“Perfect balance is hard to strike-in life and on horses. Sometimes you will be out of whack, and if you know it’s temporary, it’s okay…you just can’t stay that way forever, or you’ll burn out and possibly harm the people around you.”
― Chelsea Canedy: Finding Purpose
I am excited to introduce this next book. Although I have not yet met the author, she has been on my radar for several years as she is a friend of Tik and Sinead Maynard. She routinely hosts a highly sought after symposium at her farm each year and the riders apply for acceptance into the clinic. I have a friend who was selected to ride at the symposium a couple of years ago. Interestingly I also realized that we have been at the same place on a few occasions as I have seen her ride with Jimmy Wofford (Our Final Trailride and Equine Affaire and again with Pat Parelli the following year…it was my quiet year of blogging as I took on my first year of showing).
Published November on 2025, this new release is titled Finding Purpose: A Life Managing the Passion, Compulsion, and Borderline Addiction Called Horses by Chelsea Canedy. The soft cover book is 328 pages, includes a few pages about midway with color photographs. The book, an autobiography, follows Chelsea on her journey and navigating the world of horses while finding growth within herself.
You can get your copy directly here at Trafalgar Square books!
*NOTE* Disappointingly, the new owners of Trafalgar Square Books have made it difficult for readers and authors…so although this book is published by the Trafalgar Square Books, this particular book is third party only. The page I send you to will give you the options and links to purchase the book (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop, Bam, Powell’s).
You can also visit her at her website: https://www.chelseacanedy.com/
“Don’t let your ego get in the way of becoming better at the things you are passionate about. That is the fastest way to put a big glass ceiling above yourself.”
― Chelsea Canedy: Finding Purpose
Finding Purpose, by Chelsea Canedy, is a book truly about Chelsea Finding her Purpose in life. We follow her journey through 27 chapters…each aptly named as she finds a new element in her life that has led her to today. From Finding Compassion and Curiosity we travel through her life…Finding Openness….Finding the Bottom….Finding Transformation….Finding Community….and finally Finding Enough.
Chelsea grew up in Connecticut. She found horses through a girl scout camp which led her to seek riding lessons. She grew up riding with the Pony Club. I found I related to many of the sentiments she described. Feeling the pressure to socially blend in everywhere but the barn. I know that exact feeling as I too struggled making friends at school. I always felt I was torn between different versions of myself and, naturally, horses allowed me to become my most authentic self. I imagine many of us lifelong horse people have a similar experience.
“I lived in a state of lack. A scarcity mindset. I thought that working harder and pushing through would improve the situation I perceived to be so poor, but all it sis was lead to burnout. I was exhausted and frustrated and couldn’t see the gift that was the horses who were right in front of me..”
― Chelsea Canedy: Finding Purpose
In her college years Chelsea was given an extraordinary opportunity to work with Beth Baumert. (If you’ve missed it check out a couple of articles I wrote about Beth… A Day With Beth Baumert and The Sunday Review: When Two Spines Align by Beth Baumert). While Pony Club had given her the basic groundwork for her horsemanship her experience with Beth laid down the fundamentals and provided her the structure that would lead her through her career.
I really enjoyed Chelsea’s narrative as she describes an experience that she defined as rock bottom…and how it helped to redirect and redefine her life. Chelsea is honest and raw in her writing and you can feel her shame when she describes her past regrets.
“It’s easy to give others the heartfelt, empathetic advice to be gentle with yourself when traversing this kind of terrain, but it is harder to follow the rule for yourself-or at least it is for me.”
― Chelsea Canedy: Finding Purpose
We follow Chelsea’s journey as she becomes a workings student. Like myself, she found herself in moments where she was in the right place and the right time and she met the right people. She was open to new opportunities and it led to her becoming a trainer for different farms throughout her life. These experiences, although temporary, all gave her new insights into her life as a horsewoman. They helped shape her.
“To me, true toughness doesn’t mean being a doormat. It doesn’t mean shutting up and taking it because “that’s the price of learning under the best.” It means knowing and valuing yourself enough to get out of a situation that has the potential to dissuade you from your larger goals and seeking a place that encourages you to reach them.”
