Hello faithful readers (all three of you!) If anyone who is reading this knows of a way to get my horse to High River, Alberta from Nelson, BC on November 10th and back again on the 14th, please get them in touch with me. I know it will work out – just putting it out to as many places as possible that I’d like it to happen!
Many thanks…
//Heather
Rode Bailey today. After another awesome groudwork session (okay awesome by MY standards, probably not awesome by Fawn’s or Buck’s!) By that I mean she didn’t get tight about the cinch, didn’t come close to offering to buck AND I could visualize where I was asking her foot to go and it would GO there. The session included backing up and coming forward off the halter knot, flag work, tarp work, saddling and more flag work and tarp work and backing up and coming forward off the slobber strap… after all of that Bailey looked ready to ride. She grumped a bit about me getting on and I ignored that the first time and stayed on. I had to get off at one point when the neighbour drove down the driveway – when I got back on I waited on getting her to where she was more respectful and accepting of me mounting. The first time I got on she tried to bite my leg when doing a one rein stop – AGAIN. This stopped me the last time I tried to ride her – but this time a voice in my head calmly and firmly said, “Get to her feet!!” I got to her feet, after blocking her biting with ‘crazy toe’ and then let her dwell when her feet came loose. Asked again – another ears back attempt but got to the feet sooner that time. Once more we sat and dwelled as thanks. Next ask (with as light a leg as I could manage and then getting effective) and we had no more ears. Bailey really tells me that I need to start light, light, LIGHTER than I think light is… then get effective in a timely manner. She respects and appreciates that, or so it seems to me. We rode up and down my long driveway, working on staying between legs and reins, getting her lighter off my leg to go forward until just a roll up to position 2 and opening my legs with core energy would get a trot. Lots of one rein stops, then, working on lateral flexion as rest and reward after we’d get good effort at “go” and maintaining gait. Still an initial ‘ears back’ at the trot until the very last time (the one I quit on) when I thought to myself… I need to ask her EVEN LIGHTER than I have been. Yep. That worked. We did work on short serpentine some, before I got the ‘go’ good… next time, I’ll check out ‘go’ first, then work on the short serpentines.
After turning Bailey loose in the paddock, I then caught Maya using the bridle – surprised the heck out of her, I can tell you, not what she was expecting at all! We just did some quick groundwork to see that she was in the mood to let me get to her feet and then I hopped on and we toodled up the road and home again bareback. I know Buck says that bareback is only for children and porn stars… but well, I’m still a kid at heart. I wasn’t planning on getting anything accomplished horsemanship-wise, except having a fun short ride on my pony and proving my balance. We did that for sure. She rocks. I was ready for a canter but felt that wouldn’t have been fair to her because of the rocks on the road that were already bugging her at the walk and trot. I didn’t have time to get to the soft path on Verigin Road, so I’ll save that for the next bareback ride!
Feeling pretty positive about the ride on Bailey today, and feel like I’m ready to hit the trails with her, at long last (overprepared, much, anyone??)
My helmet broke today when I was adjusting the ‘retention system’ at the back for better fit. One of the clips busted off. I’ve probably only used it 30 times and hardly ever adjusted it, and I’ve made sure to treat it well – so I took it back to Greenhawk and they’re going to order me up a new one on warranty. Have to wait a couple of weeks, so I’ll be back to my old helmet if I ride Bailey in that time. Sure would like to, it was going good and I want to keep that progress going!
Friday was dedicated me time. I thought about going to town to do the shopping, but decided against it and I’m so glad that I did.
After I dropped Murrin off at Playschool I took Ellie down to the canal for a walk to the dam and back. It was fun walking along the dyke and looking at the page wire fence they’ve installed along the water, I could see that spiders had made webs in many of the rectangles. It made me think of an apartment building for spiders. Heh.
