I had a conversation with a new friend I met at the course last weekend , and we chatted about many things, not the least of which was my little mare Cat (also known as Whoa Dammit, The fat baby , and of course her actual name FV Catch a Dream )
Cat is a sweet girl, but a great barometer for my feelings and mood. She is a confident, competent gal (future boss mare I think ) and she will take no "fakers" if I am in a good space in my mind and heart she is welcoming and friendly , if however I am letting stress take me down or angry ? she will take one look at me and walk away, not fast , just away , then stop some distance from me as if to say " get it together girlfriend! "
Usually a couple deep breaths , and often a wry laugh later I ditch the baggage and try again, sure enough she is good to go and will walk right up to me . Today was a good day , she walked up straight away
even brought a few friends!
Annie ( giving me her come here to pet me look , but that is a post for another day ) Cat, Digger and of course Johnny.
Anyhow here is the original post from July 2009
_______________________________________
So here it is , I am pretty good with horses, I have a decent seat, light hands, and generally have a feel for what is going on . A dear friend of mine once said to my dad "she just does magic with them" well wow! I don't know about magic , but all in all I am a pretty good hand.
No ,it is not Alberta toot your own horn day! Two things happened to bring me to this post , first ,I heard a song lyric that just struck a chord with me
Corb Lund
"She won't come to me . She won't come to anyone who's frightened to be free"
About a cowboy trailing across the land to catch his good saddle horse ,but she won't let him near.
second was the mommas and babies got out last night and were dashing about perilously close to the stallions.
So here is my point about baggage and being in the moment,
Baggage shows in our voice & body language , when I say baggage I mean ,bad day at work , squabble with the spouse , financial stuff ,lack of time , and FEAR,I don't just mean fear of being hurt , I mean fear of failure , of not measuring up , fear of letting go and learning to trust (you see where I am headed ... fear of freedom) We all have it on some level .But here is the cool thing about horses , they don't care ,or judge you they live in the moment and when they are working with you they just are . No judgment, no malice ,just are.
When you ditch all the baggage "at the gate " it changes your approach , When you ask for something from your horse ,ask it like you expect the answer to be yes!
You want a walk , kiss cluck nudge, use whatever signal you use then prepare to start moving ,
same with whoa, ask for it , but you better expect to stop.
When you ask a horse to get in the Trailer, don't stop and turn around in the doorway , walk right on like you expect them to be behind you 9,out of 10 times they are!
Last night when I realised what was going on , I rushed out hollered and Cactus to settle down grabbed a rope and was cussing a blue streak till I got to the mares.It was extremely important that I get them and their foals safely out of the area fast so I focused on that walked in caught Richie and called Jazz to follow, got both of them and babies in one try.
By not focusing on my (btw) very real fear that the foals would be nervous ,or the Stallions would distract them ,or my anger at the situation ,I was able to be calm , get in their moment and get the job done .
Of course then I got seriously p#**d and double checked and rechecked the gate and chain which had apparently come loose ( trust me ,it wont anymore!) Everyone was fine by the way.
So that all said ,here we are in summer ,time to ride ,drive or just work with your horses ,so try to remember to leave the crap at the gate and get into your horses moment with them .
And the magic ... well sometimes if you are lucky , and its a good day , you can walk away afterwards leave the baggage behind altogether!
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
Stay safe my friends, and since it is not in fact summer like it was when I wrote the above, stay warm also.
By the way , dad's next guest post on THE THING, is here and ready for me to type out and post, I just had this to say first
By the way , dad's next guest post on THE THING, is here and ready for me to type out and post, I just had this to say first
7 comments:
A very good reminder to us all . . . mares are good for that.
Glad you reposted this. It's so very true, especially with horses! How do you get anything done with those adorable faces looking at you??
A very good post, worthy of the repost. Glad it wasn't lost.
I hear ya here . I even sent this post to a good horsey friend of mine. Great post.
Excellent post - good for life in general.
Horses are good barometers of our moods. Chickory was especially good at that.
Horses have such a way of keeping us in the present. I am always so thankful for that, and it helps me stay true to myself, how I'm feeling and many times, forces me to deal with my "stuff" that otherwise I may have held onto longer, or worse, taken out on someone else (hubby ?) who was undeserving. Horses are so honest and such a gift in our lives. A good, common sense approach to being with horses. Thanks Sherry.
Post a Comment