If I had a dollar for every time someone has told me “Horse people hate technology,” this is where Griffy, Talos and I would live:

I’ve heard horse people say they hate technology while sitting on a zoom meeting with people from around the world. I’ve heard them say they hate it while they text their vet, who will respond instantly and tell them about new drugs developed to treat the rare condition their horse has. They will say they hate it in discussions on Reddit and Facebook and in comments on Instagram that let them see horses and horse people from around the world.

As for, me, well, I freaking *LOVE* technology.

When I was 18 and went off to college, for a lot of reasons that stemmed mostly from poor life choices made by a sheltered 18-year-old, I was miserable. That was in 1994, and there was this new thing called the internet. Yes, I’m old.

I spent many lonely nights in my school’s computer lab, aimlessly wandering around the internet. I browsed painstakingly crafted geocities websites with color palettes that would make your eyes bleed, I read random live journals full of angst and bad poetry, and I subscribed to listservs to argue about the hidden meaning of X-Files episodes. I know that literally none of that makes sense to anyone, so suffice it to say, I’ve been around the internet a really long time.

And you know what I discovered on those lonely nights, tucked in a corner, surfing around on a cutting-edge Bondi Blue iMac?

The purpose of technology is to connect us.

We crave the exact same thing our horses do – to be heard, to be understood, and to find our place in the herd. Technology enables us to broaden the search – your people are out there, and thanks to the magic of our interconnected, digital world, you can find them. Social media has been the cause of a lot (A LOT) of strife, and I’m certainly not arguing it’s always a force for good. But the wealth of information and connections online have enhanced my life exponentially.

When I reconnected with horses as an adult in 2019, it was because I found a Groupon for a trail ride online. I was smitten, and I wanted more – more horse people, more horse conversations, more horse pictures. I wanted to know where the horse people were, what they did, how they lived. So I went onto Facebook and I joined literally every horse-related group I could find. Turns out there were a lot. I learned where there were trails to ride. I learned training tips. I learned about saddle fitting, shoeing, feeding, mane and tail care, breeding, and a host of other topics.

My co-worker sent me a blog she liked to read by this woman named Anna Blake. 4 Classes, 3 clinics, and one sleepy Corgi later, my whole philosophy surrounding how I treat, train, interact, and think of my horses has changed. I am grateful every day for the relationship I have with Griffy and the one that is building with Talos.

Thanks to Facebook, I saw an ad for a “Warrior Woman’s Weekend.” I jetted off to California to Hidden Creek Ranch where, for the first time in my life, I shot an arrow off a horse and met Heather Lomax, who is one of the best mounted archers in America.

In early 2023, I saw a thread on Reddit about horse-themed vacations. That July, I flew to the Netherlands and got to gallop a friesian horse on the beach:

I followed a leather worker/archer/creator called Witch and Crow on Facebook; they are lovely, amazing people. They did a mounted archery clinic at Cedar Creek Saddle Club and that led me to meet C., and knowing her made every single step of my journey from the first time in the saddle in 2019 to here worth it. Without her, I wouldn’t have Griffy anymore; I wouldn’t have Talos, and I wouldn’t have a wonderful person in my life. ❤

Before I get too sappy, let me reiterate this – all of these random, wonderful things I found were because of the way technology enables us to connect with each other. More than just a way for me to make a living, technology has provided me with wonderful, life-changing, incredible people and experiences.

And also, this meme: