the CHOICE Tribe Herd

  • Tucker

    E.E.INNERSTANDING™ FACILITATOR

    CHOICE HERD OREGON

    Tucker is an 19 y/o appendix gelding. He was adopted in 2011 with major physical rehabilitation needs. Following his body’s year long healing journey, he became the first member of our education herd and has been involved in the entire evolution of CHOICE Horsemanship™ - Harmony with Horses to CHOICE Tribe™. He spent the past few years sharing an at choice partnership with a youth student both on the ground and mounted. Tucker teaches lessons of patience and resilience in his human interactions.

  • Walnut

    E.E.INNERSTANDING™ FACILITATOR

    CHOICE HERD OREGON

    Walnut is a 5 y/o miniature donkey. We adopted his mother from an Oregon equine rescue with a possibility of being pregnant. He was born 10/31/2017 and is the second foal to join our herd. His life has been filled with aware and loving behavior from humans and all of his experiences are grounded in at choice principles. Walnut’s development has facilitated a curious, willing, playful, and very expressive mini donk who wants nothing more than to engage with humans - and receive scratches!

  • MoonShadow

    E.E.INNERSTANDING™ FACILITATOR

    CHOICE HERD OREGON

    Moon is a 22 y/o APHA gelding who was donated to our program in 2017. When he arrived, his outward behavior was that of a ‘well-trained’ horse - obedient, responsive, and mellow. As his choice to interact with humans was returned to him, his true temperament began to peek through which exposed a chronic state of shut-down. Through the simple, transformative power of having a choice, Moon’s nervous system has returned to a cycle of healthy regulation where he can freely express his feelings in horse-human situations. Moon is a kind, in-your-pocket guy who is first to approaches when humans enter the paddock. He willingly works with students both on the ground and mounted.

  • HanSolo

    E.E.INNERSTANDING™ FACILITATOR

    CHOICE HERD OREGON

    Han is a 24 y/o miniature horse. He was adopted into our program in 2016 from a pony ride outfit. Han spent several years cautiously exploring what ‘having a choice’ meant before his nervous system was able to take a deep-breath and fully relax with humans. Independent and inquisitive, he is a phenomenal facilitator of presence and tends to engage with humans during breathwork and energy sessions.

  • Chewy

    E.E.INNERSTANDING™ FACILITATOR

    CHOICE HERD OREGON

    Chewy is an 8 y/o miniature horse. He was donated to our program by a farm-based preschool in 2016 and spent several years living off-site as a small child’s companion before rejoining the CHOICE herd. Chewy is the smallest equine member of our herd but his personality is certainly one of the biggest. He is curious, friendly, and playful with both horse and human friends.

  • HoneyBee

    E.E.INNERSTANDING™ FACILITATOR

    CHOICE HERD HAWAI’I

    HoneyBee is 16 y/o quarter horse mare. She was rescued by our Founder as an orphan yearling in CA and their parallel journey of healing is the original inspiration that led to CHOICE Horsemanship™, and subsequently, CHOICE Tribe™. HoneyBee is a highly sensitive and independent individual whose gift is to teach humans to read energy ahead of physical behavior.

  • Wyatt

    E.E.INNERSTANDING™ FACILITATOR

    CHOICE HERD HAWAI’I

    Wyatt is a 17 y/o Stinking Water BLM mustang gelding. He was adopted into our program from an Oregon equine rescue and possessed an extensive dressage and natural horsemanship vocabulary from prior horse-human experiences. He was the first of our horse who said “Yes” to participating with humans at choice and the first to allow a rider at choice. He is willing to work with multiple human partners and has shared that he is here to be a teacher and guide. Wyatt’s sensitive, fair nature has landed him role of alpha of our HI herd.

  • PrayerRoot

    E.E.INNERSTANDING™ FACILITATOR

    CHOICE HERD HAWAI’I

    Root is an 9 y/o arabian cross gelding. We adopted his mother from an Oregon equine rescue at 9 months pregnant after having active involvement in her rescue process. He was born on 4/27/2014 and was the first foal to join our herd. He is a full embodiement of at choice principles and one of the core guides in the program’s development. Root has developed into a curious, willing, and gentle guy who symbolizes our original love of the horse.

  • Ricky

    E.E.INNERSTANDING™ FACILITATOR

    CHOICE HERD HAWAI’I

    Ricky is a 21 y/o arabian | welsh pony gelding. He was donated to our program and has traversed an extensive nervous system rehabilitation journey since his arrival. For years, Jordanna was the only being Ricky made intentional connections with. Through quiet, awareness-focused relationship building she helped guide Ricky to find inner peace. They share a deep bond which grew to being able to trail ride at choice―bridleless―around Central Oregon. Ricky is still highly sensitive and he is great model of what allowing choice can create.

  • Cratos

    E.E.INNERSTANDING™ FACILITATOR

    CHOICE HERD HAWAI’I

    Cratos is a 13 y/o Swedish Warmblood gelding. He came into our program as a foster situation - a dressage show horse who needed to learn how to be a horse. His rehabilitation journey was first facilitated by the herd who helped him develop social skills and fulfilled his play drive; and secondly by humans who built trust and understanding through at choice interactions. Everyone fell in love with this highly inquisitive, playful giant once he found his ‘voice’ and he became a permanent member of the CHOICE her - now roaming the rolling pastures below Mauna Kea.

  • Seeker

    E.E.INNERSTANDING™ FACILITATOR

    CHOICE HERD OREGON

    Bio Coming Soon!

  • Maverick

    E.E.INNERSTANDING™ FACILITATOR

    CHOICE HERD OREGON

    Bio Coming Soon!