After I got home and had some food, I got Bailey out of the paddock and did some groundwork with her, trying to see and feel when she was reaching properly, yielding her hind end, backing circles well and really feeling of me on the halter rope going forwards and backwards. We got to rocking her weight forward and back with no brace in between and the halter knot barely moving, which is good progress. After checking her out on the end of the lead rope I saddled her and it’s the first time she hasn’t gotten tight with cinching. She still moves her feet a bit, but because of the work on the end of the lead rope, I as able to support her to stand still a little better. This still needs work on my feel and timing, but it will come.
After I’d saddled her, we did a bit more with the leadrope then I realized that my flag and the tarp I wanted to use were up by the house. Off we went to find them. I tied her leadrope off to the saddle horn, let her graze a bit and went down to get the flag. She felt she needed my support so she followed me down there. Then she felt confident and wandered off towards the front of the house with me behind her. She took one look at the grass below our steep garden and headed that way – straight down a 45 degree slope! She really had to use her body to get down it and there was ZERO reaction to the cinch! This was a happy day for me. I followed her down, got the tarp which was down there, anyway and then led her to the culdesac to do some more groundwork working on getting her freely moving off of the stirrup, doing some more tarp work while she was moving and asking her to move over the tarp on the ground. All of this went swimmingly with good progress. She had the most trouble when I held the tarp on her and it started to slide off her hind end slowly. A few repeats of that and it was old hat. I spent a good hour and a half on the ground with her and felt like we’d made good progress so I put her up after doing her feet and got Maya out to go for a ride.
Maya and I did a little groundwork, and I realized that Bailey is better at it! I have more work to do with Maya. I then rode the soft footing loop trail down to a friend’s house on Carlson Road and back again through the woods. Working lots on the soft feel at walk and trot, transitions, using my leg less and less, some short lopes and some leg yielding at the walk, really trying to feel of her and use my leg less. Buck says we all use our legs too much, so I’m striving to get better at asking with less and only doing more if I don’t get a change when I ask. This is going to take some dilligence on my part, but it’s going to be oh, so worth it. On the way home I felt her just slightly start to take over and anticipate where we would go so I spent some time in that spot doing random things, working on backing circles, turns and HQ/FQ dance until she was feeling more of what I was thinking. We rested there a bit and then headed home. Next year I’m going to have to do some better conditioning, I realize, now that I’m loping so much more. My horses are fit enough for walk and trot work and the hills we have around here at those gaits, but loping really takes it out of them. That also means I’ll have to ride more. 
My stall is booked for the Buck Brannaman clinic in High River, now I just need a ride for my horse! It will come!
If anyone wants to get me an awesome birthday present this year (*cough* big Four OH! *cough*) , I’ve learned that McGinnis Meadows Ranch in Montana offers horsemanship weeks in the winter for $800, including a mid day meal and accommodations. I’d love to go down over my birthday and ride for a week with them! Just a thought… talk amongst yourselves. I’ll start saving just in case…
Buck Brannaman Clinic Report Day Two…
This will appear in the October Issue of the NDRC Newsletter – you get advance viewing!!
Groundwork after help from Robert. Day one or two.
I thought this one would be shorter, but it turns out it wasn’t…
On day two, I got up a little earlier to get Bailey ready. At lunch time on day one I had asked Buck if he had any flag handles for sale. He doesn’t push his gear or even his DVDs – if someone wasn’t there setting up a table for him to collect spectator fees, I doubt the DVDs would even come out of his trailer. Lucky for me he had one handle left in his trailer and Fawn had a spare piece of flag material. Morning of day 2, I took Bailey into the round pen and had a better idea of what I was looking for her feet to be doing before I saddled her. What I wanted to help her do was respond to a feel on the lead rope when I asked her to move her front quarters out onto the same line as her hindquarters and have her travel united on the circle around me. On the size circle that a 12 foot lead rope allows, her inside hind foot ought to be stepping up and under her and lining up with the print of her outside fore foot. I wanted to see her easily disengage her hindquarters when I asked her with a feel on the lead rope to change directions, stepping fully up and under herself with her hind end and stopping her front quarters completely so she would face up and be ready to go the opposite direction on the circle. She should be able to do this with the flag touching her all over “carelessly” when my leading hand was in neutral – or not asking her to go faster or do anything except accept the commotion of the flag.
