Welcome to Fern Valley

Here in central Alberta prime farm country,my husband Martin and I work together raising beef cattle and Appaloosa horses. Fern valley appaloosas have long been known for their quality of temperament conformation and color.I have recently rediscovered a love of writing and have published 2 collections of poetry. "Telling Tails" and Tails Trails and Campfire stories" . I look forward to a future spreading my wings as an author and as a horse woman .

Saturday 23 November 2013

A repost, but a good reminder I think

This  post  was  originally in  2009 ,and  was one  that  was  nearly  lost  due  to the  blog  being  hacked. I did manage  to save it ,sadly  without  the  original  pics  and  comments . I am reposting it , but a  little  explanation  first 

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 
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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!
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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 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

A very good reminder to us all . . . mares are good for that.

aurora said...

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??

Unknown said...

A very good post, worthy of the repost. Glad it wasn't lost.

Willow said...

I hear ya here . I even sent this post to a good horsey friend of mine. Great post.

WishIHadAHorsey said...

Excellent post - good for life in general.

Shirley said...

Horses are good barometers of our moods. Chickory was especially good at that.

C-ingspots said...

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.