That's My Story and I'm Stickin' To It

While helping my Gramma run errands, I wrote out a plan for the horse session I would have later. I have been reviewing my liberty and horse behavior DVDs and booklet and I based my plan off that course.

I took my time preparing myself for the session. I transformed our old lounge whip (which hasn't been used in eons!) into a long stick with a flag on the end. I taped the whip to the stick with masking tape. When I finally got outside, Blu was in Maggie's pasture--he'd walked through the wire. As I went about catching Misty and tying her to the outside of the pasture, he was pacing the fence. He was not anxious, but he wanted to come over and be with us. It was funny. I guess it was a very left-brained anxiousness.

Blu was very trusting as I squeezed him out of the little pasture. In the round pen, I did his massages. It is a ten minute deal. He was not nearly as defensive as he has been sometimes. He still raised his head when I was curling his crest close to his axis. I also had to protect my space by kicking my butt when he bent his head around as I opened his knee. When I did the other side, he did not try to bite my butt. That's always a nice thing. I am trying to be careful about discouraging "negative" responses such as biting and nudging and head raising when I am massaging, though. Those are his only way of telling me if something still hurts and it dictates the speed at which I work and tells me his physical progress.

Now we moved on to my plan. First up is stick to me. To remedy any dominant biting or head tossing, I had it planned to do an IMMEDIATE 360 degree yield of the forequarters or back up fast. I had to play a quick catching game to get him focused on me and he cantered 3 laps during that. Then it was stick to me on the fence. He never tried to bite or threatened to bite, but he did do a couple head tosses with a nasty face. I did an IMMEDIATE 360 degree turn and kept going. We did walk trot canter transitions in both directions. I also did a fast back up. That got his attention! He was really doing a nice job of keeping in touch with me. I ended when I had him circling me with the carrot stick and string over his back. That was cool!

For the yoyo, I noted in my plan that if he went catatonic at the end of the back up or when I asked him to come in, then I would close my eyes, be very soft, go to my own happy place, very softly walk to him and crouch quietly next to him. I was really looking forward to trying this mirroring exercise, but he did not go catatonic. Bugger, right? He did some very nice yo yos. I still move my feet back to help draw him in because he still needs it. Maybe that is keeping him from "going there" to his catatonia.

I put Blu on line and brought Misty in and set her loose. Blu patiently followed me around while I played a little with Misty to get her a bit focused. She was just winging around. She was trying to connect, but she had too much life up in her. Once I had her with us, I went to yo yo her out, and she was off again. So I sent Blu in the opposite direction. Blu was doing nicely while Misty zoomed around the outside. She was not looking outside the round pen, though and was still trying to get herself under control; I think I can tell when she is shamelessly flying off the panhandle and when she is making attempts to ground herself as she is flying off the panhandle.

In my plan, I was going to send them in the opposite direction, then change Misty's direction so they were going the same way. She started to make the change, but I stepped back in too soon and she turned back to her counter clockwise direction. Blu however, saw me do the step back and forward and changed direction with flare. I accepted that, of course.

Now that I had two horses running in the same direction, I was onto the final goal of the day, which was to get them cantering in harmony for 1/2 lap. I had to speed Blu up. He did so with this really strong connection. It is like he and are having a conversation while a 3 year old is in the room throwing a tantrum--and the conversation is about a strategy to take care of the three year old. He was calmly running faster. Once they had gotten 1/2 a lap in wild harmony--but harmony nonetheless--I brought them in. Misty missed it and came in 1/4 of a circle late.

Now I wanted to work on Misty's send. I had changed my plan to include Misty standing at the end of a yo yo and having the two do something CALMLY in harmony. I got Misty's yo yo fixed by putting the carrot stick and string around her neck and keeping her from taking off. Once she got that, I just used my hand to block her early. Then she did it at liberty. It can still improve, but we got it straightened out a bit.

