Step off the Path into Silly

How did I get here?  I don't know the exact moment I arrived ... here.   Three years ago, the thought of just walking into the barn would cause me to vomit.  Yep, I was that scared.   Fast forward three years through starting with Parelli, finding my dream horse and taking-the-time-it-takes.  I am now surprised to find I am riding bridleless, taking the first few tentative tries at Liberty spins and getting Tido measured up for his new cradle bridle as we venture into Finesse !  We are loading up and travelling out, considering clinics and seminars I never dreamed of being able to participate in, meeting the most amazing and wonderful people (and their horsey partners).  But the biggest and most prized accomplishment - we are having fun.  Everyday.  Lots and lots of fun. 




  Living in a time that is fast paced and high-tech, it is so easy to lose the fun - in working life and recreational pursuits.  It is easier to postpone fun to another day when you have more time, and less laundry.  But what if everyone decided to have fun everyday?  Even for just 5 minutes?  Just this morning, as I did my morning ritual of watering the plants, the dogs, the horses ... I suddenly dropped the hose and ran to the kid's trampoline for a 10 minute jump-fest!  You can imagine how surpised my 3 kids were, but they recovered quickly, picked up their jaws, and quickly came running to join in.  So we jumped and laughed and laughed.  And its funny how later (when my post-kids bladder started to stage a revolt to the jumping) picking dirty socks off my son's floor didn't seem quite so mundane. 

It is amazing what we can accomplish when we open the door and invite fun into our lives.  In my younger days - my time spent with horses was always fun.  As I venture further down the natural horsemanship path, it becomes easier and easier to recapture some of that silly fun with horses. 
~ its steamy hot out, fill some barn buckets and launch a full out water gun war.  
~ you are sitting on your horse bareback, relaxed and enjoying the day - lay back and put your head on his hindquarter and appreciate at the beautiful blue sky above you.  
~ practice dismounting off the right side, a clumsy landing will have you giggling for sure. 
~ take your horse swimming.  Or canter through the snow bareback!  
~ spectate a clinic, workshop or competition that you have never heard of before. 
~ maybe you have a secret wish to ride with cows - find a way to do it!! 
Whether a big fun goal or just a little bit of silly, how can you add fun into your horse time? For most of us, horses are a hobby.  Any hobby that you devote time, effort and money to - should be fun.  Sometimes all it takes is to step off  the path and just have some plain, old fashioned silly!

The sister to silly fun is the "fun" of acheiving your goals and realizing your dreams! Having goals is necessary to keeping us focused and progressing, but the journey and the acheivement should still be fun!! The other day, I slipped Tido's bridle off for our third official bridle-less ride.  I have gotten over the "holy crap" novelty of seeing my horse's naked face from a mounted perspective but this is still so new to us - I am constantly amazed!  After a short ride that included a considerable amount of trot segments - we headed to the big ball for Tido's favourite playtime.  For the next few minutes we trotted around playing ball - digging it out of corners, swinging his hindquarters around to line up behind it .... and forgot everything else in the exhuberance and enthusiasm of our game.  Like a lightening bolt, that tingly realization hit me - "he doesn't have a bridle on!!!!"   Wow. wow.   And I started to laugh.  How fun was that?!!!

I wish everyone the joy of finding your "fun" in your life and most especially, with your horses!  With it comes a deep satisfaction and a quiet peace that could only be defined as ... happiness.

Road to Walter Update: I have been making positive steps towards my future ride with Walter Zettl. Since arriving home from Parelli Experience camp on May 15th - I have lost 10 lb and am starting to see improvement in my fitness level. I have been focused on acheiving balance in the 4 savvys by improving our Freestyle riding and have tackled some of the early Finesse tasks taught to me by Don Halladay, with regular consistency.   In early August, I will have the opportunity to sit with Walter for one of his teaching days to become accustomed to his teaching style and learn to "hear" his instructions (mental preparedness).

When An Accident Happens .... are You Ready??

Last week my 2 year old filly suffered an injury in the pasture.  The injury was serious enough to require sedation, stitching, bandage changes and a host of other medical procedures.   I approached this situation with as much savvy as I have and maintained that our relationship was first and had to be balanced with the medical procedures she required.  However, during those first days post-injury, I quickly became frustrated at our lack of prior and proper preparation in the area of emergency preparedness.  While in many regards, Jess was a trouper and handled much of it calmly and confidently, but several times the pain caused a real change in her horsenality and I was left feeling overwhelmed.
So live and learn, this situation caused me to think about all the tasks that are important for responsible horse owners to do with EVERY horse in their care (the pasture potatoes have emergencies too!).   The more prepared you are, the more successful you will be when illness or injury adds that extra element to a situation ... pain. 

Physical Preparedness
Think about all the horses in your care and then honestly consider the following questions ....
Can your horse stand still and calm during needling? What about repeated needling?  Often during illness or injury, horses require more than one needling session! 
Can you hose down your horses legs, chest and belly with cold water? Often necessary for reducing swelling and keeping wounds clean.
Can you calmly and confidently load your horse in the trailer in the dark, wind, rain, snow or other common weather conditions for your area? If you had to evacuate or transport an injured or sick horse to a remote equine clinic - your horses need to be able to load in any weather or time of day, not just when the sun is shining!
Can you put your horse in a stall and have them be relaxed and calm for a length of time? Confinement is often necessary during injury.  Do you have a stall or small area to confine an injured/ill horse? Is there a "buddy" to stay with the patient to help them stay calm and quiet?
Can you spray aerosols on all parts of your horse's body?  Some injuries require antiseptic sprays to keep them clean and help them heal.
Can you operate the clippers over all of your horse's body including legs, head, neck, ears and muzzle? Some surgical procedures require the effected areas to be shaved.
Can you pick up all four of your horse's feet and confidently handle all four legs?
Are you physically fit enough to handle an injured or sick horse? These situations can sometimes require lengths of time without sleep and assisting veterinarians with medical procedures can be physically taxing.

