Special Moment~

Farah uncertain~

This morning I was looking forward to another visit at Karen & Scott's.  It was again cool & misty - more like late September rather than early August!  Farah is in the middle of a hard cycle.   I unloaded her - totally distracted - not listening & yanking me around in her haste to visit her friends!  As I expressed my displeasure to Scott - his reply was;  "Good!"  "Very Good!"  I have to admit I just stood there baffled until he said;  "Now she will learn that no matter how distracted, the same rules will always apply."

Calm & paying attention!

Once in the arena, she started what has been her usual "routine" of trotting like a crazy horse with kicks thrown in - but - the Big change was how quickly she stopped!  Within just a few minutes, she was reading Scott's body language & was walking around him - changing direction with very little fuss!  Instead of the hours that Scott had spent with her last week, this time it only took a few minutes to see her relax & pay attention.  A horse that was responding to cues - rather than reacting to what was going on around her.

A good girl!

 Once Farah had settled, Scott asked me to take over.  I couldn't believe how much easier it was to pay attention to what I was doing - as well as Farah's position - at the walk - rather than her flying trot!   With coaching, we did some nice, quite changes of direction.  I asked her to move to the trot & it was a nice medium trot - with her attention on me.  Scott asked me to drop the stick & drop my energy level to nothing.  The instant I did - Farah stopped, then turned & faced me!   It was quite a moment for me - to have that feeling of calm control!  :-) 

Later, Karen rode Sherman, as I rode Farah.  We took turns passing each other - first in the arena & then out & around the pastures.  Calm!  Farah was perfectly calm!  No pinned ears, no chomping on the bit because Sherman was in front & again - paying attention to me.

I feel like we're making such positive forward progress in reducing the stress cycle that I've been trying unsuccessfully - to overcome for ages now.  For Farah to finally understand that being with other horses does not necessarily make it a horse race is huge!  Next, we'll be going on a calm trail ride!  :-)

I am So appreciative of the mentoring both Farah & I have received from these two!