She was tight at first, racing around me, blowing out sideways, doing all of the things she’d done the day before – except today I knew better what to do about it. I wasn’t very good at it, at first, trying to remember everything I’d seen Robert do with her and everything I’d seen Buck doing with his young horse on the ground. I tried to make her racing round more difficult by disengaging her hind end and asking her to go the other way, I tried to do the same thing when she’d blow out sideways. Once she was travelling in a more relaxed manner, I started to get particular about her travelling united on the circle. Head tipped to the inside, inside hind stepping up and under, a curve in her body that matched the curve of the circle. I’d try to help her by bumping backwards with my lead rope when her inside hind leg was about to leave the ground, to help her bend a little more and reach that hind leg underneath herself. Fix and release, fix and release. Of course I’d bump when the wrong leg was leaving, get mixed up and have to start watching more carefully, trying to get in time with those feet. Eventually she would start to carry being united for a step or two and I could release (disengage softly) and go the other way. It’s seems strange to me how we block the wrong thing by disengaging but we also reward the right thing by doing that. I’ll have to ask Buck about that the next time I see him. I figure he’ll explain it to me in a way that I can understand, but my horse will have it separated out long before I do. I’m not always sure about what I’m looking at – am I seeing her get united or am I missing it altogether? Buck said for years Ray would work other people’s horses and he’d say, “There, did you see it? She got united.” He’d look at Buck who was watching intently and Buck would nod and say, “Yep, sure did.” When really, he didn’t see anything at all. He knew it was a big deal, but it took him a while before he could see it and then be able to cause it in his horses. There’s hope for the rest of us!
I saddled Bailey and had the same trouble I’ve had since the beginning, she walks around me in a circle when I go to do up the cinch. I had a little more going in the respect department because she wasn’t trying to run me over, but staying at arms length and going around in a circle – it was an improvement. I got her cinched up in a few stages, tight enough that if she had to buck it wouldn’t turn on her, then sent her out on the circle, she was tight and hopped around a bit but I got to her hindquarters and disengaged them, sending her softly the other way. She started to travel okay but worried around me so I used the flag “carelessly” again with my hand in neutral – she had to speed up, so it was more blocking, redirecting and helping her to relax until she was travelling calm, responsive and respectfully around me with a few steps united on that circle – then we went to the arena.
In the arena, people are riding, people are doing groundwork, horses are coming in, spectators are coming in, but Bailey was pretty relaxed. I’d kept her focus on the way there by asking her to stay with me while I walked, stopped and backed, correcting her if she missed a transition, always trying to offer it with my body and energy first so she could get in tune with that. That really helped. I flagged her some more in the arena, and she seemed calm enough to bridle and work on the end of the mecate. We were doing better day two than day one by far, but I still chose to wait to get on until Buck called everyone into a circle around him for the morning talks. I spent part of the time while he was talking and answering questions doing lateral flexions from the ground and then climbed on before everyone started riding. More lateral flexion practice, then walk off a few steps and bend to a stop… then on with what the class was doing. We were busy with short serpentines at first and she still got tight when horses came up behind her but a rub on her neck usually helped (amazing, isn’t it!!). I stuck with this longer than the rest of the class, since we sure need a lot of it. Having a lot of trouble getting her to go – but the crowd of horses helping to carry her along some what. We still have to work on getting her more responsive to my leg. I’ve been building in a good “go” smooch on the ground the last few times we’ve worked together in preparation for doing that on her back, but that is another story for another day! What I understand about short serpentines so far is that yes they are overbending a horse laterally, but when they are done correctly, the horse learns how to balance on all four quarters on a small circle instead of dragging themselves along by their front end. It includes all the positive elements of lateral and longitudinal flexion that Buck taught last year – poll slightly above withers, ears level, chin tucked towards shoulder, face vertical – allowing the horse to balance and lift at the wither and rotate their pelvis underneath them so they can engage the hindquarters. Done properly it is timed up (of course) with the horses feet – asking when the reaching front foot is about to leave the ground so you don’t take the balance away from the horse. When they get to doing it properly, all four feet travel on the same circle, they get to feeling weightless on the front end and stop stabbing their front feet into the ground (they do this because they’re off balance) you can place the foot wherever you want it – they have the balance so they can wait on you to place it. There are a ton of other things I imagine this helps with that I haven’t even discovered yet.
