Your Daily Inspiration

“Where your mind goes, energy flows,” and it’s true. I mean, if you REALLY focus on something and you want it …my whole life is like that – things come to me in this very magical way and it’s hard to describe. It’s kind of about the law of attraction and what you really focus on, what you really want, you attract. And if you start thinking about all these things that you DON’T want – which a lot of people do – you just get more of THAT. I think about what I DO want and then that comes to me."-Cindy Meehl, Director.

Do yourself a favor and start your day off on a positive note-this is a great article to inspire any horse owner...but actually, as I write this, it is good for anyone.  And, if you haven't watched this movie yet, Buck, take the time-it is something every horse owner (or not!) should watch at least once, or twice, and for some of us, maybe more.  It gives everyone an opportunity to step out of themselves and view the world differently. It sounds cheesy, but I'm not kidding. xoxo, Dancer.

My Owner's Epiphany (Written From Her Perspective)

Yes, it's March. I realize Epiphany is normally celebrated in January, but any revelations are good ones, and this one is definitely one I would like to share.

I was working with my trainer the other evening and he was longeing Dancer. He was asking her to trot and she promptly went in to a totally unbalanced and very uncontrolled canter. "It isn't registering with her that she can go slower yet," Jeff explained. "Once she slows down, I will ask her to stop and reward her for the change in pace." Dancer, (who comes by her name honestly,I might add) finally succumbed to a slower pace after several minutes. Jeff promptly asked her to stop. "What she needs right now," Jeff said, while Dancer stood, sweaty and huffing and puffing in front of him, "is to learn how to just stand and relax."

This hit me like a brick. It was like God spoke to me through this man. The saying about horses being a mirror to your soul is spot on. I realized that this horse is more like me than I care to admit. I'm always trying to be the over achiever, trying to accomplish something every day, driving myself and always feeling like if I wasn't able to cross everything off my list, I wasn't being successful. Here was this man telling me my horse needed to , (God forbid), just learn how to slow down and "just stand there." What a moment that was! Getting permission to just stand was so liberating! I didn't have to be concerned with accomplishing anything short of simply "being." And, of course, when you are a thoroughbred who has raced for as long as Dancer has, well, it isn't such an easy feat. And, when you are an owner like me, who has had that driving force all her life to be something, make something, do something, it is a difficult thing to practice. And here we were given a goal to practice just "standing there."

I realized that my poor girl has been asked to run her whole life and that is all she knows. Breaking habits are hard, but there is living proof that it can be done. My goals have always been to develop a close relationship with my horse, and trail ride. Sometimes I feel like I am failing because I don't want to join the hunter jumper world or compete in dressage. Dancer is such a gorgeous girl, I often play games with myself and wonder if I'm doing right by her by not getting involved in these things. And then I spend time with Jeff, who affirms that I am on the right track. Stay tuned as I uncover even more revelations in my journey with this magnificent creature, my horse. Thank you Dancer, you have helped me discover so much-more than you will ever know. Thank you for helping me to realize the absolute obvious in my life. The importance of slowing down.

Your Daily Dose of Laughter

Doing the Opposite of What You Think You Should Do

Here is a very interesting concept Linda Parelli describes here:http://linda.parellinaturalhorsetraining.com/2010/09/zero-brace/

While it makes sense, I believe it's very difficult to put into practice what one has been taught for so long to go against. I think this is another "AHA" moment in the long journey of better communication between my owner and I. Letting me act up? Why sure, I think I will!

Just keep in mind, for you owners out there considering this, that it is recommended you have the experience to work through any potential situations, which means, in other words, be safe and know this is probably not something I would advocate a beginner should try without a trainer on hand. Especially with a precocious mare like me.

Because of my checkered past and trust issues, my mom thinks this may be a good exercise to try to build up my confidence and trust. She is very excited to put this into practice. Please check back for how it all went as she plans to try this tonight in our time together.

xoxo Dancer

I Can't Help That I am So Darn Gorgeous

Every once in a while Mom likes to have a photo session with me-and today was one of those days. I couldn't understand why I couldn't eat the camera....it looked like it might possibly have had some flavor to it.....but it didn't really smell like anything.
Mom kept trying telling me to stand still but all I wanted to do was give her a kiss.

I Have A Lot to Say....

Okay, so in my travels I have learned some habits-some people will say they are bad, but honestly, I just do them because that is how I was originally trained. Thoroughbreds are born to run, and as fast as they can. Not much else is taught to us-most of us don't know good manners, or how to slow down. My owner has had the good fortune of working with a gentleman who dubs himself the "Horse Helper." A kind and knowledgeable man, and smart enough to know how not to make someone feel bad about their decisions to get the kind of horse they did, he is helping my owner change some of these learned behaviours.

The lady who owns me does not have an extensive background with thoroughbreds; she tells everyone her decision to get me was based strictly on emotion; "it was love at first sight," she admits. My beauty does have that effect on people. I'm not surprised it played a big part in her choice to own me. What she didn't realize about me (but will freely admit) is just how smart, sensitive and insightful I am, Yes, I do protest when I don't want to do something, but its mainly because I don't understand what is being asked of me. Through lots of patience and work sessions, I am learning to slow down and in turn I get rewarded. I am not being lazy or obstinant. I am just doing what I have learned over time.

