Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Dance

On Monday, the horse dentist was back out for re-checks. This is what I love about Loren. Every horse she works on gets a free re-check one month later. And while she checks them, she does little adjustments.

Lily has still been sore in the shoulder, and after working on her mouth a bit (lily has teeth that are growing in toward her tongue and require a little more work) we went out to the driveway. She watched her move and adjusted her hips. Lily licked and chewed, and dropped her head. She gave me exercises to do, then encouraged me to get Lily out into the round pen.

Work her bad side too, she said.

I don't work with Lily much, never felt we had much of a connection. But as we worked in the round pen, keeping it simple, I could feel that shift.

Lily has what I think of as a classic quarter horse personality. Willing, but all business. She would be the woman who would listen to a joke, smile and then ask if there was anything else, because she had some things to get done.

As she moved around, enjoying the soft ground of the round pen, she checked in with me. Usually you have to remind her that yes, you are in charge. Not this time.

Things shifted. We were moving together. I passed the wand to my other hand and she turned in. I lowered my energy, she came down to a walk. At one point she trotted, following me, backed up and spun, all at liberty, all in sync.

Then Smokey and I did the same. I didn't want to ride since we had done a 10 mile training ride the day before, and I wanted to focus on just enjoying the moment with my horse.

So I danced with two horses (not at once), both at liberty, both in sync with my every move.

In writing this I can still feel the peace of it, and marvel at how such a simple, yet improbable thing can be so powerful so as to stop time, and suspend you above all things.

11 comments:

Muddy K said...

Just a beautiful post. Thank you.

Dan and Betty said...

Very nice post. It is great when you're really in sync with your horse. If both horses get along, you might try working with both at the same time in the round pen. Betty has done that before and it's something to see.

Dan

50+ Horses said...

Loved your Post - I was in there with you, recalling dances I've had in the past. Thanks for sharing!

aurora said...

Simply magical!

clairz said...

This is just lovely. I, too, am up too late looking around your blogs. Great stuff. And thank you for the kind words over at my blog--I had no end of fun putting together that list, so I'm glad you found and appreciated it, too.

Rising Rainbow said...

I can see the dance in my head. Pretty cool when we make that kind of connection with a horse.

For some reason I always think about Garth Brooks and "The Dance" when I am working with horses at liberty like that. It just plays along in my head. LOL

Morning Bray Farm said...

Awesome!!! You ROCK. :)

Thank you so much for your email... it was so helpful.

xoxoxo

Jan said...

Oh, what a wonderful and magical time you had with both horses! Aren't they awesome? Great post!

Carol said...

I'm so glad you made that connection with Lily. It sounds like an amazing session. Your happiness and satisfaction (for lack of better words) from working with the two horses shine through in your writing. Very nice.

Shirley said...

I love those moments.

frogpondsrock said...

This is a lovely post, thank you.