  • Cassie

    E.E.INNERSTANDING™ FACILITATOR

    CHOICE HERD OREGON

    Bio Coming Soon!

  • Gypsy

    E.E.INNERSTANDING™ FACILITATOR

    CHOICE HERD OREGON

    Bio Coming Soon!

the CHOICE Tribe Humans

Jordanna Anawalt

FOUNDER & CONGRUENT COMMUNICATION COACH

From her earliest memories, Jordanna was tuned in to the whispers of the natural world and is a lifelong student of the teachings of the 7-Directions as well as the symbolism contained within The Dreaming. During an out of body experience when she was an adolescent, a being appeared and offered her the following insight: "In every moment, you have a choice. You can choose to live in a story that is created by what's happening to you; or you can choose to live in a story where you are the creator of events. Your experience is simply your choice." Jordanna carried this spiritual guidance as a compass into adulthood and in 2018, one of her school horses spoke and told her a story of the direct correlation between global well-being and humankind’s relationship with both the horse ― domestication to present ― and the natural world ― hunter-gather society to present. This communication was a choice-point in Jordanna's journey, and it initiated an immersive walk alongside Horse to explore and experience the synonymous character and spirit in which both horses and indigenous cultures live their lives: aware and attuned to nature’s inherent design of cooperation and congruence. Jordanna traveled to Western Australia, Indonesia, and Hawaii where she was a student of the land and several Medicine Keepers who gifted her the remembering of the Horse as a representation of Nature. When she returned to the PNW, she held a strongly rooted understanding of the need to cultivate a community connection space where the approach to holistic well-being was inspirited by indigenous wisdoms and inspired by the Medicine Horse and her way of life. She made a choice to create what was being called forward and CHOICE Tribe was born.

Jordanna works as a Congruent Communication Coach with humans and horses, a Medicine Drum Dreaming Guide, an artist, a story holder, and a communication channel for those without spoken language. She is the creator of Equine Experiential InnerStanding™ and the specialization of CHOICE Horsemanship™. Her work focuses on guiding humans and horses to oneness by revitalizing indigenous approaches to live in harmony with the natural world.

CHOICE Tribe was founded in 2019 out of a deep admiration and reverence for the Horse alongside Jordanna's indigenous heritage―Hupa―which honors the inextricable connection between the natural world and spirit plane. The programs CHOICE Tribe presents to the world are an embodiment of the original knowing that there is no separation between Nature and the People, because we are Nature.

Jordanna is an enrolled member of the federally recognized Hoopa Valley Tribe of Northern California and has indigenous ancestry in the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation and the geographic regions of the Azores, Yucatan, and Scotland.

Bend, Oregon | CHOICE Campus

Located in sunny Central Oregon, our Bend campus is situated just east of town on 15 acres. This campus is the hub of our JOURNEY programs ―Equine Experiential InnerStanding™ and CHOICE Horsemanship™―and is the location for our RHYTHM Circle programs. We were offered the opportunity to lease this property and revive the equine facility infrastructure after years of it sitting empty. We moved our operations here in July 2021 following the sale of our Bend ranch and are deeply grateful to listen to, learn from, and love this beautiful piece of high desert land.

Land Acknowledgement | We acknowledge that the beautiful Central Oregon land that our campus currently resides on are the original homelands of the Wasq'u (Wasco) and Tana'nma (Warm Springs) people now known as the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. The Wasq'u (Wasco) and Tana'nma (Warm Springs) people ceded this land to the U.S. government in the treaty of Middle Oregon of 1855 while retaining regular and customary hunting, fishing, and gathering rights. We recognize and respect the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs as the original stewards of this land where we reside, remember, and learn. Our campus and programs exist on stolen land. We are guests with our tribal neighbors walking through life and caretaking in these spaces together.

 

Āhualoa, Hawai’i | CHOICE Homestead

Located on the Hāmākua Coast of Hawai’i, the Āhualoa homestead sits on 17 acres overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the summit of Mauna Kea. This ʻāina is a living expression of reciprocity, reverence, and renewal. Caretaking for this is ʻāina is a conscious act to choose regenerative, nature-centric living. Listening to land’s wisdoms and moving from the heart, we are educating ourselves and implementing indigenous land design, stewardship, and building techniques. The Homestead is a place of guidance for Jordanna and her family and a sanctuary for their personal CHOICE Herd. Our dream is to create a space to be natural congruence for the local community and CHOICE Tribe Team.

Land Acknowledgment I We acknowledge that the ‘āina on which our homestead is located in the Ahualoa Homesteads, in the ahupuaʻa of Āhualoa, Hāmākua, is part of the larger territory recognized by Indigenous Hawaiians as their ancestral grandmother, Papahānaumoku. We recognize that her majesty Queen Lili‘uokalani yielded the Hawaiian Kingdom and these territories under duress and protest to the United States to avoid the bloodshed of her people. We further recognize that Hawai‘i remains an illegally occupied state of America. We recognize that each moment we are in Hawai‘i she nourishes and gifts us with the opportunity to breathe her air, eat from her soils, drink from her waters, bathe in her sun, swim in her oceans, be kissed by her rains, and be embraced by her winds. We further recognize that generations of Indigenous Hawaiians and their knowledge systems shaped Hawai‘i in sustainable ways that allow us to enjoy these gifts today. For this we are grateful and as settlers, we seek to support the varied strategies that the Indigenous peoples of Hawai‘i are using to protect their land and their communities, and we commit to dedicating time and resources to working in solidarity.