Maverick Gets Even Braver

Had a short but very nice session with Mav last night as the sun was going down. There were lots of things going on around the park last night. As the sun set, it was casting rapidly, ever-changing shadows. The birds on the lake were more active and talkative. Since it was rush hour, there was a lot more traffic along the rode that separates the barn from the park. For a horse, there were so many distractions, so many things that could look threatening.  Nonetheless, I know we need to progress with our horsemanship if I want him to be a superlative trail horse, so I decided we would go to the park. 

The left brained extrovert showed up, as he got pretty excited playing on the circle game. It is interesting that he seems to have more energy in the evening than during the day. In fact, at one point he started to buck, bounce and run off, and I had to let go of the rope. I had a momentary panic thought of "We are in the park with no fences anywhere and a road about 100 yards away with lots of traffic, what's he going to do?" I then had another fleeting thought, a much more important one: "He's learning to be a partner, he won't go far, he's a left brained horse, he knows I am where safety is, he's going to stop and re-access. I think my calm transferred to him. He moved about 60 feet away then just stopped and looked at me. I am not sure what he was thinking, except maybe, "Well, that took a lot of energy, was it worth it?" And, maybe he was thinking, "What am I doing? Isabelle is over there."

I slowly and nonchalantly walked in his direction, picked up his rope with my carrot stick and stood in front of him, stroking his face. He took a really deep breath and let it out with a big sigh. But he wasn't blinking. Every now and then, Mav can go a bit catatonic, and this was one of those times. So I massaged his lips to encourage him to lick and chew. It took several moments for him to emerge back into the moment. Finally, he blinked and looked at me, licked and chewed and told me he was OK. 

Three reasons I think he had a crazy moment: one, he really wanted to eat grass instead of play with me, two, he still is not entirely used to the saddle being on his back and three, the park was a bit scary. Thank you again, PNH, for teaching me to access my horse before getting on, as I sure wouldn't have wanted to ride that! But he quickly settled down, doing some lovely figure eights with lots of energy, some very nice sideways without a fence, left and right. and I knew we were ready to ride.

I went over to one of the larger trees to mount as the ground around it is uneven, making it easier for me to get onto my 16+ hand horse. While we were standing under this beautiful live oak tree, several acorns fell from it landing with a thunk onto the ground. One more thing for Mav to possibly be concerned about, but he didn't even flinch. Mav is getting even braver!


Once we started riding, Mav was still a bit distracted by the sights and sounds of the park coming onto night. Even so, he did some really nice figure eights, only reacting to my leg by going faster once. This was a huge improvement over last time when he reacted almost every time to my leg by going faster. Such a smart horse!

Then we did just circles with transitions, and when he gave me one circle, really relaxed and energetic, we quit. I let him eat plenty of that lovely grass, then I took him back to the barn for a well deserved hose down, which he really seemed to enjoy. I am having so much fun with my horses right now. It is so nice to have this level of knowledge and expertise, knowing when to be, where to be and what to do when I get there. 

I have been blessed and am so thankful again to Parelli Natural Horsemanship and my teachers, Kerri April and Grady Carter, both PNH three star instructors, Nancy Cloud, whose encyclopedic knowledge of and experience with horses has been invaluable to me over the years and now Karen Rohlf, who's monthly online video lessons are expanding my knowledge of horses even more. 


Fun, Fun, Fun!

Would you trade...?

After the most amazing play sessions with Walker this weekend, I had brushes with what perseverance can produce. Following literally years of time and effort, often seemingly to little or no affect, I had moments of  pure joy with Walker. Both online and bareback and bridle less, there was such a connection between us that at moments it seemed as though he was in my head reading my thoughts and I was in his head reading his thoughts. 

Our connectedness went beyond the feather lines we played with online, the savvy string hanging around his neck when I was riding or the cookies and scratches I gave Walker by way of saying, "You're right, good job!". There is now a trust he has in me, a trust I have with him, a mental connection I know is not easy for Walker to offer given his tendency to be naughty, contrary and mischievous. I thought "a little faster", he went faster, "a little slower", he went slower. Everything was so soft and light. When Pat talks about how Tom Dorrance wasn't interested in doing anything with his horses with anything more than a string, I really understood that this weekend, because there is such a joy when you are connected in such a fundamental way that you might not even need a string to move together.

Walker followed me around after our play sessions in ways he never has before. Once, when we were done, I opened the arena gate so Walker could mosey over to the water as I gathered some of my tools, and he did walk out of the arena. But instead of going over to the water, he stopped, turned around, and walked back into the arena, nuzzling right up next to me. He then proceeded to grab the feather lines off the hanging hooks and handing them to me. 

Now, he knew we were done, he could have left, I allowed him to do so, but he chose to come back to me and help me out with my tools. He may have realized I would give him cookies as a reward, but there was clearly more in it for him than just that. He wanted me close, I could feel he felt better being close to me. He wanted me to know he did not want our time together to be over just yet. 

And for the first time, he licked my hands, not small licks, but big, wet slobbering licks. He was doing everything he could to show me how much he was enjoying my company. We spent quite a long time just standing together, content. 

As we did finally mosey our way to the water trough, I realized that I would do it all again. For those few moments of that connection and joy, I would trade all the hours, days, weeks and months of struggle to gain those few precious moments. Never again will I doubt the process I have gone through to find those moments I have achieved with Walker. I don't doubt that at some point down the road, Maverick and I will have similar experiences, only faster.  I look forward to many more days like this like weekend.