What a momentous day!!!! I will never forget the day Lacey was born and became such a huge part of my life. From those first moments, she chose to leave the herd often and spend a lot of time with me instead. Knowing what I do now, I would have set a few more boundaries for her than I did back then. However she has matured into a strong, self assured mare with a real soft side. After 6 months of low key preparation, today the moment felt right to take our first short ride together. I went into the paddock and invited her to come to the training yard. She climbed up on the float ramp and looked at me. I told her she was very clever and asked if she wanted to accompany to the training yard. She was wary as all the other mares were milling around me and they can be very aggressive with her. I walked over to her and held out the halter. She put her nose in it and we walked around the herd, her guiding me as to where she felt safe to walk. I encouraged her to run with me to the yard and once we were in there she immediately relaxed before pinning her ears at the herd who were running around the training yard looking for a way in. They soon got bored and went back to grazing. Lacey and I got started and she was doing all our ground work softly. She does get irritated if I repeat anything that she has already shown me she knows so with the Spanish Mustang mindset, you must be prepared to move things forward quickly and keep thing interesting. I walked over to the rail, climbed up and Lacey positioned herself perfectly at my leg. I climbed on and told her how amazing she was. I got off and gave her a piece of carrot and lots of praise. Again I climbed on to the rails and she side passed right up to my leg. I got on and suddenly felt that perhaps it was time for us to take our first ridden steps together. I lifted the lead rope and invited Lacey to walk out. She walked out at a very nice, forward pace. I dropped the rope to her neck and said whoa. She stopped and turned to look at me. I showered her with praise and she seemed to realise how poignant a moment this was. We did a few more minutes of ridden work with her backing up to the very slightest suggestion. I then asked her forward again which she did after a few seconds of working out what I was asking. I then decided that was enough for today. I jumped off and was so elated. I was telling her how wonderful she was and her eyes brightened and she stood tall and proud. I was so excited and grateful to her for taking care of me. I took off her halter and offered for her to follow me up to the foaling paddock where she could have a special breakfast by herself. She followed me all the way up to the yard ayt liberty and after she had finished her breakfast she went off to stand under a tree and I felt that perhaps she was processing this special moment we had shared. She stood for sometime while I watched her with pride. What a wonderful, memorable experience!!! I have taken things very slowly to get to this point. At one stage last year, Lacey showed slight discomfort and annoyance when I got on her. She had come to the mounting block at liberty but she had clearly shown me she wasnt ready at that point to go further. I am completely unattached to the idea of riding my horses so it was no problem for me to step back and work on other things she enjoyed and drop the idea of riding until she bought it up again. It is more recently that Lacey has been very enthusiastic about the mounting process. I have noticed her body shape has changed significantly in the last 6 months and I expect she is more comfortable to bear my weight now. She is almost 5 and half years old now. I am not a believer of riding horses before 5 years old and her initial reaction clearly showed me that she wasnt able to comfortably carry me 6 months ago. I would not ask for heavy work from any of them until they are at least 6 years and of course the choice is always theirs if they decide on a different path for their life. I think this is one big reason why it is so vitally important to listen to our horses opinions and needs and be prepared to accept when they show you they are not happy with something we are asking. The change in Lacey and my relationship in the past 12 months since I have stepped further into being guided by my horses, has been profound. I learn so much from all of them every minute we spend together :)
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 00:07:52 +0000
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