So now it was time to think about the future. I had decided
after Regionals to give Halo the Summer off for the most part (I’m not going to
lie…I needed a break too!) . I wanted to
let her grow up, and planned to get her started as a true 4yo (in May of 2016).
So I decided to focus on just giving her new experiences, such as hauling into
a schooling show for just two quick classes and going home. Or being tied to
the trailer and just eating hay. Or getting clipped, calmly, with no drugs on
board. Easy stuff that she would need to know to survive life as a horse.
So I heard about a tiny schooling show series right down the
road from me (like literally a mile away) at the local fairgrounds. You could
get a stall, or work off the trailer. I decided it would be good for Halo to
just work off the trailer as I hoped at some point to be able to haul her in to
dressage shows for just a few hours around my ride time, and haul out following
my ride so that we didn’t have to do an overnight stall every time when she was
finally being shown under saddle. I asked Gavin if he would haul us there, and
he agreed. Halo was wound up in the ring (she didn’t love the other horses
walking behind her outside the arena) but we did OK in our showmanship and
halter classes and ended up with a couple ribbons and some free wormer we won
for our effortsJ
They
are just silly .10c ribbons, but they felt good because, ribbons!
It was a fun, stress free learning experience for us both,
and she was so good following her classes as Gavin walked her around the
fairgrounds she’d never seen before. It was fun seeing them walking around and
Gavin talking to her like his buddyJ
Halo had only once been tied to the trailer before. Gavin
took her out for her hand walk one night over the winter when I had to stay
late at work. He took her down the driveway and across the paved road to check
the mail, and then tied her to the trailer while he put her food in her stall.
She’d never done this before, but apparently it went fine, because the trailer
and my horse were in one piece when I got home. So after this little “incident”
(I about had a panic attack!) I decided that was something I should probably
work on. So we did a bit of that as well. She still got a little excited when
she saw another horse and I was worried she’d hurt herself, so I untied her. So
I think this is something we will have to revisit some more when we have time
this Summer.
This
whole trailer tying thing—not so bad!
Previously, when it was time to clip her for shows, I’d have
my friend come give her dormosedan a few days prior to the day I planned to
show, and clipped her extra close and let it grow out so it was perfect length
when time came to show her. Halo is actually pretty good about my clipping her.
She is a bit touchy about the legs, but doesn’t mind her face, or bridle path
at all. She HATES her ears clipped. So this summer I made sure to work on that as well. I think this is something I’m
going to make a daily thing this Summer as well. When I groom her, I’ll just
plan to throw the clippers in every time too. So it becomes old hat. I think
that is just a good thing to do with anything they aren’t good at. Make it part
of the daily routine.
Halo
says: “Drugs are bad, mmmkay?”
Anyhow, the next decision to make was who was going to start her. I had a whole boatload of talented friends who also happened to be trainers. The thing about my girl is that she is super sensitive and holds a grudge, but she’s also really brave and happy to do something for you—especially if you make her think it’s her idea;) But the biggest thing for me was someone who was both brave and bold, but also tactful and willing to work outside the box. Miss P suggested a trainer that she knew of that combined natural horsemanship and dressage and I knew I’d found the perfect fit! Let’s just call him “The Guru” (he’ll think this is funny, I’m certain).
So to start it off, I decided we needed to haul to him and
take a lesson. My horse wasn’t ready to ride yet, so we planned a ground
session at the farm he works at and had Gavin haul us out there (fun fact: I’ve
been riding nearly 20 years, but I’ve never hauled a horse, despite owning my
own trailer for 15 of those 20 years…). We had a great ground lesson, learning
a lot about the horse and a ton about myself (always a good sign of a lesson).
I became aware how often I was allowing Halo to be in charge. Even just working
around things, or something as small as stepping backward or away from her when
she got in my space was telling her she was the boss mare. And she was. She was
very respectful about her position in our herd, but she was most definitely in
charge (darn it!). At the end of the session The Guru even gave The Guy a mini
lesson on the same stuff.
At the end of the session Halo was feeling very smart, and Gavin
and I had our heads full of instructions from our lessons, so imagine my
surprise when I looked up and saw The Guru laying over Halo’s back, and Halo
walking around in a circle like it was no big deal. I was so shocked and
pleased, that I didn’t even get a picture. But I assure you—it happened! J
