"Baby steps" That is what Terry said to me one day. I have no idea what we where talking about at the time, But he was refereeing to Kris and how she handles horses. He said she has the ability to recognize the baby steps a horse takes and appreciate them.
I saw it this afternoon, she was working with Hottie her husband John's three year old quarter horse. Hottie is at Pine Monor for Kris to break out/ train to be ridden. And Kris has alot to teach him. For the first three years of Hottie's life he has enjoyed life in the pastures only coming inside when the weather was really bad or to get his feet trimed, there was his leg getting broke when he was a few months old. But that is another story with in its self.
Hottie has grown up to be a very big boy and the hind legs we where worried about after he broke a bone in one of them are doing fine. Hottie knows nothing and scared of everything. He wasn't carted off to shows like the other two Arabian fouls born the spring of 08. You add in Hottie's size, he's a quarter horse which tend to be a little thicker skinned and it has gotten kinda interesting lately.
I saw this afternoon as Kris took what Hottie would give her and didn't react to his over reacting. She was getting somewhere with him even though it might have looked like she was not getting anywhere with him. There where a few times I probley would have reacted much harder or forced the issue more. The difference is Kris was seeing the "baby steps." She was seeing improvement even though she was getting the end result that she wanted.
Can this be taken into our own lives?? You bet. Baby steps are key. Not to many of us, hit the ground running and we have to except the "Baby steps" And we do need reassurance that we are heading in the right direction, even though we are struggling at the time. Just like Kris did with Hottie this afternoon.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Gut Check
Hey Gang,
I am about to go out to the barn and I wanted to at least get something up. We are doing pretty good Out Here, four baby goats at the Critter Barn, horses are doing great, we could leave for a show now and I would be cool with it, dog agility classes started last night at Pine Manor, we have a little mud but other than that we are holding out own.
For some reason I got to thinking a about a story I wrote a year or so back, it gets me everytime and wanted to post it. So here it is.
Gut Check
It seems like this routine of feeding horses, turning out horses, tractor work etc can become a job and at times you are not aware of how much these horses mean to you. A couple months ago Terry brought in a travel colt that was only suppose to stay a couple of days.
The colt still had its winter hair and was full of mud. He had a habit of not wanting to be caught and popping his front end off the grown when you tried to catch him in his stall. With a lot of patience and work from the farm help and me we slowly started to see a change in him.
This morning I fed him like I always do, but this morning was going to be different he was getting picked up by a horse hauler and would be in Kentucky by night time. When the hauler arrived I could tell she was a little leery about him being just a yearling and didn't know how well he would load. I had completely forgotten about him blasting off the trailer when Terry brought him in just a few short months ago. For some reason I was totally confident that he would load fine. It was a special moment as I walked the colt down the long gravel driveway this morning. Talking about how much he had grown and feeling his energy as he checked out everything as we headed towards the trailer.
He did GREAT!!! He stopped checked things out at the ramp. I walked in the trailer, left the lead rope loose and after a few snorts of air and half step or two. He followed me in the trailer like He had done it a hundred times before. The rush I got inside my gut was awesome!!! The o'l boy had come a long way and I was very proud of him.
I may never see the horse again, but the bolt of energy he gave me this morning I will never forget. So a special thanks to a horse simply known as "Travel Colt".
I am about to go out to the barn and I wanted to at least get something up. We are doing pretty good Out Here, four baby goats at the Critter Barn, horses are doing great, we could leave for a show now and I would be cool with it, dog agility classes started last night at Pine Manor, we have a little mud but other than that we are holding out own.
For some reason I got to thinking a about a story I wrote a year or so back, it gets me everytime and wanted to post it. So here it is.
Gut Check
It seems like this routine of feeding horses, turning out horses, tractor work etc can become a job and at times you are not aware of how much these horses mean to you. A couple months ago Terry brought in a travel colt that was only suppose to stay a couple of days.
The colt still had its winter hair and was full of mud. He had a habit of not wanting to be caught and popping his front end off the grown when you tried to catch him in his stall. With a lot of patience and work from the farm help and me we slowly started to see a change in him.
This morning I fed him like I always do, but this morning was going to be different he was getting picked up by a horse hauler and would be in Kentucky by night time. When the hauler arrived I could tell she was a little leery about him being just a yearling and didn't know how well he would load. I had completely forgotten about him blasting off the trailer when Terry brought him in just a few short months ago. For some reason I was totally confident that he would load fine. It was a special moment as I walked the colt down the long gravel driveway this morning. Talking about how much he had grown and feeling his energy as he checked out everything as we headed towards the trailer.
He did GREAT!!! He stopped checked things out at the ramp. I walked in the trailer, left the lead rope loose and after a few snorts of air and half step or two. He followed me in the trailer like He had done it a hundred times before. The rush I got inside my gut was awesome!!! The o'l boy had come a long way and I was very proud of him.
I may never see the horse again, but the bolt of energy he gave me this morning I will never forget. So a special thanks to a horse simply known as "Travel Colt".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)