I had them out together again, trotting fast (Misty picked the gait and I just kept Blu up). Once some relaxation started to set in, I told Blu he could relax some more and Misty kind of took cue from him. Then I yielded them and they came in together at the trot, calmly (relative to earlier). Mission accomplished.

I put Misty's halter on, which was a relief to her. Both horses were great on the way back to the barn. Well, Misty was going a bit too fast and Blu a bit too slow, so I would swish Blu then wiggle Misty, rinse, and repeat. I also played a bit with the flag and lounge whip. If they were going to fall to pieces when I used it, the plan was to just use a carrot stick. But they were not too bad--unconfident, yes, but they were not shaking to pieces before me. In the barn, Blu waited patiently while I saddled a much calmer (but still high) Misty. She was exceptional for saddling. It was our first ride in a saddle since the fall.

I took the two horses and my flag stick outside to the yard behind the barn. My youngest sister Ellie held Blu (with the instructions to wiggle him if he came anywhere within three feet of her). On the 12' line, I went through a preflight check with Misty with the flag on a longe whip. She was disunited in her canter and really running for it. I did lots of changes of direction. She began to relax, so I brought her in. I walked around with our heads down until she had snorted 3-4 times and did a full body shake. Now when I wiggled the flag, she was fine.

Getting on, Misty was still, but as soon as I sat, she walked off. At first the three of us must of have looked pathetically hopeless. I was fumbling with ropes and sticks, wiggling the wrong rope, stopping Misty, untangling Blu. If I hadn't checked Misty before our ride it would have been a train wreck. I had my helmet on :D.

But as we went along, I got better at managing the lines. I also changed to a 12' line at some point because Blu was staying closer than I thought he would. I stopped having to use the reins but for an occasional pick up here and there. It was much easier when Misty could just be my legs so I could use both hands on Blu.

The three of us did stick to me with Blu on the outside, then changing direction to Blu on the inside of the circuits (not circles, just circuits of the yards general area). He prefers the outside because he does not like to have his zone 1-3 yielded when he is on the inside. Both horses did great for canter to back up transitions with the flag coming down in front of us.

We also had Blu go sideways to the trees and rest at the trees. I had him go there while Misty pushed him with her body next to his, while Misty stood in position next to him while I used the flag to push him sideways, and with Misty facing his zone three while I used the flag to push him sideways. He was doing much better with this sideways than he does with me on the ground. He was not nearly so unconfident and he was getting it faster. Maybe it's the trees, too (?). In any case, Blu blew me away with his sideways improvement. We only did 4 of them. Also, during our session, he was super at coming sideways toward us to get back into position next to Misty. Can you say PURPOSE-driven learning?

We ended with grazing together. It was a great session because I had that plan, and even though I made changes here and there, I stuck to my plan with flexibility.

Natural Horsewoman Out.

Falling on My Face in Prayer

Some days, an aura settles down around me like a blanket of fog that is frightening and debilitating. The fogginess makes me stay away from the world indefinitely out of fear. All the while, I really want to be out in the world doing what I need to do and living my life--progressing. I don't know what it is that makes a person feel that way. But when I finally got outside at 5 pm, things did not get better.

Blu saw me and began to walk toward me when I came out of the house. As I walked through the barn, I was trying to think of what to do with him. When I came to the aisle that leads out to the door, I felt frozen--a severe form of hesitation, in this case. I walked slowly down the aisle with a multitude of pauses. At the door, I could not get myself to open the door. It was the most irrational fear. I wasn't afraid of Blu or for my life, I was just afraid of doing the wrong thing. Even as I felt the fear, I knew that you can't do the wrong thing--that if you don't know whether it's wrong or right, then you are just experimenting. Maybe I should have told myself that a bit more firmly.

At any rate, Blu came right to me when I finally got out the door. He was exceptional for haltering. He was attentive, cooperative, and helpful. He followed me to the round pen. He did not walk straight off with me into the round pen, so I waited until he was walking with me then turned back around with him and shut the gate.

