AsvaNara

We awoke in Rome, ate breakfast and taxied to Termini station just in time to catch the 10:58 train to Arezzo. Once here, we got bus tickets to Sansepulcro, a small Tuscan town set in the mountains. After we arrived in Sansepulcro, we borrowed a phone from a British expat and learned we had a few hours to kill before pick up. So we got some pizza and beers, yes gelato too, and walked around town for a few. It was fancy and neat and all hustle and bustle as they were setting up town for 1000 of the world's most expensive ferraris to roll through the next day. Our ride arrived and we were off. It was about a twenty minute drive to the place we would call home for the next two weeks: AsvaNara.
AsvaNara is a 200 acre farm set high in the Tuscan mountainside. Not much around here, a small village across the valley is where Saint Fransisco lived. I think we have a town named after him in California. It is really beautiful here. Meadows and trees, flowers and butterflies, and a family of wild boar about twenty strong. Hear that Kruschevo? I spooked them and got a real good look at those tusks; luckily they decided against killing me and split into the woods.
The folks here have dedicated their lives to understanding the language of the horse. They take a very spiritual path of communicating and relating with these majestic animals and their respective horsinalities. There are about 18 horses here, well 17 and one pony. They have maybe 25 acres to roam about on and are very free. They go about in a herd, as they are very social. They are not shoed, groomed, washed, stabled, or even saddled at this time of year, and all seem very happy and healthy. The owners do ride them every day in the summer but for now they get to play wild.

It is incredible to be around them. We walk into the herd and just stand still. After a few minutes, one or two will approach us. They show no fear or aggresion, just curiosity. One palamino has approached me everyday. He will come over and sniff my outstretched hands, my face and head, let me pat him on the ears or neck and then bring another over to meet me. So far I have met about ten in this way. It is really cool.

Once they all came over to our little cabin for a visit. On our small porch, (about 4x10) were three full grown horses and me, just hanging out. They started chewing the windows and flooring and one knocked a shutter off the window. Then they whinneyed and neighed and galloped off down the hill. They are not fed hay except in winter. So these days they spend about 16 hours a day grazing the grass on their 25 acres, like sheep except bigger and smarter.
The idea behind all this is to let the horses live as they were meant to and to establish a relationship with them based on trust. It seems to work. I have never been around such easy going horses. They are not skittish or shy, nor jumpy or nervous. Just peaceful and happy and friendly.
Our accomodation here is one of the many guest cabins, as AsvaNara is a destination spot. However this is mostly a year off for AsvaNara and there are no guests around right now. There is a large kitchen and a great room for presentations as well as many bathrooms with hot water. There's also a huge garden that we are getting ready for summer in the permaculture method, one hundred acres of woods, a large pond and the main house that the family lives in.
It is really quiet and peaceful here; crickets, frogs and cuckoos sing all day in the sun and give us quite a symphony to listen to as we work. I doubt we will get to ride any of the horses but it is cool to just hang out with them and be in their midst. I am afraid we will see these two weeks pass much too fast and will only be scratching the surface of Tuscany and AsvaNara before we leave Europe and return to the Americas. C'est la vie.
AsvaNara by the way means Horse Man in Sanskrit.