Lots happening in short period of time - Week 7

One of the challenges of not posting to my blog more than once/week, is that there is so much happening in the last weeks of being here in Colorado, it kind of gets in a jumble in the reporting.

Last weekend, Kimi, Heidi, Jessica and I had an extra horsemanship class with Rick. I really respect what I am learning about an approach to working with horses that can be transferrable, and there just doesn't seem to be enough time during the week -- so we spent 4 hours on

Saturday getting more practice and working with different horses. Here is a picture of me
working with Red, through a combination of direct and indirect feel to do a trick that Rick has been trained him. It is really amazing how much communication happens, between you and a horse, when you pay attention. We could have stayed and worked longer, on different tasks with different horses, but we had already made other plans.....

We met Cat and Sue for a trek to Rocky Mountain National Park....here is a picture that Kimi took of us on one of the boardwalks in the park. At first, I thought we wouldn't have enough

time, and it felt like quite a full day...and it was great. We did a bit of crawling on rocks and taking pictures that looked like we were accomplished cliff climbers and hangers. (Here is Kimi and I on the edge.) Then, we drove up to the Alpine Centre which I believe has an elevation over 10,000 feet. It was fun to drive on Trail Ridge Road, beside the snowbanks that had been carved with the snowplows, and were still about 10 feet above the road! Due to time, we didn't do any hiking, but did get out on the alpine tundra to make snow angels and have a snowball fight (note the date stamp on this snow angel picture)!






It was a great day, and exciting to be up in the mountains, reminding me of times in RMNP with as a kid (when we spent the summer in Estes with Grandma and Grandpa), or in high school on church work trips, and will Lisa, when she was living in Boulder. This place/space/geography is so calming and grounding for me....has been a part of my life (or is it lives?) I can't believe it took me/us 5 weeks to get into the park, and we probably won't get back there before heading back home. Seems crazy, but I guess this is what happens .... you don't get to the vacation places where you live!

Sunday, I went down to a suburb north of Denver and had lunch with my cousin Mary Jo and her family. It was good to see her family, and meet her sons, Noa and Dylan (I can't believe the kids of my generation are growing up so quickly!) Unfortunately, I was so focussed on spending time and talking with them, that I didn't get any pictures! Jim to a snap of MJ and I at the restraunt, in case we need to find proof that I was there.

In the afternoon, we had a 3rd class potluck, this time at Rick's farm. After dinner, he harnessed horses and ponies (sequentially, so no one horse got too tired) and gave cart rides. This is Jess and Rick coming back from the pasture with Black (aka Wisdom). It was fun to have some informal time to talk with classmates and instructors.

As we headed into Week 7, it seems like every other conversation is about a topic, like "can you believe we are almost done?!" Sometimes the conversation is about our confidence at heading home to start our new business, and other times it is related to needing to find time to get the homework done or to complete the activities that "of course" we'd do while we were here. And, it seems like everybody is shifting into transition -- like making plans for the week of June 23, or packing or just talking alot more the logistics of leaving.

When we are doing equine massage (our hand-on class) now Sara and Michael are giving us more "slack" so that we can work on our form and pace for "listening a massage". And, a few times we went into the paddock and massaged the horses without halters, to gain an understanding of how/why we use that piece of tack as a tool of massage. On Tuesday morning, I was working on a "low man on the totem pole" mare in the pasture (as I deduced by a fairly fresh shoe print on her left shoulder.) She was listening and quieting pretty well, although she seemed a bit sensitive in some areas. At one point, I was consulting with Sara about the horse, and she (the horse, not Sara) squealed, turned and kicked out! It happened so quickly, I have to try really hard to recreate the sequence of events...what I know was that I was pushed into Sara and spun around a bit. I figure I was standing relaxed enough (perhaps some constructive residual effect of the 6 weeks of Tai Chi class) that I was able to flow out of the way of any significant danger. Here is a picture of the mark on my arm, which a few applications of arnica, hasn't even been reminding me of the incident. It was kind of a good reminder about how to stay connected to a horse, and also be disconnected enough to not get hurt, and a milestone in this new career of equine massage therapy.

I will close this post with a bit more information about stuff going on at home. Yes, Gloria, Susan and I have found and purchased a house in Collingwood (closing on July 28) and, this week it looks like we have found a buyer for our house in Waterloo (details still pending). All of this is very exciting and happening very quickly. At this time, I don't have pictures of the new house in a format that I can post, but suffice it to say that it has the right amount of space, in the right configuration, in a neighbourhood that is a 10 minute walk to both downtown and Georgian Bay.

Which reminds me that there is alot happening, and lots of emotions. Week 8 will be an interesting one, too, as we have "last" classes and prepare to put the wrapper on this chapter. Stay tuned!

Preview - this weekend we have gone to the Colorado Renaissance Fair as well as Whitewater rafting on the Poudre River....Hopefully, I'll be able to post Sunday night, so that the next post doesn't have to be so wordy.