Learnaholics Anonymous

Minus 4 with a sprinkling of snow and one little mare who looked like she was walking on high heels.  Well one anyway the front.right. 

On inspection snow and ice had impacted itself into a mass that was a solid as a rock. Bea has had problems with her front right leg before which ended up in her being lame for months so not wanting a repeat performance I decided that the offending ice had to be removed besides I didn't know what kind of pressure it might be putting on the shoe. 

Early on we learn that horses push into pressure.   It is a fundamental reaction they have.  When exploring and developing our natural horsemanship one of the first things we do is to teach horses to respond to pressure.   We learn to teach them to move away from the merest hint of pressure on air, hair or skin.

It has always taken two people to load Bea. She is unable to stand in the trailer alone whilst the ramp is being raised.  Smacks of a lack of confidence and something that should be addressed so I can get to the stage where I can take her out alone.

I've never really liked the idea of using a grazing muzzle but as Bea is somewhat physically challenged it is a necessary evil.  I never realised, until now, just what at asset limiting grazing without the need for small paddocks can be.

Today I watched Gemma try.  I saw every step she took mentally, it was amazing.  I even saw her say, 'I know I shouldn't be doing this but I just can't help myself!'

Gemma is getting more comfortable with the 45ft line.  I am experimenting with how little it takes for me to communicate from 45 feet away.

Already we have a change of direction from that far away, even at the canter, all I have to do is make sure I catch her eye.  She will circle, maintain her gait, be relaxed...and travel.  To cause her to jump from 45 ft away all I have to do is point and focus. 

Confidence is an interesting word , we want our  horse to be confident,I want to be confident , I sometimes pretend to be confident when I am not to get my self through something and I have thought Dundee is confident when he is probably not there yet . 

Trailer Loading and doing his feet has brought this home to me , I realy need to be confident in what I am doing and am getting there having lessons with Max and studying is helping me do the right thing at the right time .

After two plus months of watching a lame horse go from bad to worse, then having no definitive diagnosis from the vet. I have been questioning if I want to stay in horses at all. In part I still am asking myself that question as the prospect of searching for yet another partner seems too hard to comtemplate.  I know the fat lady aint singing yet and the lameness issue with Bea is far from over.  When the splint she is now suffering from heals we could still be paying yet another visit to the vet if the lameness remains.

Today I moved out of my comfort zone again !

Its that time of year when the grass is much more interesting to Dundee than myself . So rather than DD having  the game of getting me moving I decided to experiment with him .