About this podcast
In Relatively Stable we delve into the journeys of those who have faced challenges, uncovered their passions, and discovered resilience along the way. Whether you're here for the stories, seeking inspiration, or simply drawn to the wisdom we glean from horses—and life—you’re in the right place. Let’s dive into the narratives that remind us how to stay relatively stable, no matter what comes our way.
stableroots.substack.com
Episodes
The newest 20 of 86 episodes
- Oxytocin Has Entered the Chat · 23 min · Season 3 Episode 29Oxytocin Has Entered the Chat: Dopamine Is So Yesterday What happens when you've spent most of your life preparing for danger and suddenly find yourself somewhere you feel safe?…
- It’s Just Anxiety, Darling · 19 min · Season 3 Episode 28What happens when we become so good at tolerating discomfort that nobody notices we're suffering? After three years of being told the numbness in my hands was anxiety, a nerve…
- Hope Always Goes Clean · 26 min · Season 3 Episode 27What happens when you find an old version of yourself in a box of dusty photographs, and realize you don’t miss her, but you’re awfully glad somebody took her picture? This week…
- Practical Farm Magic · 29 min · Season 3 Episode 26What if Lot’s wife had OCD? My mother has been asking this question for a long time. Maybe Lot's wife wasn't longing for Sodom. Maybe she was simply halfway down the road when…
- Mane Character Energy · 23 min · Season 3 Episode 25It took a quarter million words to let the horses tell their own stories. This week in Stable Roots, I’m talking about what happened when I accidentally stopped writing around…
- Julian Thinks the Barn Is Stupid · 29 min · Season 3 Episode 24What’s the difference between being in control and being controlling? This week in Stable Roots, I’m thinking about all the ways I’ve confused the two — from spending four hours…
- The Four Seasons · 30 min · Season 3 Episode 23The Four Seasons: An almanac for those who are emotionally dependent on mowing grass Kim has a problem. Summer isn’t even over yet, and she’s already worried about what will…
- Alpha is a Misnomer · 35 min · Season 1 Episode 22Alpha is a Misnomer: On horses, wolves, the Cold War, and our need to know who is in charge Who is actually in charge in a herd of horses? For a very long time, we thought we…
- A Total Eclipse of the Foxtail · 20 min · Season 2 Episode 21A weed can be growing beside you for years without causing a bit of trouble. Then somebody teaches you its name — and tells you to be afraid of it. Suddenly, it’s everywhere…
- But Will There Be Riding? · 18 min · Season 2 Episode 29But Will There Be Riding? A social media post that took five minutes for me to write reached more than 40,000 people in a couple hours. It wasn't my weekly essay, nor a podcast…
- A Time for Everything · 17 min · Season 2 Episode 28This week in Stable Roots, a rug becomes much more than a rug. As I begin clearing out the room where my father died, I unknowingly prepare my heart for the loss of a dear…
- Horse with a Pearl Earring · 18 min · Season 2 Episode 27Horse with a Pearl Earring What do a missing pearl earring, a flea-bitten gray mare named Penny, and three teenagers sleeping in a horse pasture have in common? This week in…
- The Trees Speak · 17 min · Season 2 Episode 26A few weeks before my wedding, a tree started singing. Christopher and I were standing beside an old pond, preparing to say our vows beneath its branches, when we heard a sound…
- The Joy of Mowing · 23 min · Season 2 Episode 25What if mowing wasn't a chore? This week in Stable Roots, Kim Carter reflects on why climbing onto a tractor has become one of the most restorative parts of life at Lavender…
- Granny Magic · 29 min · Season 2 Episode 24Granny Magic: A witness statement from the Blue Ridge Mountains What if the old women knew something we've forgotten? This week, I'm taking you back to one hot summer afternoon…
- Shut Up and Listen · 25 min · Season 2 Episode 23The Ability to Be Taught Why horses care less about what we think we know. What if the most important learning skill isn't intelligence? This week, Kim Carter begins with a…
- A Future Me Problem · 19 min · Season 2 Episode 22What year is your problem from? In this week's Stable Roots, Kim explores a simple thought experiment that came to her in the wee hours between waking and sleeping: What happens…
- I'm So Glad I Was Evicted · 17 min · Season 2 Episode 21The best solutions often come at the worst cost. For two decades, Kim grew a business and a life inside the protective casing of fear—terrified of what would happen if she were…
- The Dreaming · 28 min · Season 2 Episode 20This week's essay started as a dream about a house I didn't know I owned. Then, it became something bigger — an investigation into why the nature of my dreaming changed the…
- The Grass Isn't Always Greener · 18 min · Season 2 Episode 19This week's episode is the audio companion to the Stable Roots essay — and it starts with Hero, my little chestnut Quarter Horse, army-crawling under an electric fence in the…
