Blurry pic of me riding on the buckle.
My ground crew thinks Rodney likes to be told what to do. I think Rodney needs to be comfortable thinking for himself [Fifth Leg Training]. We’re probably both right.
In pursuit of my goal, Rodney and I have been working on the seemingly simple task of wandering calmly along the edge of the pasture. Previous Horse did this routinely for warm-up and cool down. Even Mathilda managed it, mostly [Helmet Evangelism]. Rodney does not find the task simple. I have no idea why. OTOH, pondering what we have not accomplished because Rodney finds life alarming leads to frustration, tail spins, and breaks from the blog.
Moving on.
Rodney’s been walking quietly for a while now, but not *quite* on the buckle. I’ve kept a nice, long, loopy rein to give him his head. At the same time, I’ve choked up on the rein just enough that I can grab the wheel if needed.
First victory. He gets better as we go. When Rodney is wound up, he gets worse as he goes along. This was his MO for years. Most of this winter, the second lap has been better than the first.
Second victory. I rode absolutely on the buckle for the entire second half of the second lap.
The turtle of progress creeps forward.
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Virtual Brush Box 
Hurray for progress and victory! The turtle still gets there 🙂
What she said!
what she said.
To be content in the moment is something that often eludes the human brain. We’re always looking somewhere down the road, wondering why we’re not there yet. And when we get there? We immediately start looking again. I do the same thing. So hard, to look BACK and see how far we’ve come. No love for that! ;
To be present in the moment, all that exists in the here and now, is a mindfulness hard to achieve because the harder you try, the more it slips away. Past/present/future encapsulated in the now. It is gift, to float in the nothingness, and I have only achieved it with Chief – and he initiated the contact – and with Eowyn.
In junior high I had a button that said “I am”. And people kept asking me, “I am what?” It’s not a ‘what.’ It’s a state of being and no one understood. Or am I getting too metaphsyical?
😉
Being content in the moment versus being stuck. Being discontent versus moving forward. It’s probably one of those balance things. It usually is.