A pause to reflect ....

With Ernie now just turned 6 and me realising this weekend that we're now 3 months into this relationship I felt it time to consider the overall picture - yes that means I will try and balance my autistic obsession with napping.  I realise that a lot of wonderful things are going unrecorded as i focus on this one problem - but hey I think my children might recognise that behavior!!

So 3 months in and 3 rosettes.  Ernie knows when to deliver the goods for sure.  We're signed up for the rest of the summer dressage series, if the next one goes well I might try and move him up from Intro for the last show.  I have been rediscovering my old library of dressage literature and watching Carl Hester (as well as some old classics such as Nuno Olivera) vids on youtube, Ernie's increasingly positive response to subtle softer commands is making me feel we have some real opportunities here.

All this said I had a jump lesson on him this week and if truth be known did get myself quite excited and still found myself still smiling when the alarm went off on the following morning.  Then watched the hunter trials today and kicked myself for 3 hours for not just "going for it" and doing the novice pairs with Marble.  Let us see, eh?  how many challenges can we have at one time.

He is teaching me a lot about what it feels like to work with a horse.  He is teaching me a lot about him.  I am now calibrating my approach to what seems to work well for him.  For example, he is clearly a lot more sensitive than perhaps he has been given credit for, as I mentioned he is showing a real positive response to the softer command, voice and a slight squeeze.  For note: when the formula isn't followed resistance ensues, and that resistance increases with the strength of the demand.  So give him a big kick, rest assured there will be a big buck.

I continue to work on the napping, but as said am trying to do it in a non-conflict type of way, this is fine, but you need plenty of time.  We are often found standing around in different parts of Mascals and Joydens, waiting for Ernie to be bored of sodding about, for sure not everyone agrees the approach, but in each case we end up doing what I ask and the scale of the resistence is reducing for sure.  So this is a few months rather than a few weeks but it will be fine.  At the end of the day he is always good follwoing in company anyway, so the real problems are only "alone", but I do love the spiritual bond of hacking alone with him so will not be letting up too soon.

I chose not to buy an older developed and experienced horse, and there is the challenge, I am learning to accept it for that.  I have the satisfaction of ownership around our successes (and the pride of watching his great performances with Sophie too).  The subtlty of controls and voice activation, improving balance and lateral work, a real build in his physical strength and stamina (to the extent that his 'roaring' really feels like a non-issue).  As for me, my understanding around communication, a real new love of ground-work out of the saddle and tying that back to mounted work, a much more balanced seat of own and a burgeoning appreciation of what can be achieved around that.  And realising that my commands need to be clear and absolute, not being a school master he doesn't filter mulitple commands in the same way as older horses.

Sometimes it actually feels like he knows everything and that he is just quietly waiting for me to ask the right question.  But there can be satisfaction in discovery regardless of which one of us has the epiphony!  When it comes down I love Ernie and I love owning him.  I can't recall how long of wanted a horse and now I have one.  I didn't believe it would be so satisfying, I still just stop and stare at him or just sit on the floor next to him in his stable and pinch myself to say yes he's mine. 

I cannot know for sure what new challenges lie ahead, or when the current will pass.  I cannot know what achievements await us, but I do know that the time we share is without price, it cannot be valued or measured it just to be experienced.  To live in the a fixed present, just the now, which you are on horse back is the most amazing escape.  He has become a really special part of my life, sometimes I do wonder if the feeling is actually mutual though!! :-)