First I played the yoyo game with him. You might recall that the comeback is broken. We were on the 23' line. I focused first on keeping him straight. He wanted to turn and circle. I just did as little as I could as early as I could to keep him straight. I would back him up until he relaxed. I did not worry about keeping my feet still--his confidence was in trouble, so dominance was not important. Finally he began to get relaxed faster and was not getting tight. I was able to keep my feet still. His comebacks were excellent compared to what they have been. I also did not hesitate to move my feet, though. I ended when he backed all the way to the end of the line and came back with lightness and softness. Then I took off his halter and did a yo-yo at liberty. I had to move my feet back a bit to draw him back in, but before, he could not come back at all, so I was very happy with that.

I stood with Blu for a bit, focusing on shutting down the output and just absorbing the environment. He reached around and nosed my knee once--a forceful precursor to biting for him. I had my arm over his shoulder, but was otherwise still. He began to walk around, and I did a sort of passenger lesson from the ground.

Then it hit again. I did not know what to do. I walked around a moment. Blu watched me every now and then, but was preoccupied with an exposed patch of scrub. The feeling was that of loss. I sat on a barrel. Memories began to flood into my mind like a roll of film. Blu was so eager and cooperative in the beginning of our Parelli journey. We had rough patches, but I remember how he used to wait at the end of the line during the yo-yo, completely fixated on me, waiting intensely for me to lightly signal him to come back to me. When I did, he would come back immediately. I remembered when he was at liberty out in the open running to me, playing with me. I remembered when he jumped the barrels for me. When we won our jumping class at fair. I saw him fall down on me when he was cantering in the morning and felt the feeling of realizing we needed to scratch the first class so I could help him through his mental/emotional collection problems so he could find physical collection. I remembered riding with nothing--no sticks, no strings, no reins, no bridle, no saddle--in perfect circles, transitioning between fast canters and slow canters then speeding into a slide stop. I saw flashes of him following me eagerly away from his buddies to come with me to play.

I don't know if I was wondering how we got away from that or if I was worried we would never get back to those things. At any rate, I whistled to Misty in the other pasture and she began to search for me. When she saw me, she began to come to me. I got up and met her. I apologized for leaving her behind. Then I stood in a puddle with her and talked to her and to myself for a while--almost 20 minutes. The instant I left the round pen, Blu looked up and followed me. When I came back with Misty in tow, Blu was waiting with this head over the fence. I cut a panel string so I could squeeze Misty in. She was really good at squeezing under the wire and through the open panel.

After tying the panel back on, I began to play with Misty and Blu. I watched as Misty protected her space from Blu's snooping nose. Then I moved them in a circle around me. Misty was trying to connect with me and when I invited her in, she came right in. Blu seemed to be affected by her draw to me and his draw felt better. I played with sending them in opposite directions and changing their directions. Misty continued to be very drawn to me.

When the two of them were moving together nicely, I drew them both back and they came in together. Now I moved on to stick to me. Blu was on the outside and I was in the middle. At first, I lost them both because Misty reached across me to bite at Blu and they both sped ahead. I just kept going along. Blu got back with me. We lapped around Misty. Each time we passed her, I was inviting her to join us. She was not getting it, though, so I put a string around her throat latch and tried it again. Blu was doing awesome on the outside; he was doing a lot of blowing. First thing I did was give a good solid message to Misty that she was not to poke at Blu by swinging the stick up in front of us when she tried to reach across me again. Blu was cantering on the outside track and I was focusing on both him and Misty. Misty was having difficulty with the inside and not getting ahead or falling behind. When I would cut in close to make her track smaller, Blu was right on my right shoulder, still cantering, not trying to bite me, just keeping up. When Misty got light on the string, I let go of it. We three went a lap like that and then I stopped and everyone stopped with me. We stood together for a while.

