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Mirror to your Soul April 23

I’ve been having trouble with my pony and his expression, his physical and mental expression. And WHOAH, last night I had a light bulb moment. Like, I already knew this, but I never really practiced it or even thought about it…… What was MY mental and physical expression when I was around my horse?

When I’m really concentrating, I tend to have that ‘resting b*%ch face’. Scowling and what not. Probably look like I’m ready to murder someone. I don’t even realize I’m doing it. So that’s what I worked on. Changing my expression. AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW. My horse started to physically relax, and you could see his little brain starting to relax as well.

I fixed my expression to a 'happy-to-be-there-I’m-so-thankful-for-everything’ expression. The tension left my body(it was pretty tight) I was moving more softly, in turn, causing my horse to become a mirror of me.

I can tell you that that was probably one of the best rides I’ve had in a long time. It wasn’t because I needed to work on him, I needed to put most of my focus on myself and what I was doing.

I guess my other animals could feel this change in me, because our new yearling bull let me walk up to him and give him an itch, and my she-cat from hell who only so much as looks at me when it’s food time, cuddled up to me, and fell asleep purring beside me.

Best way to end the day, to be in harmony with my animals 💚

#ranching cowgirl blog #horsemanship #Ray hunt #true horsemanship #equine #horses

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Take the Time it Takes October 2015

These last few weeks, I’ve grown immensely in my horsemanship. I’ve learned so much about my horses, and what’s more, about myself.

This last year, I’ve had trouble getting my main saddle horse, Sam, performing for me willingly. To the average eye, he looked good.

But, I knew I didn’t really have his mind, he wasn’t as soft as I knew he could be, and that’s what frustrated me.

And that was my problem. I was becoming frustrated, impatient. Hard with him when I never should have been. I had lost the timing of my release. More important, I had lost the feeling inside of me. I wasn’t taking the time it took. I wanted things now.

I was trying hard to get with him, but I was looking in the wrong spot.

I was so much focused on my horse that I wasn’t taking into account that I was the problem. But I knew all this, so why was I being so ignorant to my horse’s needs? I don’t know. I had taken granted my horse’s softness and willingness. Something I will hopefully never do again.

It comes from your heart. You have to feel it. I can’t even explain it. As I’m writing this, I’m almost crying (and it doesn’t help that I’m watching an episode of Heartland that’s about the bond between horse and man). I now feel like I haven’t ruined my horse. He’s coming back to his softness as I’m fixing myself. I’ve always had a passion with horses, but now that I’m working on what needs to be worked on, my passion has grown even more.

I don’t leave my horse now feeling like I’m not getting anywhere, or that I’ve royally messed up. I leave him feeling content, and my heart swelling with so much happiness. And I’m sure he’s feeling the same way. There’s a definite difference in how he’s holding himself now.

This will be a reminder left to myself. I hope to never go back to how I was riding. This takes a lot for me to post to you all, but I thought I’d share something I’ve never really talked about before.

What really helped me to open my eyes, was the quote by Ray Hunt “reward the slightest try, notice the smallest change”- not the exact words, but you get the jist

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