Catching Up On The Journey

We have had a lot of things going on in our corner of the world and have gotten a bit behind in our Journey Journal. Here are some "highlight entries."

Working Between The Raindrops.

We have had quite a bit of rain this last two weeks. Our “in house” training area is a muddy mess. The one local covered area has been booked heavily so getting in training time is tough. The last thing we need is a horse slipping and hurting themselves.

Still we have worked in training as best we can, Leadership walks, some round pen/ quiet conversation groundwork, TLC time and rides at the walk have occurred. This time of year we work more in maintaining /improving known skills more than “teach new stuff.”

Our truck decided to start acting wrong during this time. It is not going anywhere fast. Just need to limp it to the shop and pray the damages are not too high. Sigh. When it rains it pours.

We have a G.S.H.C. Practice set for 11/19/2016 and a Horsemanship Workshop set for 11/20/2016. Should be fun!

Working on the “Quiet Conversation.”

Today’s goal was to work on the “Quiet Conversation” with Cearra. What this means is that we want to riase the bar on her awareness of the human, even when there are distractions around (our farrier Steve Elliot was working with Ronan and Argent today). The goal was to have her focus on the human, not anticipate a command, move off with control when asked and basically respond to smaller cues/looking for the answer.

Have to say she did really nice. The round pen and riding area is still REALLY muddy and slippery in places so “low impact/low speed” was the rule of the day. Cearra focused on  us quickly, would draw in when asked, moved well and was a cuddle bug at times (when we deemed it okay that is.) She went through a series of exercises that tested her focus and retention of previous lessons. Very pleased with her work ethic and performance. All the ground work is translating nicely to under saddle work. We see an increase in confidence and body control which is…well…just fun. We have gone through some ugly to get to this point. Glad we made it.

Those Little Magic Moments.

            Some days are really special in the development of a partnership between a human and a horse. Today was one of those days. The goal was to introduce some new concepts into the program with Cearra and see if we could maintain the confidence and “quiet conversation.” From the groundwork to the work under saddle things went pretty well. Cearra had a couple of insecure moments and thought about reacting but quickly came back to using the thinking side of her brain. We have uncovered a tiny bit of “baggage” that has not been fully overwrote yet but hey…we have not even hit 10 weeks yet…and she really did look to us for leadership. No complaints and a great learning opportunities for everyone.

            Cearra is also very social and very curious by nature. Today as I sat near the round pen while Laurie was working with her horse, Cearra came over to watch. I was holding our “pom-pom on a stick” which is made of a piece of bamboo and a pom-pom. Well she wanted to see it as has she sniffed it she made the handle “whistle.” A new game was born. Walk up to her human, say hello, make a whistle and walk a circle. Big fun!

You can’t beat those little magic moments.