I put on Blu's halter and put the string on Misty again. She was facing me and was cooperative as I slid the loop back on her. We maneuvered the gate carefully. I was concious of their position to one another and how that would affect them. It all went very smoothly. Leading them through the barn, Misty now with a halter hackamore on, went off without a hitch as well.

I mounted Misty from the picnic table. She immediately sidled up next to it when I stood on it. She was excited as we walked to the grazable grass behind the barn. We found a great deal of relaxing to be had, back there.

On the way back, both horses were much calmer. I dismounted and let Misty back into the pasture. She left nicely--a soft leave after a proper good-bye. I let Blu stay in the aisle. I put hay down and began chores. Griswald the kitten got stepped on and I prayed for him. His limp went away and he stopped going into shock. The incident shook me out of my happy stupor and made me really reflect on the time with the horses. What had I been doing? What was wrong with me, today? I prayed on my face and felt much more clear afterward. Blu came to me while I was getting grain around. I took him around to his stall and gave him his dinner.

Yes, things felt much better. I went to bed directly after chores. I was planning on just lying down and recuperating a bit. But as I lay there, I decided to just stay and sleep. It was only 8 pm, but what a trying day. My gramma woke me up at 1 am to make her bed, but it was a good sleep.

Now, I had this post to March 7th, but today is March 8th. That means I have had a day to reflect on it. Also, today is here, as in yesterday's tomorrow is here. What will I do today in respose to yesterday? Well, I got up at 7 am and did chores, so the horses should be ready to play any time now. But before I go, I am going to have a plan. I am going up stairs to clean up a bit then it's off to the horses.

Natural Horsewoman Out.

Intuitive Thinking and Internal Monologue

I tried something new today for catching Blu. I had a "WHOA" sign to install in the round pen. I had all my gear and my sign, and as I walked by Blu, I offered my hand. He smelled it, but I never stopped walking and he did not follow with his feet, just his nose. While I was hanging up the sign, Blu came in! Kind of like that old "when you are fixing the fence, the horses are all over you like a cheap suit" scenario. The funny thing is, when I was leaving the gate open, I thought, "If he doesn't want to be in here, then I need to try something new to make this a place he would want to be." It made me really happy that he came in--I am on to something! Okay, fine. Actually it was just a very humbling experience. Anytime that things go right, it is humbling.

After I was done tying up the red WHOA sign on the eastern point of the round pen, I shut the gate and Blu followed me back and forth. I stood with him for a grooming him with my hands and massaging. We do so much standing still. I don't know what he is thinking when we are standing there. It used to be difficult for me to do nothing with the horses. I didn't have any trouble doing it, but I was not enjoying it. I was itching to do something. I was fighting with myself not to reach out. I was belittling myself when they were not doing things one might perceive as positive. One thing I have learned over the years is that this internal dialogue is far too self-centered. These quiet times need to be about absorbing what is around me. There must be an end to the constant output of the mind.

It is still in the works, this quieting the noise. I am a Christian, and it is much the same as trying to have quiet time with God--a time during which I struggle with shutting down my inner monologue and finding peace. I think it is a sign of a natural selfcentricity or solipsistic perspective. Maybe it is a sign of being alive. Perhaps we all have it a bit, but I could not know what goes on in the minds of others. At any rate, my personal journey towards becoming part of what is around me instead of forcing what is around me to assimilate into something that fits to me.

I began to move Blu around. Right now, our liberty has taken steps back. We are not at the same level we once were in some things. That's because somewhere along the way, we lost bits and pieces of our relationship. Like a house built on sand, things have begun to slide into the ocean. So, as we build back the foundation of friendship, things of the past--maneuvers and skills--are resurfacing like great relics from the depths of the sea.