People forget that horses don't have the same emotions as humans-this is something they have projected on horses for their own benefit of explaining and understanding certain behaviors. Horses have become "humanized." We are not human;we are herd animals. We think differently, and reason differently and it all comes down to our survival instincts. We do not want to be eaten and we want to feel safe, so we react in a way that helps us to avoid any upleasantness. Try to understand when we act up, it's 9 times out of ten because we don't know what you are asking. In our world, there is this thing called a pecking order. We are just trying to figure out how humans fit in to this alot of the time. Some will put fear in us to get us to pay attention, and others will treat us like a dog. Yes, we can be loyal and will give you our heart, but you have to understand how we think.

In addition, the thoroughbred breed in particular gets bored easily and appreciates it when the humans "mix it up." While we often appreciate repetition to learn things, we don't like too much redundancy or prolonged periods of instruction. Because we are so smart we often start to anticipate what is being asked of us-this is actually another avoidance tactic we pick up to try to get out of things. For instance, in longeing, if I am working on transitions, I will try to figure out what is being asked of me before it is asked. My owner observed this early on and knows how to anticipate it and trys lots of different things with me so I can't pull this stunt too much. She knows my favorite past time is eating and my goal is to finish my work as quickly and precisely as possible so I can start chowing down.

Together, over the years, my owner and I have explored Parelli, Clinton Anderson, Linda Tellington-Jones and numerous others;we've ridden english and tried our hand at jumping as well as a few dressage moves-we've tried our hand at the western thing and trail riding and learning how to barrel race. It's my opinion that if you listen and watch and have an open mind, most trainers usually have some very valuable information to offer in helping you achieve your goals, it's just a matter of sorting through it all and deciding what is pertinent in your particular situation and applying it. Try to remember not to try to do too much at one time, as this can confuse and frustrate any horse-this applies to most every animal or human anyway. Also, know that every minute you are with your horse is a learning opportunity. Did you know it only takes three times of repetitive action to create a habit? The reverse is also true; work on something with your equine partner three times when learning a concept, and he or she should pick it up and it will be imprinted in their mind for the future. But it can't be rushed-it takes unlimited patience and there is no room for frustration. I have taught my owner to practice loads of patience. I have also taught her to stand her ground and learn how to say the word "no." I think I am worth my weight in gold for all the pyschotherapy sessions I have saved her from. I don't judge her, I accept her for who she is, and I don't care if her boots are made by Dubarry.

I can't stress enough that since horses are herd animals, their very lives depend on being able to size up any animal (or human) in a matter of nano-seconds and decide how they are going to interact with it. My owner likes this guy Buck Brannaman, and he once said,"You’ll have to get them (horses) exposed to a lot of things that seem perfectly normal to you, but it doesn’t seem normal to the horse. You walk up to them, smelling like a Big Mac [for which an animal just like a horse was killed] or something. Your diet can make you smell different to the horse. And then you are going to tell the horse: “Don’t worry, I want to crawl on you,” in a similar posture to how a Lion would attack and kill a horse. They jump right up in the middle of them, and they reach their front claws around, and as they’re biting down on their spine, they’re cutting their throat with their claws. You’re asking the horse to let you be in that posture and crawl on him. And then about the time he says “all right, maybe”. And then you say: “Oh, one more thing: I want to strap some hides of other dead animals around you, before I crawl on you.” You damn sure have to have some trust. He's got to believe in you to let you do that. And amazingly enough, they’ll let you do it."
Horses are more about emotions than about intelligence. There is a lineage of people teaching a gentler way of dealing with horses: Tom Dorrance started it, Ray Hunt continued it and inspired Buck Brennaman to become a teacher, too.

If you, the human, are in a bad mood, or angry, they sense this immediately. You are, in essence presenting a mirror of your emotional self to them when you approach. Try to leave the bad day at the door when you spend time with your mount, and remember there is an art to knowing when to step back and when to move forward; it's okay if things don't go the way you planned-go to Plan B. Try hand grazing or walking around the arena and matching strides. The goal is to always end things on a good, positive note-build up the horse's confidence, (which in turn will build up yours) Reward your horse with lots of rubs for something they did right.

My owner likens me most to a small child. Like humans, horses don't always want to do what is asked of them. We figure out ways to get out of things. We also have good days and bad days,just like humans, so it's important to be able to decide when it's best to call it quits and end a session on the upswing. Just grooming and standing in our stall during feeding time can be as good as groundwork and riding. It reassures us as horses that we are not always going to be asked to do something, and it helps us to relax and build a relationship with our handler. On a similar note, horses do need to understand that we are expected to do what we are asked without resistance. Again, quoting Buck, "Gentle in what you do, firm in how you do it." He encourages predictability and respect, but also taking control. He compares handling horses to raising children – as a parent, you cannot always be their best friend.

This can be defined as instilling early on in the relationship that there must be respect,as well as good manners. It takes lots of patience and hard work on both the part of the human and the equine to meet these goals, but the sooner the better in the horse and human relationship.

So, getting back to the Horse Helper-we've been working on slowing down at the canter and understanding it's not always about going as fast as I can. Others have said I do this because I am acting up. The Horse Helper explained that I am doing this because this is the only thing I know; this is what I have been taught. As soon as I slow a bit instead of building to a frenzied gallop and obviously not focusing at all, I am rewarded by being asked to stop. As I stand there, huffing and puffing, the Man comes up and gives me a rub on my face and tells me I did a good job. I am very tired tonight, but I am starting to understand what my owner wants.

I'm ready for my treat now!

Here we are, another new year and my best human friend is vowing to make this "the" year. The year that we will completely connect; the year that I will finally give myself over to her. Yes, we'll be moving into our fifth year together. Like a marriage, she has vowed we will grow old together, and for better or for worse, she will always be there.