It's already August 3rd!
So, this month, there's not too much going on. But at the end of the month, I'll be attending KC La Pierre's course and that will last until the 1st of September. So I'm really excited about that! Hopefully it won't be too hot. :-) And then other than that, it's going to be a pretty slow month.
Lately, it has still been really hot, so I haven't been able to do much of anything with Eddie. And when it is cool out, the bugs are out. The mosquitoes to be precise. I don't remember a summer like this! It's been humid, wet, and very hot. :-( But enough complaining.... lol!
I hopped on Eddie yesterday and just did a few little fun things. Rebecca came out for the day (thanks for coming out! I had a blast!) and we hosed the horses off and then sat on them and rode around for a little bit. It was really hot! But Eddie and I got to try a principle that I learned!
I stumbled across an amazing blog )thanks to the people on It's About the Horse forum) and it is just fantastic! http://ayearwithhorses.blogspot.com/ Check it out! It is all Kate's clinic notes from a Mark Rashid Clinid. I read from Kate, that this one gal had some trouble with her horse. And Mark Rashid told her that the horse was looking for clear, communication. There were too many grey areas that needed to be black and white.
That was a huge lightbulb moment for me!
Eddie liked grey areas on the ground. We like to just go out, and see what comes up. But Rebecca made an interesting observation yesterday. She said, "Eddie is a totally different horse when you get on him!" And of course I had to agree! He is indeed!
So I hadn't thought about it much when I was riding (about the grey areas and such) but I just gave Eddie clear communication. Like, "Stop now." not in a demanding attitude, but in a passive attitude that made him know that things were ok, and I was still completely calm. And it gave me a lot of control! I also asked, walk over here now, touch this now, sideways over here now and so on. And he was a totally different horse!
He was so willing, and I think he was glad for the direction!
Afterwards, I thought about the grey/black/white areas and realized that he likes black and white when we ride. He likes to know what's going to happen, how it's going to happen and when it's going to happen. And that makes so much sense, because he was abused when he was ridden multiple times from the trainer, and even from his previous owner.
This will be tough for me, because I'm a feeler. I like to feel my way through play times and just come up with things as we go along. But this is making me into a better horsewoman, because I have to balance that. I have to feel my way through a situation and think my way through one. That means that I have to plan things out, instead of just going with the flow.
This will be an interesting endeavour! Wish me luck! :-)
~Lea & Eddie~
This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it--the LORD is his name: 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'
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