I did stick to me on the rail the way that I saw Pat Parelli do in DVD I watched the other day. Of course I have done it before with Blu on countless occasions, but for the sake of creating a visual picture: I am on the inside of the circle and the horse is on the rail next to me. As I walk, the stick drags behind me and when I stop and back up, I let it stop and drag in front of me. At first, I went very slowly. If Blu did not keep up or if he did not back up, I would use the stick to do more than a suggestion. We were doing longer periods of a consistent walk. Blu was not stopping or backing with lightness. I tried stopping more frequently, as in taking fewer strides before stopping. Suddenly, it clicked with us both and he was getting lighter--more importantly, his face was staying soft. I took it up to the trot and back up and it was amazing. Then the canter. When he stopped and backed up out of the canter with complete sync with myself, I knew this was the place to stop with that game. One canter. It was a bit of a leap forward in my self control to stop with just one canter-back up transition.

Then we played the circling game. Blu was shooting off at the yo yo out. I let him be and waited for questions. When he would ask, I would invite him in. If he chose not to come, I would just as gently send him on again. He began to come into my back. I thought of how good that was, that it was a sign of trust for him to want to come in. I also noted that he did not feel safe coming to the front of me. I let him stand by me, not touching him, then I would send him off again. Then he began to circle close to me. He would make an orbit around me that swung in close to my back and slung away from me to cross the front. He even began to canter around and came flying past my shoulder--so close I felt the hair on his upper arm brush the back of my hand. I had an idea to turn with him so he could stay close in a full circle. It worked. I did a sort of approach and retreat by turning a circle then stopping and letting him cross in front of me. Little by little, he began to make a circle uniformly close to me.

I don't really know how those ideas come to me. It is intuition driven by knowledge and experience, I guess. It comes without much beckoning. But that makes it hard for me to plan and to feel like I know what I'm doing. Knowing what I'm doing gives me confidence. I am wondering if the next part of the journey is getting my intuition out into my control so I know what I am doing . . . or if it is becoming confident not knowing what will happen next.

Natural Horsewoman Out

Inspiration

I took Blu to the round pen and played with him on draw for a bit. He is still really great with the porcupine off the nose from our work on that. I yoyoed him back and forth with a cookie when he came in DUH! This was a BFO I had when I read another Parelli Connect update. Our yoyo got fixed :D. I will continue to play with that with him. I ended the yoyo repair when he came back to me from the other side of the rp after yoyoing out there on a straight line. I played some with tiny stick to me circles and he never left. Then he handed me the halter and we went out to graze.

It was so cool to find inspiration from Parelli Connect. It has been a great community to be a part of. I love getting to read what everyone is doing.

Natural Horsewoman Out.

Filling Holes

Blu had some things to say with his teeth during his massage, today. It was when I was on the left side of his neck and when I was loosening his fetlock on the left side. I did the same passive catch the head and hold it until he wanted to straighten up again. I drove his forequarters around because afterward, he was getting dominant nibbly.
He followed me to with slack in the line to the round pen, but he was not yielding his HQ all the way. When I go to correct him, he gets nervous as he does so.
The footing is HORRIBLE in the round pen. It’s that 4’’ snow that is frozen hard so your feet punch holes into it. It is super unstable and quite a work out to play in! I can’t wait for spring :D
I brought a barrel in and played the friendly game with it. Then we stood together for a while. I played stick to me on the fence. He was not very responsive at first. I backed him up with the porcupine on his nose and he did not evade in any manner!
I took the halter off by backing him up with the halter untied until it fell off. He was connected for a moment, but not coming back (I knew this would occur because on line his yoyo was hesitant on the way in).
I played the catching game and he went around for two laps before he really connected back to me and stuck with me. I stood with him for a bit then played the porcupine game. His lead by the ears was perfect. His lead by the legs on the back and front took a moment and were not very soft, today.
I sent him out on a circle to the left. I let him go at his own pace. He stopped at poop and went off when I turned to look at him. He did the same at a tarp on the ground. At the barrel, he kept going, instead of stopping at it. When he came by me, I tilted my head to yield him and he came right in and trotted to me when I backed up. I decided that this was a great place to end the day . . . it doesn’t sound like much, but I am busy filling holes with him, so tomorrow will be better :D

Natural Horsewoman Out.

