05.11.07
Horse Fun in Mud Season
HorseGal visits Connie’s horses, who visited Emmie during April…
I recently had the wonderful opportunity of having all three of Connie’s horses right in my own back yard during April. I just could not believe my good luck!! I thought it was too good to be true. (And you know what; even though I did spend time with them, I still feel like it WAS too good to be true!!) What made this so fantastic is that while I would have been happy with any 3 (or one!) horses, these weren’t just anybody’s horses… they were Connie’s; that’s what made it even more terrific!
Arabian/percheron yearling cantering. Roundpen training improves horse’s responsiveness to humans.
Brothers hanging out in their temporary quarters…
What a great chance to get to know and spend time with “The Herdâ€! Connie’s daughter Emmie was taking care of them so I got to see Em do some hands-on training of Connie’s two young arabian/percheron geldings That in itself is such a great opportunity that I have never had, and may never have the chance again, to see.
Impatience of Youth– Gilford paws on the crossties.
I mean really – getting to see two youngsters learning how to be horses and how it’s done??!! How many chances does a HorseGal, who’s still so new to this horse life, get to see that?? All of the horses I usually come into contact with are already “all grown up†and teaching a horse how to have horse manners is so fascinating! I’ve read an awful lot about it, but never thought I’d ever be lucky enough to see it happen in person!
Emmie riding Gilford, arab/percheron nearly four years old.
Anyways, on one of my trips down, Emmie rode Gilford and Willy [Willow's Bask, the arabian mother.] Gilford is so out of shape, poor guy!! But he did what Em asked of him. Let me stop here and say how amazing Emmie is!! I knew this before from seeing her work with Princess, [The Princess and the Canter] but nevertheless, I again was SO impressed with her knowledge and her hands-on work with the two youngsters. I’m all goosebumpy just writing about it– she really blew me away! You can just see her love and passion for these 3 horses (especially Momma Willy… the two of them go waaay back.)
Oh, and I got to see a trunk that Em’s Dad made for her to put all her tack in when she was young. It’s beautiful!! 
You can see that Em has such wonderful memories and she is so proud of that trunk. I’m so glad that I got to see it and that she shared some of her stories with me. I’m digressing a bit… but I’m still reeling from all the excitement and I can still feel it. So, I hope you’ll forgive me for all this chatter!
Back to my story… Em rode Gilford and Willy that Saturday. These 3 horses are so close [ie:, HERD-BOUND.] When Em was riding one of them, the other two would be calling out to their missing member! They can be quite vocal and it’s so funny to hear and see.
Glen and Willy pine for Gilford while he’s with Em.
Em rode Gilford English and she’d coax him along when needed. She rode Momma Willy Western with a beautiful macrame breastplate that Connie made, and her cordura nylon/leather endurance saddle. Em & I took measurements of Gilford so that Connie can make a breastplate for him too. I can’t wait to see the finished product!
Em let me help groom all 3 and I got to pick Momma’s feet. The mare is SO good. All I had to do was run my hand down her leg and up the foot came! And she didn’t try to take it back. She let me take however long I needed to clean all 4 feet. Em let me clean up the barn (yes, I said LET… I love even cleaning up after them!) And don’t you love that horsy smell? I do! I spent a few hours with them that day and it was so fabulous.
Sweet momma mare
On another trip down, Em didn’t do any riding that day, but she did some round pen work with Gilford and Glendale helping them with their gaits. You can see such a difference in the way these two horses move. Gilford is heavier in his gait whereas his younger brother has a light springy step. [Gilford is more drafty and Glendale, who looks exactly like his momma, has more arabian-like movement.] You could see both of them trying to get away with not working, but Em was in full control and they knew it.
GILFORD TROTS IN ROUND PEN video
I got to see Em teaching young Glendale how give his human their space and to not crowd. She’d walk him around in a small tight circle but would keep him about elbow’s length away from her by pressing on him with her elbow and talking to him. [ED. NOTE: by pressing against the horse's flank at the girth area, she begins teaching him to move away from (future) leg pressure. The shoulder pressure tells him not to move his shoulder into her space.] I don’t know if you can tell, but on one of my videos Glendale balks at moving around the pen and Em walked right up to him and would not let him get away with that. Pretty cool stuff.
Teaching young arabian/percheron to respect the human’s space and not crowd in with his body; working in a round pen video.
Yearling acting up a little bit and being corrected by Emmie.
Goofy baby Glendale
I can’t wait to read Connie’s blog about their return home to their own pastures! [COMING SOON!]
This was such a wonderful opportunity for me… and on a personal note to Momma Willy, Gilford and Glendale: If you are all (or even one of you) back here for another visit, Horse Gal will be waiting…..
[CONNIE'S NOTE: They weren't exactly on their best behavior-- poor guys were so bored confined to smaller muddy paddock with horrible rainy weather limiting how often they got played with; they are normally used to a larger area with variety to roam in. The brothers rough-housed and broke fence boards and chewed on rails something awful. Horse fencing REALLY NEEDS to be protected with electric wire. PS. just ignore dates on these photos-- HorseGal with new camera!]
Bye HorseGal! Until next time!
