A Surprise for the Horses

Official Records Information
Blu and Misty
45 minutes
5-8-10
evening

I had an exhausting day at work, so I was not going to be ambitious tonight. The horses had just gone out back (Ginger went up to the breeder's today, so while I was at work, my family was traveling. The horses got put out when they got home). Bridget and I were going to just go get the two horses we were going to play with and bring them up. . . but things changed.

Misty and Conner were together in an area and when Blu saw me, he joined us. Bridget began to play the catching game with Conner and I began to walk over to Misty. I respected and paused through each threshold, and she did not leave! Out back, where she could have thought I was going to push her up, where she can go a long way away and get away from me, when I had a halter and line in hand, she yielded her hindquarters away from me (a gentle phase one to get her head closer to me) and let me approach! That is very significant. I rubbed her, gave her treats, and walked around her--very not-sneaky. Then--and this was the kicker for her--I walked away, halter and line, and went to Blu. I did not do anything with her for the rest of the night.

Blu came right to me, of course, and I put his halter on. I walked him around as I watched Bridget play the catching game with Conner. I got on him and watched after a few minutes. He was swinging his head at me, but after he ran into my fingertips a few times, he stopped. When I got on, he began to walk off in the direction of going back up to the front pastures; I suspect this was because he was anticipating me taking him up there. I had to tell him it was ok to graze. I bet that was a shock to him, too.

Bridget and I decided that it was better to just let tonight be a "surprise" for the horses. Instead of getting them and doing something, we got them and did nothing. This will make the next session that much more successful. One of my favorite things that Linda Parelli said is "Ride for tomorrow." It means that everyday, you should know that there will be a next time, and that this session directly and indirectly affects tomorrow's session. We need to bare that in mind when we play with our horses. I ask myself "What will my horse be like tomorrow because of what I did today?"

Natural Horsewoman Out.