We eventually felt good enough with that (though far from ideal!!) to go to what the class was working on, the hindquarter/forequarter dance – basically you’re walking along with a lively walk, asking for a soft feel now and then and releasing when you get it and then you take the hindquarters away by reaching down one rein and bending the horse bringing your hand to your hip so she steps over behind with her forequarters stopped. You reach and ask when the inside hind leg is about to leave the ground. You then “open up” the leading rein, out from your hip, open your leading leg and lay the supporting rein on the base of the neck to ask the horse to step the forequarters over with the hindquarters stopped. Your outside leg would come in when the crossing foot was about to leave if you needed it. Doing this dance loads the weight on the hindquarters by walking them up under the horse with the forequarters stopped, if you do it right, when you open up, the horse is just naturally ready to bring the front end across to ‘uncoil the spring’. When it is done right, it is beautiful to watch and it feels incredible! (We didn’t do it right much on day two – we’re still working on doing it right, but we’ll get there more often!)
Bailey was still looking for support from other horses on day two, nickering at the other horses – I tried asking her to move out more when she did it, Buck saw this and told me not to get after her for nickering, just get busy and get to her feet. So that’s what I tried to do . We had some homework from day 2, more of the HQ/FQ dance and if we weren’t comfortable riding without Buck in the arena, we could work on that on the ground from all the great stuff Buck had shown us with his horses on the ground.
The afternoon of Day 2 was when we got to see Buck work the Palomino who was dangerous with fear and so buddy sour. I could write volumes about that, but might have to stick to my own personal experiences to keep this a reasonable size!
In October sometime I will be organizing a DVD viewing of the documentary “Buck” by Cyndi Meehl. It won the audience choice award at Sundance this year and is an honest depiction of what Buck is about. It’s beautifully shot and appeals to horse lovers and non horse lovers alike. I’ve started a facebook group to get the word out, so search it out if you’re interested, or leave me a comment here.
I originally wrote this for our riding club newsletter… here it is for the blogosphere…
Clinic Report
Buck Brannaman in Dayton, July 2011. By Heather Farrell
Part One of Four…
My first clinic riding with Buck was eventful in all the right ways. I didn’t get bucked off, I didn’t fall off, I didn’t cause Buck to need to get “firm” with me. I asked for help when I needed it and made huge strides in confidence for both my horse and I. I also spent time with good friends from near and far and added new friends to those we hope to see again down the road. I’ve also signed up to ride again in Buck’s clinic in High River Alberta in November this year.
The evening before the clinic we had the opportunity to view a screening of the documentary, “Buck” by Cyndi Meehl. Buck was present at the screening and answered questions afterwards. “Buck” is a beautifully shot movie about a great horseman and human being. I’ve already ordered my copy of the DVD that is scheduled to be released October 4th. A viewing party will be held – anyone have a big TV and lots of room to host one?
We rode in the morning Horsemanship One class – of about 25 riders plus Buck in the arena. He’s been teaching clinics for almost 30 years and is a master at knowing what is going on all around him, helping people when they need it, encouraging when they need it and letting them work on it when they need to work on it. It’s a thing of beauty to watch one of his clinics develop over the four days – from sometimes barely managed chaos the first day, to feeling like there is a lot more room in the arena by the fourth day, with the same number of horses. Much more controlled and relaxed, with horses and people really getting some good changes in themselves.
