Horses have always been a big part of my life. They offer me an invitation to lift my head up, look around, laugh, and feel a part of the bigger world. The ranch is one of the places where I remember what it means to be me. What it means to be a part of a wider community of people, animals, and nature.

As a new parent, my child also helps me to see beyond myself and to connect into something bigger. I feel ties to family and friends strengthen, especially as parents new and old come forward to share insights and offer support. I find a new rhythm that is part my own, part my son’s. I find renewed meaning in small things—cooking, bathing, observing another. Instead of cursing red lights, I tally the added minutes my son will have to nap in the car.

But in other ways, parenthood has been humbling. I haven’t done this before; I don’t know what impact my choices now will bring in the future. I have to trust my instincts to care for my son, trust that we will both learn and grow through our experiences together.

I am also remembering how to find myself while helping create a world for another being. I am remembering how to identify my bigness in a world that can—if only for moments—seem small.

In my journey as a parent, horses are helping me to find and re-find myself. When I slow down and spend time with them without an agenda, I am struck by our ability to see eye to eye, to recognize the being inside of one another. I see it there, too, in the exchanges my son Quinn has with the animals. They see one another, not as someone who has a demand or someone who can do something for the other, but as a being who simply is. They look at each other with curiosity, with enjoyment. They see the life in one another.

So, as we take steps further into the New Year, I invite anyone who is looking to reconnect with something greater to come spend a little time at the ranch. There are lots of ways to get involved.