One of our wonderful volunteers, Kylie, recently asked what the zen in Zenhorse meant. What a good question. Here is what it means and how it all began…
A long time ago in a land far far away… Okay, well about 10 years ago, I was starting to imagine a logo for my budding Equus Coaching business. I already had an academic coaching and life coaching LLC, so I wasn’t really looking for a name for the Equus Coaching piece; I was just going to fold it into my existing practice. I did think a logo would be nice as a delineation though, so I was starting to get a visual in my mind, but it hadn’t fully taken shape.
I was still working and teaching at Webster University at that time, so I approached an extremely talented colleague of mine, Erin Bullerdieck. Erin was running some wonderful programs at Webster, but her side hustle was graphic design, so I wanted to get her input. I described to her as best I could the images in my mind.
I said that first of all I wanted a symbol that represented zen like something brush strokey or swishy like the zen swirl. Zen was important to me because it really speaks of the essence of the work we are doing with horses and people. Wisdom Library says, “Zen emphasizes experiential wisdom, the attainment of awakening.” Dictionary.com defines zen as, “a state of meditative calm in which one uses direct intuitive insights as a way of thinking and acting.” This still feels perfect as a description of what the horses bring to the therapeutic experience as we connect deep within ourselves and with them.
Then I told Erin, “Oh yeah, and of course the horse has to be represented in the logo somehow.” Pretty straightforward there.
And then she said it. “So what you need is a zenhorse.” (insert sound of mind exploding) Just like that. Pow. Right between the eyes and into my heart. I knew in that very instant she was right. More than she knew. “Yes, Erin. That is exactly what I need. Zenhorse.”
I knew to the depths of my soul that would be the name of something more than my coaching practice, although I didn’t at the time know for what. Based solely on that inner knowing, I reached out to a trademark attorney and began the registration process.
I didn’t use Zenhorse as the name of my coaching practice as I was doing a couple different types of coaching at that time. I saved it. For years. Still not sure for what. Until… we decided to create the nonprofit.
Finally, it all came together, and that wonderful amazing name got its day in the sun. And that is how Zenhorse got its name and what the name means.
I feel it is important to share that the person who brought the Zenhorse logo to life after many hours of pulling it from my brain is Scott Palermo. He is truly amazing at his work and just a super nice guy. Scott continues to create all of our sub-logos for projects and programs based off of our original design.
Huge thank you's to Erin Bullerdieck & Scott Palermo, and thank you to all of you who support and love Zenhorse as much as we do.
If you’d like to contact Scott, you can find him at askeetzproduction.com.