Cameo’s Cauldron

… in which Cameo Miller stirs her thoughts and ideas to see what rises to the top.

A Light in the Darkness

By Cameo Miller Illustration by Bethany Caskey

Iam one of the oldest members of this group so I can truthfully say that I have lived through a lot of turbulent times and seen a lot of changes. There have been natural disasters where people from all different countries have come together to help those affected. There have been wars and regime changes. But the only times I can compare the current one to are in history books—further back than any now alive can remember. Times when such catastrophic things occurred that there was a major shift in the earth’s climate and geographical features. Times when regimes did not take care of the people, so civilizations fell and the direction of the lives of whole populations changed. We, as a total people, do not seem to be able to remember and thus learn from history. We seem to be doomed to repeat it every few generations. And the earth cycles through its own changes.

Sometimes it’s hard not to get pessimistic or so frightened by the current situation around us. But there are always bright spots in every situation, areas that lead towards hope for the future. That is what I see in those of us who are in our profession.

We are people who intimately connect with animals and nature every day. So we pay attention to things like clean water and healthy food sources (often more so for our animals than ourselves, but most of us recognize the need for these things in our own lives and the lives of our families too). Most of us are not extravagantly rich so recognize the need to conserve resources, reuse what we can, and take good care of what we have. We are noted for sharing with each other when in need—even at competitive events. We may be a bit biased towards certain breeds or disciplines, but when push comes to shove, we will defend and protect any equine (and most other animals as well). Taking good care of people (whether our students or not), animals (ours and any that happen to be around us), and the environment (it’s where we live and work after all) is nothing new, not something we have to think to do or work on doing. It’s just who we are all the time.

There are a few bad apples in the horse world, but think about it; you can name them. They aren’t working in the shadows, they don’t go unseen. For the most part they are ostracized and denounced by the vast majority of people in our horse world. Maybe this is because, as far as I know, all the people running equine organizations are people who are part of that group, people who are intimately connected to the decisions they are making. They may also have expertise in areas like business, finance, law, etc., but they are first and foremost horse people. This is very different from many of our truly broken systems in the world right now. Horse people are not immune to not learning from history— Xenophon wrote about how to train horses gently and humanely in 300 BCE. But that knowledge was forgotten and it became the fashion to “break” horses, literally. We have only just recently relearned how much better it is to work with the horse. We, in this profession, are not perfect, but we have so many good qualities. So if you are starting to get discouraged, just take a good look around you—not in the distance, but close to home, to those you know and work with every day, be they human or animal.

We are intimately connected to animals and nature, but so very many people nowadays are not. Whether it is because they live in cities, only work with devices, only play in a virtual world instead of a real one, or for some other reasons, they have lost their understanding about why and how the environment is important. One of the things we can do to improve the world today is to speak up and denounce practices and people who are not taking care of people, animals, the environment, our earth. People see things that are wrong, but don’t want to be the focus of attention if they actively point out the wrong. If someone is brave enough to be first, there are often many who agree and add their voices. If you aren’t comfortable being the one who is first, look for places where you can add your voice or actions. Wherever you see craziness around you, do what you can to mitigate it. Think one voice won’t be heard— look at Greta Thunberg. I’m not saying we should all join a movement of some sort— just that we should speak up for what is important to us. To make it known to those around us who may not know what we know. Don’t you feel better when you see someone doing something good in a Facebook post? Don’t you feel uplifted by a heartwarming story on the news? We can also be part of the positive balance to the chaos around us. We can let others know there is reason for hope and optimism because we see it all the time. We can share some of the light that is us and let it shine into the darkness.

We work really hard all the time, and there may be many things we don’t have, but we are blessed to have so much positive energy around us every day. We may be totally exhausted at the end of a day, but we can sit in the barn, listening to contented horses munching on hay, and be replenished ourselves. We may be having a lot of trouble with a particular student or parent, but there are lots more ‘aha’ moments from our students to bring us joy. We may curse having to go out in snow or ice or really ➢ continued on page 33