Day One of H1. Bailey and I began by not warming up anywhere near early enough to be ready in time for class. I don’t know that what I knew before day one could have gotten us ready. We were one of the first ones in the arena, but as more and more horses and people arrived, Bailey got tighter instead of more relaxed. When I borrowed Fawn’s flag, thinking to myself, “She’s tight, I’d better get that out.” She felt like she had to buck around me in circles and I realized I didn’t know how to help her when things got bigger and busier than our usual riding area in the cul-de-sac at the bottom of our dead end road! I had already spoken to Buck when he arrived in the arena and asked him to watch out for us because I knew I might have a bit more than I could handle and I wasn’t confident that I could handle it – once he saw how things were shaping up with Bailey and I (not well) he had one of his more experienced hands help Bailey. It took about an hour for her to be calm, relaxed, accepting, responsive and willing in all of the groundwork that Robert was asking her to do. During this time Buck was talking and answering questions so I had my ears on him and my eyes glued to what was going on with Bailey. I learned a TON from watching Robert work her – and even more from watching Buck as we had the privilege to see him with three green horses on the road. Usually, he brings near “finished” bridle horses and you can’t see his cues even though he tells you what they are and when he’s making them. We got to watch him work through things with his horses in groundwork each day before they were perfect at it, to see his corrections and more importantly his releases. We also got to watch him take two students’ horses and make big changes on the ground with them to help keep their riders safe. These horses were terrified, braced up and didn’t understand what was being asked. In 20 minutes he had them understanding what they needed to do – and all the whinnying and carrying on that one buddy sour horse had been doing diminished incredibly. He kept her mind off of her buddy and on him – keeping her busy thinking about him instead by getting to her feet. Having the hindquarters truly disengage with lightness and the front quarters truly reach and move lightly, responsively but RELAXED was one big key that I got out of this clinic.
Someone got bucked off during their warm up before class because they didn’t get on the horse properly and cranked the saddle over to one side, pinching the horse’s withers. Buck gave us lectures on properly preparing with groundwork AND on getting on one properly… not to mention about checking the cinch properly, wearing safe boots, having stirrups that are easy to pick up and won’t turn on your foot if the horse fell… many, many safety lessons.
Bailey and I finished day one by mounting up part way through class. We worked on the lateral bending exercises at a standstill – on the way to getting her ears level, poll slightly above the withers and chin tucking towards her shoulder – all of which affects the horse’s balance greatly. We then worked on stopping with one rein and began Bucks “short serpentine” exercise. These serpentines are tight enough that you could weave around sagebrush or cowboy hats on the ground with the horse’s feet staying really close to them all the way around. One of the goals of this exercise, done properly, is to get the horse travelling on all four quarters evenly. In balance. This removes a lot of the brace that horses have when we ask them to move and they are not properly prepared in balance. The others in the class had moved on to moving the hindquarters and moving the forequarters, but Bailey and I needed to stay with the serpentines. I needed to get better in my timing (and still do!) to enable her to really reach with her inside foreleg when we changed the bend each time. I’ve gotten better, but we’ve a ways to go, yet. I now THINK I know what the feel is that I’m looking for – when all four quarters reach evenly around the circle and the horse is truly balanced and ready to go in whatever direction you are asking with lightness. It’s amazing the things that will get better when this exercise alone is done with quality.
If someone asked me what a Buck clinic was like, Buck was right when he said I’d tell them… “Well, first, he’ll teach you about properly halter breaking your horse.” Some might find that offensive, “I know how to lead my horse! Who does he think he is?” But, it’s absolutely the key to staying safe. Having a horse lead properly, LIGHTLY, respectfully. Responding with respect and not fear – it’s huge. So many horses are broke to drag, not broke to lead. I was witness to many in the clinic that week and I have a much better understanding of what it is to be properly halter broke from watching Buck and from getting changes in my own horse.
That first day I got a few realizations about lightness… but these would grow over the next few days – and will likely continue to grow every time I am with my horses, if I can remain aware of them. That’s the hard part.
Working the short serpentine in Dayton.
