Well hello there, havnt posted in a while so I thought I would start up again in the summer! since now I have more time to just simply sit down and wright. I think I will blog mostly just throughout the summer and sometimes during the school year perhaps. I will blog mostly about ideas or thoughts that I have had and share some photographs as well.
Right now I am staring out the window looking at the pouring rain with sore eyes, picturing blue skies and warm winds. It has been sunny this whole week but yet today it rains. I'm not too upset by the rain however, since I like to believe rain sustains life and makes the grass green. I thought I would make this post as a reflection on the past school year. A lot has happened. There have been good times and bad times, happy and sad.. This past school year I believed I have changed dramatically more than any other year. I also think that one has to hit rock bottom to make a real change in their life and who they truly are. I have made LOTS of mistakes but I believe one can learn from them and come out as a better person. This past school year I have have found myself more and have started to do things I really love.
It has been a great year with my horse, Punky, we have a stronger bond now and I trust him more and more each day as he does as well. I have done more horsemanship with him and he has come so far! We now can successfully perform a 'join up' which at the beginning of the fall I could only dream of doing. If you are not familiar with this you can look it up or read the next paragraph. If you are not interested please skip next paragraph.
A join up is when you have your horse free in an arena or corral ( I did it in a big arena as my barn doesn't have any small western corrals) and you simply chase after him/her until they are cantering around the arena in a circle at a consistent pace. This shows the horse that you are the boss and indicates that you are a leader. As horses are prey animals they live in herds and there is always one dominant horse which is the leader. The goal of this activity is to show the horse that you are its leader and that he/she can have trust/faith in you. So once you get your horse running around you, at some point the horse will bow down his head, flicker his ear in towards you and start licking and chewing. This indicates that he is listening (ears turning in towards you), that he understands (licking and chewing is a sign of this) and that he is submissive towards you and knows that you are the leader (bowing his head down). Once the horse has given you these signals you then respond with your body language. You do this by turning away from your horse and face in the other direction. When you do this you release the pressure you were putting on your horse to keep on moving forward, and when this 'energy/pressure' is released the horse slows down, turns in toward you and walks toward you. When you turn away from your horse, it is telling the horse that you accept him into your herd. Then when the horse walks up to you it is saying that he sees you as a herd leader now. After he has approached you from the back, you can turn around and reward him by petting him to show that he has been a good boy/girl. Sometimes after the join up has occurred you can walk around and the horse will follow you. Punky does this when he isn't feeling tired or lazy! He wasn't always willing to do this and it took me multiple times of working with him to get him to join up. Now he does it almost every time and likes to follow me around with no halter or lead rope! This past year has really been a huge progress of building our relationship with horsemanship and gaining trust in one another.
Yesterday I did some horseman ship exercises with him and performed a join up even though he was a bit tired
So anyways, I think I will be posting on this blog every other day with some thoughts ive had or with maybe some cool stuff that happened or is going to happen!
I really enjoy having my own horse, Punky, as he reminds me that even through the darkest times there is always some brightness and joy in life. He has been there for me through this whole past year through every success and every struggle. This brings me comfort as everything is changing in life he is always there. Having him to go to everyday has helped immensely and that he has been there through it all makes me so happy.
I have become obsessed with this song lately. Its from this movie called 'Cloud Atlas' and its called "the cloud atlas sextet" go check it out if you have time! it is simply beautiful! On youtube I think there is an extended version of it that is 15 minutes!
Ok well bye and see you in not too long. Oh and sorry for not having any photos, I will post some for next time!
Stay golden ;)
quote of the day: "don't let mistakes define your life"
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