I just realized that I have really grown in my horsemanship since the fall, and the only way I really know that is by reading some of my posts from back then. I find myself disagreeing with some of the things I said and the filter through which I was seeing things. How funny is that? And a little embarrassing! And great, all at the same time. I so wish I would have started doing this six years ago when I first got my wonderful RBE cusp LBE Quarab.
Last night a newcomer to the barn came up to me in the arena to ask for help with her horse. I told her that she could bring her mare into the arena and I would be happy to help her with whatever was going on. She told me that she did not feel comfortable even putting the halter on her, her horse was so agitated in her stall.
So, I took a deep breath because I had had all sorts of plans about what I was going to do playing with Walker last night, but in moments like those, you have to ask yourself, what is the right thing to do? The answer, of course, was to help these two, even if it completely derails my plans (Walker, my air pad, my Parelli dressage pad, saddle, tack kit, carrot sticks, 45 foot line and mind were all ready to get started in the arena). So, I told her sure, I would help her. I gently rubbed Walker on the neck, slipped the 12 foot line from his back and put him back in his stall. I think his disappointment matched mine.
This lady is as green as grass. She is "trying out" this horse, Flicka, for a week to see if they are a good match. The problem is, she does not know enough about horses to be able to judge. Makes me sigh just thinking about it. She expressed surprise that a horse would have issues, like being afraid of the all of the things at the barn. When we approached Flicka's stall, she had her back side to us. Didn't exactly look like an invitation to me, so I asked if we could just walk 10-15 ft.away from the stall and just chat while she got used to our presence. After coming to the stall door 3 times, she finally stayed there as we approached, looking intrigued. I am thinking LBI or RBI, as she is pretty low energy at this point. It took about 10 minutes before the owner was able to put on the rope halter Flicka came with, which begged the question in my mind, "Why didn't someone show her how to do this before they dropped Flicka off at her new home?"
Then we walked down along the barn, stopping at every threshold, lots of silence between the notes, explaining what I was doing as we went. We got all the way to the arena, about 150 ft. or so, which all together took about an hour (take the time it takes so it takes less time). At this point, Walker was about to burst out of his stall when he saw me, nickering like crazy. He was definitely saying, "Me, me, see me? Let's play!" Flicka had sighed and been doing a lot of licking and chewing. The new owner asked what they should do now and I told her let Flicka do what she wants to do. She was so low energy, I did not think this would be a problem, and sure enough, Flicka just stood there, looking at everything while the new owner chatted with people that walked by. My good deed for the day was done.
Then, Walker and I played Liberty and On-Line for about 45 minutes, which was about all the time I had left after playing with Flicka. Walker was full of energy, so I matched his energy and we had a wonderful time together. He is a Liberty superstar! Even with all of his energy, he was able to gather himself and yo-yo over a pole from about 20 feet and Sideways around a pole square, all the way around, traveling circles at a trot and canter. Playing with the canter on line with the figure 8, and when my communication become more clear, he did both sides very nicely. Still amazes me how far we have come!
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