I DID IT!!!!!

"Whatever you focus on expands. If you focus on your fears, they expand and grow. If you focus on joy and gratitude, they expand and grow." quote from Solve Horseback Riding Fears



Well, an exciting week all around. Too much going on so I fell off the 'visit my baby boy daily wagon' as most nights it was dark before I got home and out here dark is DARK! BUT, I made up for it this weekend.

Yesterday, I played with Mocha just a bit giving him extra loving and attention and his first YOGA for horses session. I saw this video on youtube about using YOGA to loosen up your horse and decided that whether or not the YOGA actually helps the horse move better the act of getting your horse to do the moves is a good tool for bonding with your horse. SO, to that end, I helped Mocha stretch his front legs and shoulders.


Today, I found myself making excuses to stay in the house - even to the point of doing house chores which I do ONLY because they have to get done - and finally remembered my new Mantra - posted as the first line of this BLOG - and focused not on my fear but on that first step. I got myself out of the house, up to the barn and got Mocha in hand. Then I penned Elsa - his current pasture buddy - in a corral. Mocha and I went to a small arena pen that is under a lean too and out of the wind where I fed him, brushed him and generally just got into the mood with him. Then out we went to the barn yard. I got my trusty bucket and stood on it over Mocha, then jumped up and shimmied onto his back, then threw a leg over him, then slid back to the ground. Took a deep breath. And stepped up onto the bucket, jumped over his back , threw a leg over and sat up. I had to have a VERY MILD refresher that 'just because mom is sitting up does not mean we walk off'. Then I asked him to walk and we took a few steps. I stopped him. Petted and praised him (and myself) Took another deep breath and walked Mocha off again. We wandered the barn yard for about a quarter of an hour with no mishaps and great success!!! YIPPPPEEEEE I DID IT!!! 17 months off and I got back on - no one to take pictures because I just wanted to do it myself and then when the others arrived it got too crazy to repeat and get pictures - soon though! OH and all of this was bareback with halter and light lines!!!


Then Stacy arrived with her folks who were visiting from Penn and her two children. Her son is Autistic and Stacy is looking at a horse for herself but who will be good with the kids also. I think she has settled on "Spike" whom she has renamed Elsa and for whom she bought a halter with a heart shaped ID tag that says Elsa and has Stacy's phone numbers on it!


So, Stacy went and haltered Elsa and brought her out to meet the crew. Elsa did great, so great that Yael, Stacy's daughter, got to be the first person to ever sit on Elsa's back. Elsa is a filly who has had our kindergarten foundation and is doing us proud with her further training done by her even more green "new mom". Once Yael got off then Stacy's son, Yelan, got his turn. Big grins by all! And to all a GOOD JOB!!!