Wild Hearts,
Willing Spirits
© copyright 2008 Carmon Deyo all rights reserved. No text, photo or art may be reproduced for any reason without express written permission from Carmon Deyo.
Our History
I was one of those children inexplicably born with an obsession for horses and art, usually in that order. I can remember being too young to communicate well and being very frustrated when toys, books and so on didn't somehow involve horses. Even my clothes had to have horses embroidered on them by my mother.
One of my favorite things was to have my mother sketch a horse for me which I would then cut out and play with like a paper doll. One evening when I was about five, I asked my mother to draw me a horse because I had accidently torn the leg off of my last one. She was busy watching a television show and suggested to me, 'You know what a horse looks like, why don't you try drawing one yourself?' Well. That had never occurred to me! And in that moment my mother introduced me to the magic of art, of creating something you want out of nothing.
I went back to my room and carefully drew a horse, giddy with the knowledge that this was something I could do and would never have to wait on someone else for again. From that day on, when someone asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, the answer was always, 'A cowgirl and an artist.' And you know, except for the fact that I ride English and am secretly afraid of cows, that's exactly what I became.
It may sound as though I had some kind of idyllic family life, but the truth is it was quite dysfunctional and even abusive. Horses became my sanctuary and I believe even my salvation. When I was young, we lived on a 200 acre farm on the side of a mountain in northwestern Arkansas. We had a band of twenty plus broodmares who served as both breeding and riding stock. This was back in the sixties when horses were kept the old and more natural ways. Every spring we would 'rent' a stallion for several months and
Bonding time with Griton, who only has eyes for me.
Star, the black horse who started it all. My brother in hooves and the one for whom Star's Rest is named.
turn him out with the mares. There was always great drama about it and during the time he would be there, every mare would cycle in and be covered.
While a stallion was on the property, we were not allowed to mingle with the horses for safety reasons but the rest of the time, that herd was mine to run with, and run I did. I absorbed herd language as easily as I absorbed the oxygen I breathed and the safest place in the world to me was lying with my head on the neck of a foal as its mother grazed circles around us.
When I became an adult, I had a reputation for being good with problem horses. In those days, I couldn't explain exactly how or why I understood them and what they needed, but I did. When the 'natural horse training' revolution took off, I was relieved that it seemed there were others who understood a different way of being with horses and could actually express what that was. As time passed though, I realized there was something very wrong with what many of those horse trainers were teaching and doing.
It has taken me a long time and the introduction to a band of formerly wild horses to finally begin to put into words what I knew without thinking when I was a child. And there was also the addition of my husband, Mike Dibble, in the picture. Mike was new to horses and came in with fresh eyes. He immediately understood the Wild Boys and their ways and questioned the old beliefs and even the new 'natural' ones. Through him I began to understand that just maybe, there might be important things for me to say. Things that might influence how others relate to their horses. And so began the 'Grand Experiment' of asking our wild ones to teach me so that I might teach others.
My husband and I live on the side of a mountain in northeastern New Mexico with a band of four formerly wild mustangs and one domestic horse. The information in the blog, Wild Hearts, Willing Spirits, will share the lessons our wild ones teach us on a daily basis. In addition, this website will be part of the ongoing development of a book by the same name, covering lessons learned and how you might apply them to life with your own horse. If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please feel comfortable leaving them either at the blog, or contact us directly through the link at the sidebar.
Mike has a natural ease about him that brings instant trust among the Wild Boys.
Corazon in the early days, learning to wear a simple dog collar around his neck as a prelude to a halter.
Cody, a thoroughbred so frightened of the world I became his only refuge.
I had been riding and successfully showing J.R. in dressage for a year before I learned the reason he had been an unbroke seven year old when I got him, was because he had violently thrown anyone else who had ever gotten on him.
