Clearing the Crumbs: A Lesson from the Toaster and the Herd

Freebird would love to support you clearing out your crumbs

I fixed the toaster today.

It doesn’t sound like much. A simple task. Hardly worth a mention. We were ready to toss it—twenty bucks for a new one, no big deal.

But something nudged me to pause. I grabbed a flashlight. Googled a little. Took a closer look.

Turns out the issue wasn’t mechanical at all. Just a crumb, lodged in the wrong place. A tiny thing, creating just enough friction to make the whole toaster stop working.

A few minutes and a straw cleaner later, it was back in action. Breakfast saved.

And it got me thinking: how often do we discard things—relationships, ideas, creative work, pieces of ourselves—because they seem broken beyond repair?

How often is it just a crumb?

In my coaching practice, I’ve seen this play out time and time again. Someone shows up feeling stuck, lost, or disconnected. Life no longer "toasts" the way it used to. And yet, in the presence of a horse—steady, nonjudgmental, fully present—something begins to shift.

A client might notice a subtle tension in their chest, a flicker of fear, a memory they didn’t know was still there. Like a flashlight shining into the dark corners. And sometimes, that’s all it takes. Not a grand overhaul—just the willingness to look.

The horses don’t rush. They don’t diagnose or fix. They simply offer space, awareness, and the kind of quiet presence that invites us to slow down and notice what’s been lodged inside.

Sometimes the thing jamming up our system is small: an old belief, a story we tell ourselves, a grief we haven’t given voice to. But left unchecked, it can keep us from showing up fully in our lives.

Today it was a crumb in the toaster.Tomorrow, it might be the thing that finally lifts for someone in the round pen.

What crumbs are sticking for you?And would you be willing to take a closer look—with a little light, a little breath, and a little help from a horse?