To be continued…
Tomorrow is ride day. I’ll be taking Murrin to playschool, no daycare for me tomorrow, so I get to spend time preparing and riding Bailey. Gonna get that “go” sorted out, methinks. I’ll post how it’s going tomorrow. Meanwhile, here are the first two installments of my “Riding with Buck Brannaman” article that I’ve put into the NDRC newsletter. Well, you’re getting a sneak peak at part 2 – it won’t be out in newsletter form until sometime next week.
They’re a bit out of order with things, as I’m doing it all from memory – and I’ve had other clinics between then and now – and wasn’t sure how many installments I’d write, but it’s the general gist of my own personal experience. I’ll probably expound more on what I watched at the clinic in the other two classes we were lucky enough to observe. I’ll also be riding with Buck in November – I hope on my horse, but if not, I’ll find a way to borrow one! I’m signed up, its’ just a matter of getting a ride for she and I over there. Tomorrow is part of my limited time to prepare Bailey – been doing groundwork to try to get her moving out better, more willing, at a lighter suggestion and that seems to help with everything. I trimmed her feet after the last session of groundwork and boy, it was the best trimming we’ve had. Have to make sure to do groundwork with her before I want to do anything else like that. We got our forward and back off the halter knot lighter than we’ve ever had it… tomorrow I’ll work to get it lighter, still!
Well, it’s July and summer is still pending. We’ve had lots of rain and much cooler than normal temperatures. The cooler part is great for horseplay but the rain kind of slows things down a little as it usually hits right when I’m about ready to head outside. Had some good preparation towards the upcoming Buck Brannaman clinic which starts next week in Dayton, Washington. Because I have no choice, I’m finally relaxing into the idea of riding Bailey there. She’s had her medical and coggins, a wolf tooth removed (should help our soft feel, poor girl!) and she’s been ponied and turned loose on a nice long trail ride up the mountain while wearing a saddle – with no bucking or histrionics. We have the farrier coming on Friday and I’ve been doing my best to put some weight on her in case she loses any on the trip down. She’s very dappled this year – must be the Hoffman’s Horse Minerals and all the brushing.
Planning to do some trailer loading with her tomorrow night and then on the weekend at my friend’s place as they have a trailer with a ramp like the one she’ll be riding down in. Six hours will be plenty long for her to get comfortable travelling. We’re heading down a day early to help the horses settle in (not to mention me) and get good camping spots. Hopefully Buck will be a bit early, too, as he’s got an over full schedule teaching three clinics over four days and it would be nice to get to talk to him a bit. Nine hours of teaching per day – which is nine hours of learning for us!!
I’m sure I’ll have a ton to write about and hopefully some good pictures to share on my return.
Wish us luck and good listening and learning!
Despite the constant snow falling down, spring is in the air. The horses are shedding, I’ve heard and seen at least one robin, it rained the other day and I had mud on my boot for the first time in five months. All that snow, isn’t really sticking anymore – melting almost as fast as it falls down. C’mon spring!
Daylight Saving change next week.
In honour of the new lower temperatures and the growing light in the evenings I’ve decided to go out after dinner and Murrin’s bedtime and do some work with Bailey each night aside from Wednesday when I’m back in the pottery studio making mugs, bowls and other fun things! I’ll post some on this site when they’re finished and probably start putting a few things up on Etsy.com, too. Part of the reason I feel the need to go out in the dark is that I’m feeling a little anxiety about the Buck Brannaman clinic at the end of July. I know it seems like I’ve got all the time in the world, but I’m new at riding a green horse who occasionally might feel the need to buck. And I’ve never loaded her in a trailer so we have that to work on, too. I know I’ll make mistakes but I know I’ll learn a ton, and correct the mistakes I discover. I just feel the need to GET STARTED. I’m doing more daytime childcare during the week, so daytime play is out aside from weekends – these short daily sessions feel like a good solution.
