WOW! I would be speechless but the words tumble over each other in their hurry to get out. Stormy was AMAZING tonight. She could have been the poster pony for natural horsemanship!
Now what made that training session extraordinary in my mind was this: through no fault of her own, Stormy’s training has been backburnered since summer.
I pulled her out of the field just before evening feeding on a whim. After a hectic week, I really just wanted a little time to BE with a horse, no pressure, no outside expectations. Under a glorious sunset, Stormy and I remembered the dance together.
Start with the basics. Are the fundamental communications in place? Yield the shoulder, tip the hip, glide backwards on the lightest cue. Click. Treat. Yes! Yes! Yes!
Slip off the halter. Pat Parelli says “when you set your horse loose, you’re left with the truth.” Stormy’s truth was empowering indeed. Canter left. Stop on a dime. Canter right, dancing across the crackly tarp.
The sky blazed purple and gold. I pulled out tack. I was going way further than I’d planned, at Stormy’s own invitation. Saddle and bridle, no problem. Long lines came next. I’d only long lined her a few times before her extended hiatus.
I had no need to worry. Stormy trotted off cheerfully, then responded when I asked for sweeping turns across the round pen. The original horsepower- “almost like driving a ferrari” I tell her!
Off came the tack. We’d completed the circle. I showered Stormy in gratitude as I set her loose in her darkening field.