I’m posting a blog post from http://heccateisis.wordpress.com cause I think its one of the most poignant posts I’ve read in a long, long time.
Everyone talks about the horse has to trust his handler/rider but what about the human trusting the horse !?!?! Sometimes that’s the ONLY thing to do …
——————————————————————————-
Winter Ride or I LOVE My Horse
I love my horse.
Let me rephrase that- I am in love with my horse.
He occupies 75% of my brain cells and is never far from my thoughts.
Now I know it is unrequited love- horses can’t love in human terms.
But when he greets me with a nicker as he jogs over to the gate; it feels like love.
Yes, I know he’s really looking for a treat. (95% of the time there is one in my pocket.)
I am a realist.
On the trail he takes care of me the way he takes care of the herd. He is the horse the other horses choose to follow because he is so sensible.
Take yesterday’s trail ride as an example, it was snowing fairly hard. The trail was covered by 3 inches of light fluff, the kind that squeaks under foot. The footing beneath the snow was completely concealed. We got to a point where there was a plywood bridge and Jigs REFUSED to step forward.
I kicked. Nothing. I kicked again. Still Nothing. “Come on Jigs,” I pleaded as I slapped his but with the trail latigos. He backed up a step.
With a big sigh, I got down to lead him and the other horses with us over it.
My foot touched ground and went out from under me.
It was pure ice.
I went down on my right knee pushing Jigs sideways. He slipped but managed to slide away from me.
It could have been a disaster.
This was a part of the trail which is not known for water.
Jigs just knew.
We bushwhacked around the bridge.
Elle the pony followed him and we made it in one piece. Willow insisted on going a different way and fell through ice scraping the skin off both shins. Poor thing.
On the way back we cut across the water line road letting Jigs pick his way. He did this by sniffing along the ground to ‘nose’ the best way forward. Did he smell ice? Water?
There were times he chose a way I thought was potentially slippery but wasn’t.
Not sure how he did it.
I’d like to say his was the best route, but he didn’t see the two trees fallen across the road further down. I did. I should have forced him to go the blue trail, but I felt I owed a decision to him.
I’ve been thinking about this…. As partners we should complement each others strengths and weaknesses. He knew the bridge was too icy to be safe and let me know by balking. I saw the trees; he didn’t. In a way I let him down by not making him go a different way.
But I trusted him to keep us safe and go around the fallen trees.
And he did.
How could I not be in love with Jigs?
So, people … we talk all the time about establishing ‘trust’ from our horses but do we trust our horses? Would YOU trust you horse is a situation like this where he balks at going over a known ‘obstacle’ such as Jigs did? Just like he’s done a thousand times before? Or, even an unknown, uncharted territory — would you TRUST your horse and LISTEN when he says, NO! ? Or would you chalk it up to the horse being defiant and you needing to “make him obey you”?
I have a similar story. I’ll be brief. We were down in FL at the time. I was starting a ride out on my Bub. He was the best — would go anywhere I ask. But this day? We were headed towards the trail in back of the barn down the street. He had been a bit jiggy (no offense, Jigs! haha) when all of a sudden he reared, spun and took off galloping back to the barn! I was shocked. I was TICKED! He was NOT going to stop! So fine, I said — you poop-head (well, that’s not really what I said but you get the idea) … you wanna gallop? FINE .. then KEEP GALLOPING! Right past the barn … gallop and don’t stop till I tell you! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, I found out later the reason Bub did this was because the resident panther was on the trail that morning and had been sighted by another rider. Bub wasn’t going to take us there. Period.
So sometimes, Folks … we gotta really LISTEN to our horses and trust they know what they’re ‘talkin’ about’. This time of the year horses are pretty savvy about where they walk and don’t walk safely. They know where its dangerous. They know where there’s ice. Years ago a similar situation happened with a little girl and she wasn’t as lucky as Annamaria listening to her Jigs. The little girl used the crop and forced her horse onto a bridge going over a stream when the horse was refusing. The horse slipped and the bridge collapsed.
So, listen to your horse! Forget this ‘whispering’ to your horse stuff … learn to listen and trust your horse as much as you want your horse to listen and trust you!
Awesome!