Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Day 20

I decided I am going to write this now. I recently came in about 7pm from working with Raven in the invisible round pen. I was going to put this off til tomorrow but why procrastinate since I am sitting here at the computer anyway.
Well we did the same old review of things, ground work tasks that I have mentioned before. My problem is time and footing. Time, because if I go through all the tasks combined in review to make sure I can nail them correctly it would take me probably an hour or more and I wouldn't have time to work on the newer things we are learning, like trying ot get her circle around me at a trot. That is, she is to be sticking with me. We can do it, but I want it better. She only went away from me one time and that could have been because I got out of position myself. I am learning the lesson of speaking impeccably and without mistake when I ask her to do something. Some things I still have a problem asking for correctly. As for the other problem, despite it warming up in mid day today, ice is still a problem. I could fall and she could slip so I have to watch it.. Anyway, we pressed on and worked on getting her to follow me while I walked backwards in a circle, even trying some leg yields in both directions. That didn't go real well though. I ground drove her using some leather reins my brother made me some years ago. The worked better for me since they are more balanced, but they are only 16' long and I wish they were about 20. But the ground driving is getting better I even had her leg yielding in both directions pretty good. Then I got on her back and worked on my seat cues with her. I was getting it so refined that I could ask for forward one step and back one step and get it just with my seat. The stop and back up minus the reins is also working well at the walk. It was too icey for me to try trotting around and asking for it. I know she can but like I said in an earlier post, I want it 100%. It is that 1 time when I ask for it and don't get it if I am bridleless that bothers me. To tell you the truth I am wishing the ground was dry and soft so that I could really work on this more. But I am getting done what I can. I really want to get to the point where I move and she moves, I stop and she stops, I back up or move sideways and she moves accordingly, even at the pace I am going. And I want this no matter what is going on around her, whether there are other distractions or not. I also want this not just from the ground, but from the saddle too. is that too much to ask? No! It is the only thing to ask and to shoot for. I have learned that I have been satisfied with too little when it comes to horses and even other things in my life. I don't mean to be more hedonistic, but rather I have been satisfied too easily with things in life, rather than shooting for better things that God has. Those eternal things of value instead of the earthly things that won't last. Everything rusts rots or just plain ends up thrown away. But there are things that are eternal that last forever, like my relationship with the Lord. He wants me to move when He moves, stop when He stops, relax when He says to, don't worry, rejoice no matter what. It is that and those other things that last eternity. He reminds us in Philippian 2 to have the mind of Christ; to think as He does. You want to know what He thinks is important read the gospels. In Luke, Jesus reminds us that a man's life doesn't depend on the amount of possessions he has. But how do we live? Like the one who dies with the most toys wins. When really he lose if that is what he or she puts her hope in. So next time you ride a horse, or think about horsemanship, ask yourself what is really important in life? What will I know is important when I am on the other side? let that be your goal. So live Matthew 6:33 out in your life. Have a good one.

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