FLYING...

He did it! He did it! He really, really did it. Yes...he really did it!

I know. Over the top. But last night, my gaited Missouri Foxtrotter just three, almost four years out from a near death experience with laminitis did two...COUNT THEM! TWO! ... flying lead changes in a row. My lovely sorrel horsey hero DID IT! I'm still completely blown away, all circuits shot, jumping up and down ala junior high school with a squeal EXCITED!

Here's what happened. ( My creative writing professor is probably turning over in her grave at this point, but all writing skills are out the window with this one.)

We went out to play for the first time in three weeks. It was a pretty big deal for me. I've missed being with him, especially since we've worked so hard the past year and a half to get him back into "fighting" form. It's taken a thousand tiny baby steps, starting with just five minutes a day and working up to hill work and an hour and a half without him struggling. In fact, the whole idea was to NOT have him exhausted. So I've erred on the side of caution and taken it nice and easy. This time, though, it was me who had to limit my time. John timed me so I wouldn't loose track. I go into the "zone" and time flows in a different way for me, when I'm with Lucky.

I'd forgotten how much the landscape changes around here this time of year. Last time I took him OUTSIDE to play, the wildflower gardens were still blooming, packed with late season flowers. The cows were still in their field. The ponds still had lotus in them and the trees had leaves. For a horse, that's a lot of change.

He was just a bit nervous with all the differences in his landscape...lots of little thresholds...so I took it easy. We started with Friendly game, at least five minutes of it. Being a Left Brained Introvert with more whoa than go, Lucky was easy with that. Nothing like late season, cool weather grasses to give a horse something to do while his person massages him. I kept going until he was soft all over, no tension anywhere. Then I changed my energy, lifted his rope and off we went.

We played games with the barrels and cones I had set up in the yard and down the drive, taking it easy and doing whatever his energy told me he was ready for. I wanted to direct his energy, not make him go. I'd decided that my goal for the evening was to build on the deeper connections we'd made while I was in my "Yoda Stick" phase and all we could do was to stand around together in the pasture. My draw improved over those weeks. I wanted to keep that momentum going.

We managed to play all Seven Games with some Figure Eight's and Weaving in the mix. Lucky loves Weaving. It's going forward, so it makes sense to him. Figure Eight's are a bit more challenging, so I broke those down into half figure eights...stop...then the other half. It was kind of like doing a Million Transitions, but around two cones with a pause, then back around again. When I added in straight lines with transitions, that began to make sense to him, so his energy came up.

It's not easy to get Lucky's energy up. He'd just a soon cock a leg and go to sleep. Give that horse some sunshine, green grass and cool, clean water and he's done for the day. Going? Not high on his priority list. So getting him to begin to offer to walk faster and even gait was enough for me. I was going to stop there and go back to the barn. And John had told me we were at thirty minutes too.

But as we came back around the end of his shed, he decided that the grass over at the base of the propane tank looked especially nice. I thought that was fine too. We've played around that tank nearly every time we come out because it was his "big scary thing", so I wanted it to become his "nice place to rest" place. But when he leaned down to get an especially nice, crunchy bite of grass, his rope got caught on the loop of metal (John told me tanks have those so they can be carried to and dropped in to place, using those loops on either end of the top of the tank) and made this weird " KKKKklllannnnnnnngoingungungun!" noise.

Shazamm! We were off! Talk about your nano second flip from the left side to the right side of the brain. WOW! (And I do have to admit the sound was strange, probably because we'd just had it filled a few days before). He went backwards and up so fast, he was on his back legs and hopping and shaking his head to get away from the pressure. At that point I was very glad that I'd decided to work on the ground.

I ran to the side, away from his backwards hop and rear, and put some pull to his side, trying to bring his butt around and away from the tank. It worked too. All of that simulation time with John made it much easier to bring Lucky back down. Thank you Parelli's for teaching us how to do that...and thank you John for spending all of those patient hours with me as my "horse" and as my "human partner"! I was able to disengage Lucky and move him away from a totally unexpected situation (aren't they all?) safely and effectively.

But his levels of adrenalin and excitement were way up. I decided to see if I could turn the need to disengage in to a Falling Leaf pattern. He wanted to go, so we went, but in a way that was directed. First I ran away from him, moving him in big, sweeping arcs towards me. That didn't quite work the way I wanted it to. What he really needed was to be disengaged. The arcs were adding energy, not dissipating it. So as he came back towards me and went past, I leaned over and disengaged him. I had to put a bit of pressure on his head, zone one, using it like a lever to move his butt away from me. He was really moving by then! It turned into a circle, or more like a spin. We had some real energy going by this time.

I accidentally did one of those spins where I stand still and ask him to move by putting pressure on his Zone One, then his Zone Four. Cool, but he was still wired. It did get him to stop though.His head was up and he was snorting. Where was my nice, lazy Left Brain Introvert? We were going through the whole alphabet of personality changes faster than I could respond. Now what?

I wasn't sure of how to proceed, so I turned to the side and took off ALL of the pressure and tried to match my breathing to his. He snorted...I snorted. He was panting, so I was too. Wasn't hard to do. I was out of breath, just like he was. I could feel how rigid he was, so I tightened up my back and neck and matched him. I didn't move either until I heard him sigh. At first it was a ragged, broken kind of sigh. Then it lengthened out into a deeper " Whew!" kind of sigh. We were both relieved that was over!

When I turned to look at him, to run my hands down his neck (so I could feel what his muscles were like), he looked at me with his eyes still sort of buggy. I waited, using my stick and string over his back, and then my hand on his whithers. And then he just let it go. Like that, his tension was gone. That was when I realized I'd let it go too when I was rubbing his neck. He trusted me enough to follow my lead! That was an unexpected breakthrough for us, maybe because of all the "Yoda stick" time in the pasture?

