He looked just breathtaking after a 2 hour primp-and-grooming session before he was brought to the Christmas tree. I, of course, forgot to check a mirror for my own self. Typical.
Jet was a very good boy this year and received the Parelli Ball from Santa. I think he would have preferred apples and mints.
Dave helps blow up Monster Apple
With Jet safe on the other side of the roundpen, he follows Monster Apple with trepidation...
...but curiosity starts to get the better of him. Little Charlie in the backround thinks, "That thing is bigger than me!"...
...And finally, the touchdown! He has since shown no interest, lol.
It's been really interesting listening to everyone's goals and resolutions for the new year. Of course I can't help but think of what I would like to accomplish as well. But unlike years past, I'm trying REALLY hard not to be a direct-line thinker about them, now that horses are involved. After making a list (and checking it twice) of all the things I plan to do this year, I've zeroed in on what it is I want the most, and noticed that through it, the others will follow. Of course I hope to gain more savvy than last year. That's already underway, as Jill asked me to start working with some of the ponies and get them ready for their forever homes. I just started playing with Elvis, an adorable chestnut Welsh with a guitar-shaped white blaze (hence his name). Elvis is an RBE, the complete and utter opposite of my lazy, laid-back and sometimes argumentative Thoroughbred. Mom has also been messing with Charmin, who is that fluffy white Unicorn Pony that every little girl dreams about. He is an LBE, just as brave as Jet, but doesn't need motivation to play. For him, it's ALL about play. Working with other horsenalities is eye-opening, and I've loved figuring out how to best address all the different horses that show up. Of course, helping the other horses who are still waiting for homes has taken away time from Jet a little bit, but when we DO get back to our own horse, playtimes with him are getting more fun and more efficient. Someone on the forum once hypothesized that horses can go into different quadrants at different times of the HOUR and I completely agree. Jet is pre-dominantly LBI, but that didn't mean he was all la-di-da during a bad windstorm a few days ago. He was completely RBE. The poor guy must have been smelling coyotes all the way from Pahrump and thought they were right behind him. But instead of trying to motivate him to jump over the log or climb up and down the sandboxes, it became about comforting him when he needed it (which was a lot) and using approach and retreat to ask him to be brave about doing things in the scary wind. By the end of the session he was marching right past a flapping tarp that was strapped to one of the new building containers on property (Shiloh is being renovated!) like it was nothing. Jet went back to his pasture braver and respecting us as his leaders and I went home feeling like Pat :-)
But I think my biggest and true main goal of this year is to really buckle down about transferring our communication and relationship to the saddle. I've been thinking really hard about what exactly my threshold is about riding Jet because I'm NOT scared to ride. Not only was I riding Moonshine pony a little until he promptly got adopted, but I've also been helping Dave with Rookie's saddle training. Rookie is completely green and had every right to try and buck off a rider from being confused or frustrated about cues, while my horse will spin on a dime just by me LOOKING in the direction I want to go. So here I am, jumping on Rookie and trotting him around the roundpen, offering Dave my input without thinking twice, but hesitating to tack up Jet. Why? I finally came to the conclusion that riding Jet is not my threshold so much as actually mounting up on him. Having permission to get on a horse's back is so important to me now, and has become such an intense (but good) experience that the times I have put my leg in the stirrup and pushed myself up and Jet has walked away only raise my doubts about understanding him. Not to mention my fear that I will damage our bond by getting up on him heightens as well. Subconciously, I probably had his shoes pulled so that I had an excuse to not have more pressure on myself to ride him.
Interestingly enough, once I openly admitted WHAT it was about riding Jet that made me nervous, I felt silly and realized it's not that big of a deal. And riding other horses, including a been-there-done-that, uncannily forgiving Super Pony named Moonshine (who's adoption to a competitive pony girl is pending, the most perfect home he could fit for!) and slowly-but-surely, GREEN-with-tons-of-potential Rookie, is making me more confident in MYSELF about riding my own horse. I'm more ready than I was a few weeks, even months ago when I first started thinking about it. And insofar as Jet's feeling, well, if this isn't proof of how far we've come and his trust in me, then I don't know what is:
1 comment:
Nice write up !! Rookie has come so far in this past week THANKS for your imput,We are going to be more aggressive with Numerous now as well keep training Rookie with Jill .As far with Jet I feel that it will all come together ,You mite also try using the round pen to mount Jet that is what i did with Numerous for awhile before going to the large turnout Remeber Jet and Numerous came from the race tracks .As you have seen Numerous now lets me ride him bareback in the large turnouts and outside .
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