Learning From a Horse Named Willow

Winter was long and icy, here in Maine, so there hasn't been much play time with the horses. Sure I did regular grooming, hoof trimming, playing with feet, etc.... but with wind chills of -20 for the better part of winter, I spent most of my time learning/playing inside with my DVDs and books.   

 

Willows first BIG lesson for me? Willow is the kind of horse that if you don't play with her on a regular basis, it is like starting over. Boy do I love how much this horse teaches me every day!  We've only had safe footing here in Maine for about 2 weeks now - with the recent thaw and melt causing both muck and ice in the paddock - and there is still 6-8 inches of snow in the shady areas  & woods! 

 

Anyway, I've been playing with Willow every day that it hasn't rained - making the paddock very slick!  What I couldn't believe was that the first 3 sessions were just like starting over from scratch with Willow. It was as if we had never worked together before.  Then I remembered a story that Linda told during the course in Florida about Hot Jazz who would be going along great, making progress, and then Linda would leave for a tour stop and when she came back it was like starting all over. Yup, I thought to myself, I'm walking in her shoes!  ~side note: the amount of things I learned this winter at the Horsenallity/Humanality course just keeps growing and growing as more of the situations that we learned about come to light with both horses and humas!  LOVE IT!!~

 

Back to Willow - here are how the first few sessions went: I would go in with my tools (halter, lead rope, carrot stick) and Willow would walk away or just freeze up. After a bit of thought (and a couple of sessions) I had an AH-HA! moment - I had been going in all winter, to groom, without tools. Hmmmm how interesting!  I decided to change my tactics. I entered the paddock and simply took my time - moseyed around - making it clear that this visit was NOT about Willow. I checked the water tub, checked the ground, inspected the poo, (ok, you get the point) until Willow loosened up a little and could look at me (she got curious) and then I would continue to mosey around,' sort of in Willows general direction,  until she was looking & connecting with me just a little.  Then I stopped and waited for her to breath. I then went in toward her wither playing the "cha-cha" (one step forward, one step back) as Willow's ears invited me in and then un-invited me. :) Finally I was standing with her and then I just hung out with her until she was able to loosen up and actually wanted to sniff me. YAY (horse sniffs rock)!! I had given it as long as Willow needed and boy did she need a LOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooong time in those first few sessions! But that is ok - I learned a LOT from those sessions.

 

Let's take a trot forward to my latest session with Willow! I approached the fence and Willow nickered at me - causing me to smile from ear to ear.  But, I had to work to keep my energy down so that I wouldn't be too much (too high energy, too excited, too "big") for Willow and cause her to think "guess I wont do that again"!   I swallowed my excitement and slowly moseyed into the paddock, ignoring her as I walked to the pedestal logs. Willow walked half-way towards me and stopped. So, I sat down looking away from her. Willow took a few more steps. I smiled and turned away again. And then, I walked away. Willow started blowing-off and went to the logs. I joined her there and just stood with her until she was nosing around at me for rubs. Long rubs on her ears and head (she loves that, it helps her to release the tension).  When Willow relaxed, we slowly played point-to-point as a warm up and check in on our connection for the day. Willow did great!  She was licking & chewing as soon as I stopped her at each "destination" and she was looking to me for another direction. We soon went back to the logs to saddle, pad and saddle up with a calm, blinking horse (more hiding my giddy excitement so as to not blow her up and lose the calm. "EEEEEEEEE" - I said inside!!) We practiced our circle and Willow circled both ways at a trot, calmly, blowing out after only about a lap AND keeping the slack in the rope all the way around (more excited YIPPEE dancing inside)!!!  And off to the riding area we went - me mounted on one (with no opposition reflex) calm licking horse.  We were walking around with the slightest "go" energy ever!!!   My patience and willingness to just wait for Willow had paid off and I will NEVER let her go so long without playing again!!  :)   What a great breakthrough for both of us!

 

It is amazing how much you realize you didn't know until you need to know it. That is my divine awareness for the day (well, so far..... it is only 10am)