Diagnosis and Prognosis

I watched the March DVD last night and decided to use the 7 games to diagnose and then fix broken things. I did the massages and TTouches that Blu’s chiropractor showed me yesterday. He obviously really enjoyed it ;). I took him to the round pen and ran through the games really quick the way Linda does with her "new" horse, Jazz. I spent the time I had left fixing the porcupine on the nose, which went exactly the way that it does in the Savvy Club DVD for March. Blu was putting his head down or to the side instead of backing up. I stayed with him no matter what and increased the pressure when he put his nose in the wrong position. With many steps, I lead him to the answer--back up straight, don't dodge.

Natural Horsewoman Out.

Back Issue

Today I had an appointment for Blu with the chiropractor. She is a woman I know through 4H, and she is one of the most wonderful people I know. She and her daughter are positive, kind, thoughtful, helpful, and gentle to the highest degree, and I consider them as two of the best people I have had the opportunity to meet in my life.

I explained what I had been observing in Blu for the past 6 months and lately. His difficulty with the left lead, his heaviness on the left front leg, pain with mounting and dismounting, pain with leaning forward, bothered with belly being touched lately. She went on to checking him out. He was very clear about what hurt. He is a good patient. He bit my sweatshirt once when she was doing something . . . I don't remember what.

Before you read these, I am NOT a chiropractor. Nor am I suggesting that you do all of these with your horse. My chiropractor said not to do these with a pregnant mare. These are the exercises I am going to be doing before I ride or play hard. He is flexible enough to do them--I don't know if they are exercises that can be done with every horse indiscriminately. If you are interested in adding massage to your daily horse time, I would definitely suggest back lifts and carrot stretches (stretch to the hip, between the legs, and to the ground between the front and back leg with a treat). Linda Tellington-Jones has wonderful books out about massage and flexing. My top recommendation is to have a chiropractor out to see your horse--even if you don't think he or she needs it. You are bound to learn so much and you will see very positive changes in your horse's performance and disposition if you follow your chiropractor's advice

Here is the regimen for Blu:

• Roll the crest
• Swipe the rhomboids back and forth
• Light, medium, and hard down the spine with thumb and fingers on either side of spine
• Downward swipe in front of scapula with the fingers curling around front edge of scapula
• Pressing fingers between ribs in downward motion (a finger between each rib with four fingers goes faster)
• Cup the brachiocephalicus (muscle on the neck that continues the jugular groove's shape) and rub down with pressure
• NOTE FOR THE NECK: be sure not to put pressure on the cervical vertebra as you massage the neck
• Open the knee cap: gently bend at the knee until the hoof touches the elbow
• Release the fetlock: with hoof in the position to pick it out, place your thumbs on the bulbs and gently roll the fetlock around
• Cup the pectorial and massage down and back under the belly
• Place hands on the girth and massage up--comparable to Linda Tellington-Jones' "Lick of the Cow's Tongue"
• With a fist, doing a quick rolling massage on top of scapula/deltoid and on the haunch on the gluteus superficialis and tensor fascia latae

Everyday with Blu, I did the following:

• Back lifts (asking the horse to contract his abdomen, thereby lifting his back)
• Belly lifts after riding (wide support under the belly lifting it up so as to literally take the weight of the belly into your arms and off the horse's back)
• Lateral flexion of head and neck (in the saddle or on the ground) to the middle and to the hips
• Carrot stretch to between the knees

On occasion, my chiropractor said it is good to release the neck. That's something I learned from Linda Tellington-Jones, as well. You place your hands under the jaw and lift the head so that it stretches from the neck. It is a very nice exercise in trust, as well. Eventually, you reach a point where the horse lowers his head and allows you to manipulate his head and neck.

