Today was a fabulous day. It was my day off, a gorgeous 25-30 degrees farenheight for most of the day, and as such, happily functional, I was at the barn, playing with four of the horses that I haven't played with since the temperatures dropped. Give you one guess what this post is about ;)
The horse featured in the photo for this blog post is SG Million Dollar Baby, aka Vegas. High spirited right brain extrovert, classic ferrari for the experienced horse owner, and for sale. I'd snatch her up myself, but I'm not in a position where I can afford another horse. Really enjoyed playing with her tonight with the tarp. It was awesome watching her try so hard, get curious, and finally, be brave. :) She really has a heart of gold, and is going to be someone's super-horse one day.
Next in line for tonight is Ruby-Right brain Introvert with unknown bloodlines. She's bright bay with a star on her forehead. Played with confidence farther away from me-she tends to lose connection in a very right brained way when asked to play, but there's been some decent changes recently when I changed my approach. Going slower, with less energy-who knew-springs connection from right brained introverts. One of the other issues we've been playing with has been how we say goodbye when I put her back in her paddock. When we first started playing together, she would pin her ears and rush to the farthest end of the paddock the moment she was let loose. Today she showed the best improvement she's shown yet with that-turning and walking away softly, and only for a few steps before turning back around and watching me leave with perked ears.
Almost done-next horse played with today was Karma. Karma is a classic left brain extroverted thoroughbred stud colt. His breeder/owner plans to race him when he gets older-which is part of what she does. Karma is the first left brained extrovert I've played with, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little intimidated at times. But having that same experience with other horsenalities I've played with, I know it'll pass the more I play with him and learn how to.
First off-Karma is the mouthiest horse I've ever played with. He's smart as a whip, and is not afraid to take a chomp out of your arm when he gets the chance. We're also having someone more experienced play with him as well to better insure mine and his owner's safety. He's come a long way-the first time I played with him he tried to climb up on top of me! I'm excited to learn what he can teach me in the coming months.
Chase has taught me something very important recently that one of my instructors-specifically, Fran Latane, has been trying to teach me for a couple of years now, only recently did it 'click'. One of the most important things you can do for your partnership with your horse, or any horse you're working with, is leave all the negative emotions you've been carrying around, if any, out of the space and time you have with your horse. There is almost nothing worse than being emotionally out of balance and then taking it out on your partner. Even if it seems like a little-maybe your aids are a little too quick, or your voice a little sharp, to your horse it feels like you're screaming. Even going back and 'apologizing' doesn't really take the brace away from the session, although it can be worked through. That being said, I am thankful to have such a patient levels partner who is wise beyond his age in these ways.