Emotional Preparedness
Be very honest with yourself and think about how you handle emergency situations.  It's normal to find these challenging, but understanding yourself and taking steps to cover your shortcomings will help both you and your horses!
Can you act calmly, think logically and make well informed decisions in an emergency situation?
Can you call in some support to help you through especially trying times?
Can you keep safety as a priority in order to help your horse without putting yourself in danger?

Mental Preparedness
There is no doubt we love our horses. Anyone who has owned horses knows that sometime you will have to deal with the natural situations that arise during a horse's life. While not pleasant, these trying times are a reality and deserve some advanced consideration. Sometimes planning for the unexpected means thinking of potential emergency situations and thinking through how you would handle them.  Kind of like preparing your will and buying insurance for ourselves!
Have you analyzed your finances and have a realistic price you are willing, and able to pay, should illness or injury arise?
Are you able to make the decision to humanely end your horse's life if the situation warrants?
If you were to lose your horse suddenly, have you thought about how you would dispose of his/her body?
If you live in an area where natural forces can require evacuation - do you have a plan in place?

My goal for young Jess was to have her come through this injury without any lasting negative responses that will affect her future.  So even though an injury isn't the best time, I was focused on taking the time it takes and putting our relationship first throughout the whole ordeal.  Today at her follow up 5-day veterinary appointment, Jess let me know that she appreciated my efforts by standing perfectly still for her fourth round of needles.  You couldn't erase the smile from my face!  Jess is on the road to a full recover and hopefully only a minor scar as a reminder. 

 

P.I.T.'s and Rattle Snakes

What a week!! Lots of horse activity going on and lots of positives.  First I wanted to comment on the Humanality/Match report.  Mine arrived on a rare day when I was down and out with the flu and ironically, it was one of the best afternoons I have ever spent!! Having a sick day (rare, I can assure you), gave me some undemanding time with myself to really read and absorb the reports.  I was floored ... no... astonished to find out I am a RBI!  But not just any old RBI - a RBI Axis Point!  What this means is that although RBI is my main quadrant, it is very, very mild and my dot is very close to the centre.  The result is that I can easily shift into LBI and RBE and occasionally LBE (possible but only occasionally).  So, speaking in positive terms, I have the potential to be very adaptable to the horse I am playing with.   The reports are very, very interesting and very reflective of what I have been facing with myself and my horse.  Since reading them, I feel I have a real understanding of the positives and the challenges that Tido and I face as a partnership.  What also hit home, again, was John Baar's discussion regarding labelling.  He advised that we not think of LB and RB as "good" and "bad" and certainly now that I find myself an RBI, this is never more true!!
    
     As things finally started drying up here in south western Ontario in the last week, I got a chance to start playing with my filly. I currently have her identified as a P.I.T. (partner-in-training) because she flip-flops so easily between acting like a partner and behaving very instinctively. Since passing her second birthday on April 9th, I am starting to see more consistent partner-like behaviour as she gains in size and maturity.  But she is still very young, and those prey behaviours surface regularly.

     Throughout the winter I took advantage of every opportunity to play with any of the games that I could - in the confines of the barn.  But as the good weather has moved in, I have begun advancing those games outside!  In one of our first official plays of the year, I was busy placing barrels, flipping cavaletti, setting cones and generally getting things arranged in the outdoor arena.  I was casually dragging the 22' behind me and allowing Jess to trail around after me at Liberty (she's great at that - I call her my pocket horse).  Using my periferal vision to keep a close eye on her whereabouts, her sudden movement caught my eye.  The leather popper on the end of the 22' suddenly came up out of the grass and caught her attention.  After following it with concern for a few moments, she made a small hop into the air with both front feet and came down on the ends - finishing her display with a short tap dance.  Then in a brisk walk with a look of concern on her face she came within 3 feet of me and turned crosswise so her zone 3 was between me and the end of the 22.  She looked back at me over her shoulder with a confident expression that said, "it's okay, I've got this under control."  How can you not laugh??!!   While initially I thought this behaviour was quite instinctual, with some "hhmm .. how interesting" pondering, I have concluded that in many regards, she was actually behaving very much like a partner.   I know in her mind, the leather popper was a rattle snake (which is quite instinctual).  But instead of taking flight, she took as much calm confidence as a two year old can muster, and "killed' the snake to protect her herd of two.  While in the future I will need to watch carefully that she doesn't become dominantly protective of our herd, it was deeply reaffirming that our playtime has some very real meaning for her.   And if we ever ride through the wilderness, I'll be safe from rattle snakes! 


     I leave you with two recent photos of Jess.  The first in her new designer, gold mesh with lynx trim, fly mask. If you can't have fun dressing up your little girl - who can you have fun with??  The second shot was taken at sundown last night.  While I rarely consider her "angelic" - doesn't this photo give her a certain glow??


New designer flywear!




I always knew she was an angel!