Peace, Harmony, and Unity

Official Records Information
Misty
2-18-10
45 minutes
Evening

All I wanted to do today was be with my horse. Down time used to seem like a necessary chore, like brushing your teeth. Well, over time, brushing my teeth has not become enjoyable or something I look forward to, even though I do it 2-3 times a day every day (I hate the taste of toothpaste and looking like a rabid being). Conversely, the more I study my horse and spend time with her, the more I want to be with her all the time and am completely ok with "not doing anything with her." Some would call what I did with Misty today nothing, but what happened between us today means so much to me. I have decided to share today's experience in a story format, less narrative and rigid than usual. . . here goes:

We pulled into the drive way and my mom, scanning the pasture asked "Where are the horses!?" I had already spotted the two grays in the northeastern corner of the North Pasture, just standing. As I pointed them out, Misty saw us and began to decide to move. She was not moving yet, just deciding that she would. I got out and she immediately met my eyes. It was a warm feeling, the same one that fills me every time my horses really meet me and see me, and I see them. I could have just turned around and gone home then and lived off that warm feeling until summer rolls in, but instead, I walked on to really greet my friend.

I spoke only with my eyes that I would be right back and I ran in the barn and grabbed a handful of pellets to put in my pocket. Misty had begun the trek from the back of the pasture, and when I came out, she was still 100' out. I ducked in the pasture and whistled the tune I have been teaching her to come to then smiled and trotted in place. She had already picked up her pace when I came in the pasture, but now she began trotting. Her eyes were sparkling with life and her body language was loose and happy. Recalling it makes me cry tears of absolute happiness. What other possible response could there be to a horse coming to you like that?

She arrived and I talked to her a while before remembering I had something for her in my pocket. She was not searching for it, though. She was just being with me, choosing to be with me, and choosing to stay with me. I decided that we should go for a jog since I did not want to do any ground work or riding, so I started to run to the back of the pasture. I glanced back after 40' or so and she was standing there watching interestedly, so I whistled and faced forward again. The next thing I knew she was cantering behind me to catch up. Then she dropped to a trot and we just jogged around the pasture. I did figure eights and circles, tight turns to see how well she was sticking to me. I had no carrot stick, just me and muck boots that were filling up with snow. Nothing I could do, not turn or transition could shake her. She was also completely calm and level. Sometimes, she gets excited when I do this and will leave just to do a circle and come back because she has to go fast than me, but she just traveled along relaxed.

I stopped and asked her to bow a few times. She was lifting her leg high in the air for me to take before I even asked for it, or rather, she lifted it when I began to focus on the hoof. She leaned back a bit more than she has been as I pulled the leg back. She was beginning to see an ends to the pull and offered even more cooperation, rather than opposing me.

When I had rewarded her for doing so well bowing, I left her again and walked to the northeastern corner of the pasture where she and Conner had been standing and looked out over everything seen from there. The lake, the woods, the neighbor horse and donkey, the Back Pasture. I turned and Misty was looking at me with interest again. I smiled and beckoned her to me and she came right over. Together we watched everything for a while. Standing there looking at the untouched snow of the back pasture, I decided that we would go for a walk back there. I would need a line because I knew I would get in trouble if Maggie saw me taking her back there without one (the fence could have been down somewhere, and therefore the horse could escape! Oh my gosh!).

Misty followed me closely up to the front of the pasture and waited for me at the fence while I got the 18' line out. When I came out, she was there, still connecting with me. When I held up the loop, she dropped her head through it. I just used it as a safety net on our trek through the South pasture where Blu, Ginger, and Hoosier live (the gate to the back is located in the South pasture).