Huntington Stables, where the inner horse is fed daily

It is so wonderful to have my horses at a barn like Huntington Stables. For instance, when I play with Walker in the arena, I like to bring Bingo along with me when I can, since he and Walker like being together. But I don’t have to put a halter on them, they will just follow me where I want to go, and no one is bothered by that at all.

Two nights ago, I went to get Walker in the turnout and when he came, Bingo came right along with us, so I put him in his stall while I got all my Parelli gear I needed for the day. Walker stood in front of his stall and happily ate the cookies I offered while waiting on me. Then I let Bingo out, and we all walked to the arena where I let him graze on the other side of the fence.

You have to picture that we are going all the way through the barn, two gates, and a small pasture before we get to the arena. We all go together, no worries, no fuss, no ropes, no halters; Bingo generally goes through the gates first, as he is dominant over Walker, but only after I have asked him through. Once we got to the arena area, I led Bingo into the turnout next to the arena where he contentedly ate grass while Walker and I played bareback games in the arena.

I speculate there are very few barns in the country where you would be allowed to move horses around without halters on them. Obviously, there are times when you would want a halter on a horse to do so, but it often isn’t necessary with Parelli horses, especially those who are playing in Levels 3 and 4 the way Bingo and Walker are.

This kind of exercise is also another kind of game, a test of sorts; does my horse want to follow me? When Walker and I play together and we have started with this kind of willingness, our sessions tend to go extremely well. So well, in fact, that I can treat Walker more like a left brained horse, giving him lots of rest in between games.  Most of the time, he lets me know when he is ready to move on, usually looking back to me as if to say, “OK feed me a cookie, or let’s do something!”. Off we go to the next task. It is pure joy to have such a willing partner.

So, thank you, Lei, the owner of Huntington Stables, for creating and continuing to create such a wonderful place for horses and humans to interact with one another.

As important as it is to feed the physical horse, the inner horse of humans and horses is also fed daily at Huntington. So much of the progress that Walker and I have experienced together has been made possible because of the compatible surroundings in which we find ourselves.

And thanks to Wendy, who owns Bingo, for allowing me to play with her beautiful Paint. He is a complex and challenging left brained horse from whom I have learned a lot.