More on the Mare

Well here we are on Friday the 13th and so far it is in fact shaping up to be a pretty depressing day.

I found out this morning that I need a new radiator for my truck.

An hour later my oldest son called and told me that he hit a curb with my new Envoy and blew the new tire, busted the wheel, and who knows what he did to the alignment.  Luckily he works in a repair shop so it will get fixed, but it never should have happened and the timing sucked! He says the custom wheels I have are no longer made, so now we he will have to buy 4 wheels and a new tire. 

Luckily I keep a tub of home made cream cheese frosting in the freezer for days just like this, and I am happily chipping away at it even now. It doesn't fix anything but it makes me feel better!

Yesterday the farrier was out for Sassy.  He put the wedged pad shoes on her, but he also added gel in between to give her some relief for her thin soles. We talked a lot about toe first landings as opposed to heel first landings, and unlike a different farrier I had used who said it wasn't "that" important. This one says it is very important and that is what we are hoping for.  He also did some things different at the heel than most farriers do in this situation, as in, brought the shoes back further to really give her good support in the back.

Let me just say that I am not as optimistic as he as.  This is in no way a reflection on the farrier.  He did a great job and his goals make sense to me. But I am pretty much convinced that there is no hope for this mare.  If she were a wild horse, she'd have been eaten by a Puma long ago.   Natures way of keeping the herd healthy.   Sorry if that seems harsh.

The farrier did impress me in many ways.  His name is Charlie Hill, and if you would like to know more about him, check out his website chillmethod.com.  He is more than a farrier, he is actually a very gifted horseman, and this was VERY apparent to me as we talked about my ponies. I watched him move Miss Sassy this way and that with just a finger strategically placed here or there.  He speaks about horses in ways that I have read about but am just beginning to really grasp.

One of the things we talked a lot about was mechanics.  He says that while most clinicians teach foundations, he likes to start with the mechanics and through that, the foundations come.  In some ways, I think that is kind of cool simply because although I understand all the foundations, I can not execute the mechanics and there for my foundations don't hold up.

Charlie was a student of Ray Hunt's and listening to him talk about his personal relationship with this legend was pretty awesome as well.  We talked about a lot of the big name clinicians, what they have in common and what separates them from each other.

We talked about Trax and our issues, where we started, and where we are now. He applauded my work so far (always a good way to get on MY good side- lol) and then he gave me some new perspective to think about.  For example, was his blow up the other day really about the rope or did I make it about the rope?

We talked about how he was so hard to teach to flex laterally. I told him how he would spin for hours.  He asked, "Were you pulling his eye or pulling his head?"  And then demonstrated with Sassy, about hand position in relation to jaw position.  I can see now that I was in fact pulling his head and he was following his nose.

When we talked about my goals with Trax, and how I want to learn to communicate less with my hands and more with my body, he said he could help me.  He invited me to come and ride at his open ride night, or to schedule some lessons, which ever I prefer.  It wasn't a "come spend your money with me" sort of hard sell. It was more of a, "I can see you really want this and I think I can help you" sort of sell. Of course he is going to get paid, it is how he makes his living.  Asking for it for free would be disrespectful.

Afterwards, he gave me light exercise instructions for Sassy and she had those this morning for a bit. She is still sore on certain steps.  But sometimes she isn't so there is some progress. We hand walked down the road and did some light round pen work. Very light...just walking but the goal is to stimulate the blood flow.

Now it is time for me to put the frosting away and get ready for work.

Take care everyone, stay inside its friday the 13th!