December 30, 2021

I’ve been cleaning the feed room in the morning after chores if there’s no lessons to watch. It feels really good to see how much something small changes the big picture. I’m learning awareness of how my energy effects the horses in this way - it is our method of communication.

If I asked you not to move any part of your body physically, but to send energy out of your stomach - that’s the feeling. Everything starts in the center of our unbalanced bodies, is what it seems like. We can communicate with horses through that intangible energy, and I’m learning how to understand this language. I dream to be fluent, and that is the pursuit.

I felt it today while working at liberty with Karl. We’ve never done work like this, but we played together at liberty after work and I understand now how I was communicating differently. I don’t need to be controlling, but I need to set boundaries so he does not seek to control me. And he’s all bark and no bite - he wants to learn this and has an outspoken opinion. I was able to draw him in effectively and not in a playful way and going forward was much easier. It felt like we were really talking to each other. We were connected. And after work, even at night check he was so relaxed, happy and content and it felt like he really wanted to just be together.

Riding was also great - Meg rode for the first time and showed me how he’s not lazy, he just knows how to evade the leg. The key is: less is more. Just a little tap tap as soon as I feel like he thinks about a downward transition or getting stuck. It’s all about this feel