really have absolutely NO IDEA of what might be happening in July beyond that we might be picking chile and the monsoon might be in progress. I work out things with each person that comes; what they end up doing is what I feel comfortable having them do and what they want to do. Some people show up and want to dig holes, I find them a place to do it. Some people want to learn to weld or to do carpentry, they get to. Some people want to work with animals, that can happen. I have an open mind about who shows up. I don't need them to fit a certain profile if they have a positive approach to interacting with the physical realm of life. You are worrying about something more than a half a year away, that is a red flag for me.

We don't have an "organization". We are just two people doing something strange by cultural standards. We aren't even really two people, because, really, this is my project. That's what worries me about your expectations.... either you are the kind of person that can enjoy themselves when the river comes up and you can't get home for a day or you are the kind of person that resents things not happening as planned. In Largo, it won't happen AS PLANNED, that is for sure. It's all about experience and savoring the adventure. If you need a definite plan, you probably aren't ready for the adventure.

Oh, I almost over looked the question about amenities provided. Showers, beds in rooms, minimalist furniture, bathrooms in the gym building, communal spaces. Actually, I don't even understand the question. What are amenities? I just looked at a hotel website where you choose amenities: I guess the answer is high-speed internet, pets allowed, free breakfast.

Yrs,
Patricia