Relations First - September 17th

The weather was just horrible. It was raining for the last couple of days, and it was  cold and dark. It was only late in the afternoon that we chanced to catch a glimpse of the autumn sun. Karina was locked up in the stable along with other horses. They are used to being outside 24/7, so they weren't particularly happy about being locked up like this. They had, however, a lot of good hay and straw, and they were chewing it laborously :) I took Karina outside, and again I had a feeling that at that moment she didn't like it to have me around. Nonetheless, I groomed her and dressed her up in her new harness (she used to be a harness horse, and I'm trying to work on that a little, too) just to see if it will fit her. She is not entirely used to this type of harness, so I suppose it will take us some time to work it through, but she didn't protest anyway. Then I took it off her and tied her a rope halter, so that we could move on to our Straightness Training. On our way to the roundpen I worked on some elements, such as stopping, leading and backing up. In the roundpen I shortly warmed her up on the longe line in walk and trot, because she spent last 12 hours in the stall. Then I reminded her stelling in a standstill, which she performs just beautifully.

Karina seems to be a little disturbed by our new work routine. We play a lot and we work in hand only. I think she doesn't see my point yet, she is used to completely another working routine, and that seems to be causing her to feel insecure. It showed very vividly when I asked her to walk through a puddle of water in our riding arena. She had to choose either to walk through the water or to trample me down. Karina stood there for a while, thinking intensively, and finally she chose a third possibility: she jumped over the puddle and started galloping around me. She was terrified. It took me some time to calm her down and then we walked through the water together. I was surprised to see her so frightened. I have been a little harsh with her that day and that may have affected her, too. But as soon as I walked into he water, she followed me without any hesitation. I stopped her in the middle of the puddle and petted her to show her that the terrifying puddle was actually a nice place.

Then we went back to the stableyard and went to graze some time together. I noticed that Karina kept her distance nicely and as I approached she moved calmly away. She no longer had anything against me being so close and she followed my every step and answered to any pressure I put on her. When I think about our beginnings, when sometimes it happened that Karina showed me very clearly that she didn't want me around, now it is completely different. She is calm and relaxed, only sometimes, I think after some changes in the herd hierarchy, she tries some of her tricks on me. Of course that it is all useless, and she seems to realise it also, because such things happen less and less often. I know that this just happens and I'm ready to answer it properly, I am no longer upset by it. In the world of the horse nothing ever is exactly the same as it was yesterday, and as soon as I discovered that truth I stopped worrying that one day everything was just perfect, and the next day it was a horror. We no longer have such violent ups and downs, our communication is far more subtle. And it is so important to have fun here and now, to enjoy the moment whatever it is. If it is wonderful – what more do I need, and if it is horrible – what does it tell me? What can I learn from that? I remain calm and keep on pondering on that until I reach some conclusion. If Karina is not in the mood for any hard work, we just hang out together. We go for a walk through the fields, go grazing together. Our relations are always in the first place, and her physical training is not that important. If we miss one of our training days, what does it matter? But if I forced her through it, I could lose it all.