If you don't follow Parelli, then talk to your chiropractor about thoughts on saddle fitting. Parelli has an excellent program on understanding how the back, shoulders, hips, ribs and girth are affected by the saddle fit and position.

A new tool for my tool box will be a belly cover to protect from drafts that will cause cramping after he stops after a warm ride. I will make one this weekend.

During our session, Blu was actually much better than I expected him to be since he came fresh from the pasture and a day of boredom. He was very investigative, but he stayed within the realm of "cute" and did not get "naughty." I wish I could have played with him before hand, so he would stand quietly, but we could not get home early enough. At any rate, I was glad that he was so good (relativity is an important concept, here :D).

So, I love my chiropractor.

Natural Horsemanship Out.

Passive Gentle Leader

I stepped outside and Blu immediately came over to me. I groomed him with my hands, noting spots he did not want to be touched. I will relay these to my chiropractor, who is coming out tomorrow to work with Blu. He was iffy about the left side under his belly below the spot between his back and loins. That is right where his back pain comes from. He also did not like me putting my arm over his back. I noticed that yesterday, too. I retreated and reapproached.

When Blu would look back at me, I would gently catch and cradle his head and release him when he wanted me to. Reverse psychology.

When Blu wanted to pick on Hoosier, I gently shooed Hoosier away. I could tell that had an effect on Blu.

I walked away to the round pen and he followed me all the way. It was a very lovely feeling—one that made it VERY difficult to leave. When I went to the rp, Misty came around, too. She stood by the rp through every undemanding time I had with Blu this past week.

When I did leave, Blu followed me. Tonight felt so good and I really felt like a passive, gentle leader and like I was flowing with the go and going with the flow. I feel like it was a good place to move on to the next step

Natural Horsewoman Out.

Bored Out of His Gourd

I spent 30 minutes doing an undemanding time. Blu seemed bored out of his gourd, but he stayed with me the whole time. Then I played with him at liberty. I had a saddle pad and let him mouth it, throw it around, etc. for a while. I did very tentative stick to me after a zone 3 "passenger lesson" with my arm over his back. Then I played with him out in the pasture. He cantered with me, trotted exuberantly to me…it was a good time.

Natural Horsewoman Out.

Is it Lie or Lay? Oh, Who Cares!

Blu was magical, today. He was cleaning up hay leaves with Hoosier. I provocatively opened the door (by doing so slowly as the door made all the unlocking sounds). He looked up and came to me (after peeing in the muck pile). After our salutation, I led him to the round pen. He was not so hesitant about continuing past the gate for the other pasture, this time.

I lay down in the snow (lay is the past tense version of lie, which is the proper verb, here. The present tense lay means to lay something down. You might lay down a horse. But if something is doing so of its own accord, it is lie) and Blu stood right over me. He had his nose right over my face and stomach for a long time. He would smell me very gently now and then. He was even less mouthy, today. Yesterday he wasn't nibbling, just touching, but today he was hardly investigating. He just stood over me. He moved to standing with his head over my feet. After a while, he began to paw gently and I protected my space. He backed away a bit, pawed gently again . . . and then lay down next to me. I cried!

I gave him some cookies and pet him. I sat behind him and then Sarah the cat came along (she left us when Blu laid down) and slapped him. I shooed Sarah, but the damage was done. The magic was kind of gone and Blu stood up and chased her away. Later, when she came back, he chased her away again with much vehemence. She did not come back.

For the remaining 10 minutes or so, Blu picked up the towel and carrot stick. He never actually got one into my hand.

Blu followed me out and I said good bye then got everyone a snack. As I passed by on my way back in, Blu stopped eating and looked at me. It's not much to the naked eye, but that connection to me meant a momentary disconnection from his food, so it was special.

What a special day. Back to work for second shift!

Natural Horsewoman Out.