I think I said last time I visited here that Reggie and I had dipped our toes / hooves into Intelligent Horsemanship. We didn't buy any branded material when we were on the course as Reggie has no money (ever!) and I didn't have the courage or knowledge to "brand" myself in anything. I figured wearing the logo was just going to invite conversations I was neither competent nor willing to have and so.... we avoided the branding and mostly went under cover.
As it happens I / we learned more than I could ever have hoped for. I was the only owner who took my horse and Reggie offered himself up for demos on loading, saddle fitting & join up. I wasn't very good at join up so it was with some relief that I was advised "this horse doesn't need join up". Phew.
Lauren and I went to a Monty Roberts demonstration last night. It was fantastic. Here's the lessons I am carrying from that and the course:
a) Make it easy for the horse to do the right thing
b) Fear is no basis for a partnership, everything that can be achieved with fear can be achieved without and doesn't damage the partnership.
c) Horses way outstrip people in Emotional Intelligence.
d) There was a time that I believed I was teaching Reggie (Mila and Marley). I now see they've been teaching me.
There are days that I worry that I am not doing the right or enough "work" with Reg. He has no such doubts, he knows what lesson we are on and picks up where we left off.
Way back in April I had the privilege of watching Rachel (on the Yard) work with Ronnie. At the time what she was doing looked like magic. I asked, she pointed and I walked in that direction.
Then there was a day when Penny donated a day to Reggie and I to walk together in the Mendips. I said something like "he's scared of water" and Penny taught us how to play, in water, in a stream.
To my mind, until today, that wasn't work. I thought it was fun and that work would start when I could discipline myself to get in the school regularly enough to see some "progress". I therefore missed all the progress there was.
I was out in the Mendips again today with Penny, Branwen and Reggie. Mid journey I noticed that it's me who "frames" what work is and that in fact when I frame it differently they boy has been working his socks off. I just hadn't noticed.
So here's what I noticed, after that thought......
Penny and I passed two spots. One was Mila's "bolting hill" and the other was the tree that's the memorial for Indie. We were both moved by the weight of the past and the contrast between the high octane, adrenaline fuelled pelts around the hills that Mila and Indie took and the irredescent calm generated by Branwen and Reg. The calm made space for remembering and so we did and Reg and Bran walked in almost funereal silence accompanying our remembering with the slowed hoof beat of respect. He gives me space and teaches me I need that.
Reg tripped mahoosively as we were on our way out, both front knees to the floor. Nothing in me worried, he used every ounce of his strength to keep us both safe and I was humbled. Two thirds of the way round Reg lost a hind leg into a bog. The propulsion he called upon to release himself shot us forward at a beautiful (and most unexpected) canter. Nothing in me worried, he used every ounce of his strength to keep us both safe and I was humbled. I threw myself into the joy of his movement (even though Penny and I had promised we wouldn't canter today) and Penny did what she always does, had my back and laughed with me for sheer joy born of unbidden exhilaration.
Back in April he was scared of streams. Today he got in and played.
Back in April I was proud to show Rachel that we were working on a couple of steps of coming in from the field in which he would come voluntarily. Today I arrived in the morning dark, called for him and he appeared. I held the gate and walked him in to his stable. No head collar. I learned on his whither and he joined me, voluntarily.
Back in April one of Milas losses I felt most keenly was a kind of "hug" she gifts. You have to earn it. She walks her body in to you, leans her weight and offers you her leg. Yesterday was a tough day. I was tired. No reason, just tough and tired. I did what I had to do at the Yard and was exhausted. I walked Reg back to his field and let him loose. Yesterday he didn't walk away back to his own kind, he paused, he turned toward me, he looked at me and walked back dropping his muzzle into the crook of my neck. It made my throat ache. It wasn't something I had asked for, its something he chose to do. Voluntarily. It was exquisite.
When we got back today I fed Reg, I got rid of the mud and sweat he'd collected in the hills I fed him and started collecting his "outdoor" things together. We were in his stable. Just like yesterday he paused, walked over to me and tucked his muzzle into the same crook. Today I dropped my head onto his in gratitude. He let it be and we just stood. I was catapulted to present. I wondered momentarily at how he could breathe given his nostrils were buried in my neck and shoulder whilst my arm moved up to hold his head and still we stood. I allowed the heat of his breath to warm my neck and those moments stretched to form a lifetime. Back in April Reggie decided to teach me how to be present and today he had his first breakthrough.
