#130 Living Nomadically on Horseback with Michael Ridge

Michael ridge horseback nomadic

Michael ridge horseback nomadic

Michael Ridge has spent the last decade living and traveling nomadically on horseback, mostly in the Pacific Northwest. He is an expert in primitive skills and wild foods, and possesses a level of bravery and commitment to core values that I find extraordinarily impressive. In our conversation, Michael shares about the events that led him to his current life on horseback, and outlines what his day-to-day has looked like, season by season, for the past ten years. We discuss civilization, technology, authenticity, grief, ecology, and community, and Michael outlines the the logistical, psychological, spiritual and emotional tools necessary to live the kind of life he’s chosen. This conversation is by far one of my favorite episodes of the podcast, and deserves more than one listen.

Find Michael on Instagram, TikTok and Youtube.

Here is a short video about Finisia Medrano, Michael’s teacher –

Songs featured: “And You Don’t Even Know You Hurt Me” by Nick Murphy, “Fertile Ground” by Evan Fraser, Vir McCoy, Rising Appalachia, and Chloe Smith, and “Wandering Nomad” by Cody Francis

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Community is a Practice

On August 21st, 2017, I woke up in a tent in the middle of a field in Rigby, Idaho. I had paid some farm owners fifty bucks to camp on their empty land so that I could watch the total solar eclipse at 11:33 that morning.

It was the fourth day of a solo road trip that began on my twenty-ninth birthday. I had kicked off the celebration by driving twelve hours from Los Angeles to Zion National Park and crying myself to sleep. From there, I headed north to Salt Lake City, then made my way to Rigby, just north of Idaho Falls.

At this point, in the summer of 2017, I was halfway through what I still consider to be the most challenging year of my life. I had left my marriage, stopped speaking to my mother, and was physically ill to the point of forced social isolation. I was a mess, trudging through the darkness of the tunnel, still far from seeing ay light appear at the end.

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