― Chelsea Canedy: Finding Purpose
That openness also led her to finding what she know calls home at Unexpected Farm in Wales, Maine. She casually describes the state of disrepair it was in and how they did a lot of work to fix it up before running clinics. I think she probably rushed through this chapter (is it being humble?). From the sounds of what was to be done and how they accomplished it is such a small span of time I imagined her and her husband never sleeping and working like maniacs. That seems to be something we do as devoted horse people.
In 2018 she found Tik Maynard while attending Equine Affaire. She was drawn to his approach in horsemanship and knew then she wanted to learn more. Since then it seems their stories intertwine back and forth. She would visit him in Florida. He would visit for Symposiums on her farm in Maine. As a huge fan of Tik and Sinead and having recently read Tik’s newest book “Starting In the Middle” I think it was fascinating to hear about the Road to the Horse 2024 through Chelsea’s eyes. You can feel the admiration in her writing. (Book review to Tik’s book here: The Sunday Review: Starting in The Middle as well as his first book Quarant-Reading; Equestrian Style).
“I sat high up on a panel, watching the stage, his family, and the crowd, sobbing and laughing, taking it all in. I stayed there a long time, letting the feeling of that space fill me to overflowing with joy and love and connectedness.”
― Chelsea Canedy: Finding Purpose
We dive further into Chelsea’s journey as she simultaneously seeks an upper level eventing prospect while takes on a fun new journey training a mustang for The Mustang Classic. I want to say I can’t fathom spreading myself so thing having such big simultaneous goals along with so many responsibilities…but then again I work full time while owning a jump building business, training my own horse (and doing my part cleaning stalls at the farm where he lives), keeping my retired horse at home with all of those tasks, learning photography, writing a blog, and trying to be a good friend/partner.
We finish with her completion of this mustang competition. I had never heard of the mustang classic before (I’ve heard of the makeover of course: The Extreme Mustang Makeover). From her description the classic is an English discipline competition to train a mustang. The riders compete for $125,000 in prize money as they complete a training level dressage test, ride a starter level arena cross country course, and complete a stadium round at the starter level. The top ten competitors then present their freestyle for the final round. The winner receives a check for $50,000.
I won’t give away the rest!
“After years and years of laying those neural pathways in my brain, my default coping mechanism when I feel out of control is often still: make a plan, check things off lists, and regain control. Sometimes it works. Other times, not so much.”
― Chelsea Canedy: Finding Purpose
Final Word:
Finding Purpose is an autobiographical account of Chelsea Canedy’s life to this point in time. Her story gives me immense hope that I can find my place in this big crazy horse world. I feel like I am always on the verge of something great to then get redirected. Chelsea’s book shows how many times she has changed her path…for better or worse…and landed on her feet. The story exemplifies that what you THOUGHT you wanted…what you THOUGHT was your happy ending…might not be what you really wanted after all. It demonstrates that disappointment doesn’t mean you stop or that you failed. Disappointment is life. We learn from it and grow from it. The book shows how creating community and networking with the people you admire can help you find your way…how keeping your eyes and heart open to new things can create an unimaginable life you didn’t know you wanted.
Chelsea was honest and real…and I love that about this book on so many levels.
Finding Purpose by Chelsea Canedy is a fantastic read for all ages, but I think best suited for young adults and adults. I’m only a few years younger than Chelsea, and although I wish I pursued more in horses when I was younger I found I was learning the same lessons she had along the way. I feel a parallel…different and unique to me but the lessons are all so strikingly similar. I think other adults and young readers will be able to see themselves in some parts of this book and it may guide a younger reader paving their own way through this world.
Now, more than ever, I feel the draw to attend one of Chelsea’s symposiums/clinics!
“Making a mistake or not knowing something didn’t make me “bad” and there was no endpoint to the accumulation of knowledge that made anyone “good.” It was all just learning, not a determination of self-worth.”
― Chelsea Canedy: Finding Purpose
I also want to add that I buy most of my horse books from Trafalgar Square Books and I am still an affiliate with the publisher. You can find your copy through my affiliate link here, it’ll let TSB know I sent you!
Published by Trafalgar Square Books, an imprint of the Stable Book Group
32 Court Street Suite 2109 Brooklyn, NY 11201
If you have any questions, comments, or would like further information, please contact:
trafalgar@stablebookgroup.com
“When you can truly put yourself in the shoes of others, and see their struggles as if they are your own, you cannot help but be more patient with them as they try to navigate their lives.”
― Chelsea Canedy: Finding Purpose
The Green Horseman 
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