Linus and I racing....he always wins!!Linus and I are hoping that everyone had a wonderful Christmas!! It was so nice to see all of the pictures of people out with their horses dressed all festive. Time did not allow for us to that just yet!! But we are going to this week. I have wanted to for some time now get some festive pictures of Linus. I may have a friend who is home from Alberta come out this week and help me with Linus. He is really good with horses and I'm anxious to have someone other than me handle Linus and ask all of the same things of him that I do. I just want to see how he responds to that. Then I was going to make a list of some of the things we felt really good about having accomplished this year and do them all one day. Like seeing if Linus will self load even though its been some time since we have tried.
I did get out Christmas Day with him. More to play than anything. He had to take his time on the somewhat slippery driveway to his paddock. There I let him go to have a run and we chased each other up and down the fence line. Then my nephew came out and was sliding down a hill nearby. Linus took great interest in watching this and would run around after each of Griffin's slides. It was hilarious. He was SO keen to meet Griffin. So Griffin went over to the fence and Linus settled down from all his bucking right away to come and nuzzle Griff's mitts. It was really cute. Linus is such a social butterfly.
Today, I picked up his feet and we practiced our leading in and out of his pen. Just a reminder for him since he can sometimes get a little excited and try to barge through. Then we headed up the lane for the most splendid walk!! At first he held his head really high, which still wows me at how tall he is getting! But, he was very tuned in to me today and was very respectful too. We went up the sideroad that we hadn't been on in quite some time. There was a large family gathering at one of the houses and a couple of families arrived when we were close. Linus picked up his pace and wanted to go meet them all. Again, there's my social butterfly! Towards the end of the road a few cars came along in a row. Some of them seemed to be visiting from the city and were taking our picture through their car window - it didn't look like they had seen too many people out walking their horse before!! But, they were smiling and waving and enjoyed seeing us. Linus was disappointed when we turned around - he loves exploring! I don't think he is ready yet to go around the block though. It's nearly 10km and part of it is through a little village. He would love that, but he needs to quit using traffic as an excuse to pretend to get excited first. Vehicles don't bother him but he sometimes uses them for prancing excuses. Usually he just ignores them though.
On our way back he wanted to play in the snowbanks on the side of the road so I just held the end of the lead and let him push and play in the snow. Then he threw his head up and when I turned to look there were 3 riders in the field beside the road. I hadn't seen or heard them come up and had a brief moment of panic because it was the first time Linus and I have met a group of riders while out. He got excited, understandably, but was still listening to me and settled in really well once they continued on their way. I did chat with them a bit because it was the owner of the place where we went for our playdate last winter. Pretty much a year to the day actually! He asked who's horse I was out with because he didn't recognise Linus. He could not believe it was the same little weanling that was at his place a year ago. They were super impressed with him. And of course I was proud as a peacock!!!
Today we had a very big accomplishment while out too. It was our very best ever in hand trot. Usually if I trot Linus on the halter he tries to speed up or else come around me. We started up and I corrected his speed and just swung the end of my lead if he started to crowd my space. He moved over right away, straightened up and we had a really pleasant jog together. Twice!!! My little boy is growing up!! I'm not sure what it was about today but I felt more bonded/connected with Linus than I ever have before. It was like we were having our own conversation today. We usually are well connected and tuned in to each other but today was just that extra bit more. I totally loved it!! If the sun wasn't getting so low we would have stayed out much longer!! When we got back I put him out in his paddock and we played a little bit of soccer with his horse ball before I brought him back up to his outdoor pen near the barn. He was played out but very content!! Me too!!
One of the riders we met today
Donna, I love your beautiful winter pictures and I am thrilled that you TOTALLY connected with Linus today. This comment of yours was so thought-provoking for me, "using traffic as an excuse to pretend to get excited" - sometimes I don't do as well as you to keep in mind what a huge play drive my Curly has...but obviously you have this all figured out. Good for you! You inspire me to do better. Looking forward to being able to experience a more of your "firsts" with Linus in RAC 2011!
ReplyDeleteAw thanks Susan...its hard for me to believe that WE inspire YOU!!!! I'm not so sure I have him all figured out but you hit it right on the head with the "play drive". I also have to always remember Linus is young and playful. He is maturing though. I am happy we can inspire you. Thanks for being an inspiration to us too!!
ReplyDeleteI love hear your adventures! Playing on the gorund can be so fullfilling especially when you find the sweet spot as you did today! Keep up the good work and look forward to hearing more about you and Linus!
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