2023 Season Recap

Greetings friends, donors, volunteers, and graduates,

Writing these wrap-up letters year after year is never an easy feat. Looking back, each class can feel like a whole lifetime lived. There is never a single ah-ha moment here, but rather each detail is intricately woven together over 41- days in so many varied and diverse moments, that it's difficult to share how incredibly profound the work truly is. 

In our quest for growth here, it is essential that we confront falsehoods that hinder our progress. To do this one must be willing to let go of the life we planned in exchange for the life that is waiting for us. Over the 41- days, each student is asked to become their own laboratory, deconstructing what they have agreed to and using each experience as a curriculum to gain knowledge and insight into the conditions they have created for themselves. Their choices and actions bear witness to themselves regardless of the external circumstances. This year we had stories that were heartbreaking, devastating, complicated, and from the outside seemingly impossible. These are the precise conditions for radical transformation and change. We need challenges because if there were none, there would be no way to learn about ourselves. A mantra for the year. The challenges will always be there, but our relationship with them changes because we change. 

Over these past 2.5 years, we have been in a Capital Campaign. The support to make this place possible has been beyond incredible. Thank you hardly sums it up. Long before we had a ranch or support this occurred with no running water, facilities, or electricity, holding classes under a leaky wind-torn tarp and cooking food over an open fire. Because it's real and timeless. 

Achievements play a role in our contemporary society, but the concept that what we have acquired as an organization is intrinsically tied to our organizational worth is a pervasive lie. It all exists to provide opportunities for individuals to walk in through the steel gates and then walk out with the true potential to make a difference in their immediate world, hearts, and homes, and then a ripple into the world around them. Humans whose actions will no longer rob the future from the next generation, but enhance it. While things have their rightful place in our world they are not why we exist and never will be the sole determinants of our self-worth. 

This year 32 individuals embarked on a long and arduous journey and of the many journeys we can take in this life, but none are as important as the one that goes within leading to a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us. No longer seeking external validation but focused on the quality of one's inner life. Today it's undeniable to even the most skeptical of minds that we are in a time of great upheaval and transformation. It's in these times of uncertainty and times of hardship that we discover. The elements of water, fire, heat, and cold and the horses, ranch, mountains, and wilderness all existing in place have created a remarkable place for this healing to occur. Day in and day out each moment is an opportunity for an individual to course correct here at H&H. 

You are making it possible. I want to extend a personal thank you and gratitude to all the volunteers (Sweden, Australia, UK too!) this season, the staff and horses, returning students, class leaders from the tribe, and the donors who make each moment possible in this incredible work. We look forward to sharing stories from this season, and what changes and additions will be upcoming, along with our lessons learned, and connect with you on various opportunities that are arising to get more involved. I hope to see everyone at our Gala, on October 14th.

Micah Fink,

CEO Founder