I went to Molly's house again on Thursday, the 4th of February. This time, I was playing with their weanling, Justin. I have spoken with him before, but I was happy to get to focus only on him. I have heard many stories about Justin from Molly. He is a spunky, outgoing colt with few fears, if any, and he loves people. I am sure his sweet dam and sire have a lot to do with that, but I contribute 90% of it to his humans. It is so clear that they are doing everything right with him. I, of course, have never had foals; yearlings are the youngest age group I have worked with. However, I have seen plenty of foals of other horse owners and I have never seen a foal that was well-mannered. It was never the case that I felt there was no such thing as a well-mannered foal, but I had yet to see one.
The Latin origin of "Justin" is "justice." Justin is the culmination of what happens when there is justice for the horse. It is completely unfair for the horse brought into this world and then not prepared to exist in domestication with their spirit in tact. Justin has personality coming out of every pore, but he is still easy to handle.
Dropping that rant, after watching Molly play with him for a bit, I played with him a bit. I put the rope around his flank, belly, and girth and led him by each. He completely yielded without so much as a kick in protest. He is definitely still a character; he made several displays of exuberance while I was watching, but was always quick to come back. He is very drawn to people. After leading him around in imaginative ways, I began to lead him back to the front of the area where Molly was. He wanted to hustle, so I rewarded him when I was done asking him to match my pace by letting him go to her. How cute!
Natural Horsewoman Out.
Natural horsemanship is a way of being with the horse, not a discipline of riding. It is much more than riding in itself. It is the human adapting to the ways of the prey animal to form a trusting relationship with a prey animal. There are so many resources out there, and this blog is my journey with horses as I set out on this conquest of knowledge.
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About Me
- HorsesNaturally
- I am a young horsewoman with a million things on my mind. I have been a student of the horse all my life. As a little girl, I had a desire to understand horses on deeper levels. I believed that there was no such thing as a bad horse, and I believed that all horses were beautiful. One might say that I was a naive child, but I guess I don't have an excuse anymore, because I still believe all of that, and Parelli Natural Horsemanship is helping expand on this perspective.
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