On the road to New Mexico with Ben and Randy with little to look at out the window but mesquite trees, telephone lines and barbed wire, we are listening to Louis Lamour's Sackett. Gives me time to think about how far I have come since I started with Parelli Natural Horsemanship. I remember Ellie, the horse I leased and then bought seven years ago. She was a flea-bitten grey, a left-brained introvert/extrovert who would go anywhere I asked. She rekindled my passion for horses. She was only with me for less than a year before she died of colic, a terrible day. Would I have felt the need to know more about the soul of the horse if I still had Ellie? Our bond had developed quickly and was very strong. I might not have needed more than that then, so that question I really cannot answer without thinking it has more than one answer. Either way, my path took a turn when I lost Ellie.
I knew I would get another horse, sooner rather than later. Ellie had been such a wonderful horse, I thought another Quarab would suit me. If wasn't long before Walker and I crossed paths. One look at his beautiful face and I was hooked. I had no idea then that anyone who met Walker for the first often would remark that, "He's beautiful!" I would be thinking wryly in contrast, "Pretty is as pretty does." There were many moments when I would have traded pretty for calm and brave. Ellie would climb down any hill, no matter how steep. Walker couldn't walk up an incline without breaking into a trot or even a canter. Ellie had no problems with trailers, even a tiny little two horse divided straight load that was parked at the barn. Walker was so disturbed by trailers that he ran over my friend Nancy when she graciously agreed to help me with his trailer loading skills. I will never forget my heart go in my throat when in a quarter second Walker went from going in her trailer to spinning and jumping right over the top of her. Nancy, unharmed, thank God, got up, and as she dusted herself off, exclaimed, "Well, that didn't work!" Despite my shock over seeing what happened, I was amazed by her equanimity. Perhaps the fact that Nancy had trailer loaded hundreds of horses gave her a calm certainty that one way or another, she would find a way to convince Walker to get in her trailer (now my trailer). After four hours she did. Walker looked like he had run a 100 mile endurance course. It is about time to stop for lunch, so more reflections later.