Last night I saddled Bailey in the dark using my headlamp – not allowing her to be a distracted kid in a candy store – asking her to focus and stand still. It went okay, and with continued practice on both our parts it will go even better. I then tied her for a bit, groomed her, doctored her foot (which has started growing more proudflesh with the crusty snow scraping the new skin off of it all the time) and just hung out with her. I could feel a change in her near the middle of our session – she seemed more respectful, focused, calm and listening. It was a good feeling.
We had some ear pinning and tail swishing issues a little while back when I would touch her sides. For two short sessions we’ve been working through it with lots of repeated touching and rubbing with love, blocking her nasty looks and releasing (stop touching) when she had a nice look on her face and was facing forward, ears neutral. Yesterday she tolerated the touching quite well right off the bat, but we’ll get it so she accepts and even likes it over the next while. I think shedding season will help a lot with that.
I have a feeling all this work will help reduce the amount of tail swishing she does while being ridden and asked to respond to the leg. Our relationship will be right, with more respect from her and less worry from me.
I’m spoiled with Maya – she lets me touch her anywhere, lean on her, snuggle into her, all without batting an eye. Bailey is getting there, we had a good snuggle last night after our session. I love the smell of her mane. All horses smell like horses – wonderfully so! – but each horse has it’s own distinct ‘horse smell’.
While I was watching the toddlers watching the chickens yesterday it struck me. Animals know exactly how to be animals. They’re perfectly fine being who they are and they do an amazing job of it. Toddlers have this down, too, but as they grow and become adult humans… this ability seemingly becomes buried.
Why is it that as we get older, we stop just being and start looking for “who we are” and “how to be in the world”? Maybe we can take a page out of the book of Innate Animal and Toddler Wisdom and simply be who we are, once more.
When I am with my horses, really with them… I can be who I am and I can simply and easily feel my way. When I begin to act through my intellect, rather than acting through my heart, is when things seem to go to heck or become difficult. I’m getting better at staying in my heart space – connecting with my horses by letting them first connect with me. It’s been very powerful with my horse Maya – she offers so much when I can let it happen rather than try to MAKE it happen. I have yet to be aware of connecting with Bailey on that level, but we haven’t been through as much together as Maya and I. I will learn how to allow the connection with her, too.
Then there’s the extreme challenge of connecting with all humans through that heart space – not protecting ourselves and hiding behind our reasoning, intellect and ego.
Phew!
Something to ponder…
I’ve been feeling a bit of pressure – all put on by myself… with the dawning realisation that January is nearly gone and I hadn’t even sat on Bailey in our preparation for July’s clinic with Buck. Today was the day.
I was ready to ride, but not determined to ride. Had my helmet, boots, chaps on as we did our groundwork so that should the opportunity present itself in the form of a calm, attentive, responsive horse.. I’d be ready. We did groundwork all the way up to Tommy’s. Somehow, she gets more connected with me the further we go from home. Maybe that’s because she is farther from Maya calling, and starts looking to me more for leadership. Perhaps I’m getting better at being a leader for her. Hope so.
I set her up for mounting, took that left rein short, tipping her nose slightly to me, mounted and got settled. It was as though she’d been doing it all her life – thanks Jason! We did some lateral flexion, walked, moved the hind, moved the front, one rein stops and even some backing!! Got off a twice. Once for a truck to drive by and then again to walk down the icy hill. These photos are the third time I got on her. She was a bit cranky about my leg sometimes, but I saw that when Jason was riding her, too. I think she just needs more of it and for me to be consistent and fair in how I apply it.
She was a superstar. I’m one happy horse girl (except of course now I want to do it all day every day – dang!).
In other news, I’ve been working out since December 7th. Regularly. At home. There are a myriad of reasons, but what helps the most is that I’ve connected it with my horsemanship. If I’m fitter, stronger, more flexible and a bit lighter… riding will become easier. It also makes me feel like I’m working on my horsemanship more than just once or twice a week. A real sanity saver. Everything will become easier – but I think that linking exercise to my passion for horses has made it stick this time. So far I’m 13lbs lighter and well on my way to my goal weight. Strength has noticeably improved and I will keep on working at it so that by July I’ll be a force to be reckoned with!
Adios.
