The other day I was working with our gelding, Patches, on a liberty ritual that involves a pile of hay and him walking to me rather than to the hay. We then walk to the hay together, and include stops and sometimes backing up on our way there.
“Can you hear me now?” was a phrase in a popular advertisement for cell phones years ago. I recall being at a ride where I had to climb to the top of a big hill to get any connection. The beauty of that was everybody there made one phone call at the end of the day and the rest of the time no one could reach us and we didn’t bother to reach them. Our horses and our friends who were present got all our attention.
Continue reading Can you hear me now? Quality time with your horse
In the beginning of horse liberty work, there are rituals to follow such as: Sit with your horse. Wait until he/she engages with you. Keep him away from you if he gets too bossy, etc. The idea behind this is what is important: in doing this and the other rituals you are establishing a bond that has the potential to deepen your bond or change it if necessary.
But why does one person succeed in getting that horse to move off and another has trouble doing it? Why is our own personal energy so different?
Continue reading Establish an energetic connection with your horse
Happy New Year!
Between breaking the ice in the water tanks or dealing with tank heaters, regular maintenance such as hoof care and illnesses, there is always something to do for horses in winter. Complicating matters here in the Southwest has been the extreme cold lately. The following is an update of an article I wrote in my newsletter of January/February 2011.
