One of the magical moments, today, was when we were going out to the paddock to get some horses for our Equine Massage class. On the other side of the road, about 1 metre from the fence, was this little critter:
His/her mother was very understanding, although they both moved toward the middle of the field as we were there. The wranglers said that the foal was born that morning, so would have been just a few hours old when this picture was taken!
After seeing this hour-old foal, we went back and worked in the round-pen with a variety of horses. This was the first day we worked "solo", so there were 14 horses in the pen at the same
time. It seemed as though we had a larger percentage of "ornery" (as my Grandpa used to call 'em) horses. I was working on SuzyQ, who tried to scare my by reaching to bite me while I was working on her. After some practice, encouragement from Sara (shown here as in the midst of instruction on working on the tail) and Casey, I was able to stand my ground and not get bitten, at the same time! Sara is doing a great job of encouraging us, and also letting us learn in a very hands-on way. There isn't any one formula for what we are doing with the equine massage, so she is helping us to build our toolkit, and I expect we'll refine our selection mechanism over the next 6 weeks.I find that my on-going challenge is to be in the process, and not get attached to outcomes. It is so cool to watch the horse stretch, or shift and adjust after I have been working on him/her. AND, this can't be the reason that I am doing this. If I wait for the external acknowledgement, then there will be days and times that I am discouraged and disappointed in myself -- which will not give a good result to the horse, either. So, I will continue to work on being present in the moment and try to improve and increase my listening.
This morning, we went to a different barn, and worked on horses that are groomed and trained for polo and show events. It was interesting to work on "different bodies" and to continue to refine the skills that we are learning in handling and massage. Sara made a good point, that all of this is "the massage". For example, when we are getting the horse's attention, and asking them to back-up, we are also inviting them to soften their neck and back. So much to learn!
Then, this afternon, we were working at Rick's place, again. When we broke into groups, our group was working with Rick in the round pen on communicating with indirect feel. Since I went first, Rick helped (in "three-legged race" style) as we got Baloo to relax and walk or stop or look, all with a rope or direct contact. Then, when Heidi was working, he also helped her, but this time
it
was to use this indirect feel to get Baloo to do an outside turn, and go the opposite direction. By the time our whole group went, Baloo was quite relaxed, and it was interesting to see the different things that he could/would do, all without any direct contact/touch.After school, (and unsuccessful shopping for warm clothes for our mountain-top adventure tomorrow) we decided to go out to dinner, since both Jessica and I will be gone for our "Friday night tradition". After our experience, I have decided that the Rock Bottom Brewery is my new favourite restraunt in Loveland, CO!
This brings me to the end of today's posting -- I will be trying to post every 2-3 days, as per the majority of responses to the poll suggested that you are checking in 1-3 times/week. There is a new question posted, which can help me respond to what you'd like to hear/see here....so I look forward to getting your feedback. Yes, I am listening.....
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