My goals had changed. All I wanted to do was to get us back inside, letting the evening end on a good note. I'd watched one of the Discs about how to use Falling Leaf going away and towards to build respect and confidence, so I decided to use some nice, big, soft sweeping arcs towards the barn, then turn him and have him arc from side to side as I walked away from him backwards. He knows there's carrots in the barn waiting, so it was one of those "makes sense to me" Games for Lucky. We had a goal we were going towards.

We didn't do too many of the Falling Leaf away . He still has a tendency to want to be too close to me ( or maybe I'm putting too much pull on the line and don't know it? not sure), so after doing four of those I turned and walked away from him while he arced from one side to the other. It's a nice place to do it because there's soft hills going down to the barn. That lets us get a little hill work in too. I was half jogging backwards while Lucky came towards me, further and further out and THEN IT HAPPENED!

LUCKY DID A FLYING LEAD CHANGE TO MY RIGHT (his left) AND THEN TO MY LEFT! I had to write that in caps because that's the way I see it in my head. It was that exciting! My cross firing, pacing sometimes, gaiting sometimes, cantering on the wrong lead horse DID IT. And not only did he do two flying lead changes, but he was balanced and graceful too.

I stopped right there and cried!

You go through all kinds of inner dialogs when you have a sick or injured horse, saying things like " It's going to be OK. We can get through this. I'll love him anyway he comes, healthy or not. " And you do the work too. All of the special trims, special shoes, gentle exercises always at his pace, liniments, poultices, supplements, reiki, anything you can think of to keep yourself and him moving forward, getting better. You talk to experts, spend more money than you have, read, study, pray and wait. So, when your horse does something as wonderful and exciting as a flying lead change (and I wasn't even trying to get him to do that either!) you do what any sane, logical person would do. You cry!

Lucky went back to eating grass. It wasn't that big a deal to him. He changed leads. Happens all the time. I stood there, leaned on him, and cried. Big scary propane tank blow up, recovery from that and then BANG! He's offering to do flying lead changes in a lovely, slow, easy canter JUST LIKE THE BIG GUYS DO IT! Of course I cried. My horse wasn't just back, obviously healthy. He was a whole different horse!

I gave him extra carrots to celebrate. And I gave myself some extra, super duper 85% dark chocolate for dessert...Green and Black's, no less. I'd bought it as a gift for a friend's birthday. I'll have to buy her another bar. It was as close as I could come to champagne on a moment's notice.

My Lucky horse is back!

I am ever yours, Nancy, smiling at you through a smeary, chocolate face.

IN THE MIDDLE

Some days are made for hot cocoa, good books and a blanket to snuggle in. Like today, for instance. It's 45, dark and raining outside...classic November weather. I have the lights on here in my study to cheer me up. And the weeping willow outside my door, next to the pond, is bright yellow. It's the last tree to hold on to it's leaves out here except for the oaks.

I'm practicing my "thank you!"s today, trying to retrain my brain. If it's something I can't change, move on and work on the things I can. I've cleaned the house and the inside of the barn, read some of my books, called a friend and it's not quite 4PM. Time to clean the studio and get it ready for another round of paintings, I guess.

While I work, I've been listening to the rain. Since eliminating the TV from our lives several years ago, I've learned to really appreciate the quiet. All I can hear is the rain on the roof, my dogs as they sleep and the hum of the computer. No radio or music for now. It's nice to just be quiet sometimes.

This past week, while my back is on the mend, I've been glutting myself with old Savvy Discs. I know lots of people sell theirs since they can watch them as reruns later on the Savvy Club website, but I like to keep them in notebooks on my bookshelf. I see them as part of my reference library. They're like old friends, ready to tell me a good story when I need to hear one.

The disc I watched last night was from September of 2007, Issue 28. In it Linda Parelli works with a Left Brain Introvert named Beau. Talk about a challenge! He's Lucky magnified times 3. Beau is pushy, dominant and sees people as something to buck off and step on. He's gorgeous too. Several times, while watching Linda work with him, I laughed. That kind of horse can be very charming while he's thinking his wicked thoughts. There's several minutes of him exploring, chewing on and ripping up a tarp while Linda stands and talks to the audience. In Beau's mind, he's completely dominating the tarp, but he's also a clown while he does it.

When I pull out discs to rewatch, I'm usually pretty intuitive about it. Where ever my hand lands is the one I choose. Funny how my hand went to the one with the LBI who displays some of the same behaviors Lucky does. How interesting! It's just the one I needed to see too. Lucky isn't as extreme as Beau. But he is enough like him that watching Linda play with him was very helpful, at least with my visualizing, since I can't actually do much for right now. I think I'm going to add in some buckskin lace to my imaginary leggings and work harder at "walking in Linda's shoes" when I'm seeing myself playing with Lucky. Little details sometimes make all the difference.

I'm also rereading Robert Miller's book THE REVOLUTION IN HORSEMANSHIP. John's just finished it, so now it's my turn to put sticky fingerprints on the pages. It's a wonderful mix of history, technique and an excellent resource for finding out more about many of the Natural Horsemanship trainers. The book is chock full of good advice. I can find something worth quoting on nearly every page. One of my favorites is " Think right down to the ground.", Ray Hunt. I interpreted that phrase as "Think with your whole body."

So I guess you could call me a busy little bee. But that's also part of the problem. I'm a BUSY bee. I kind of feel like I'm caught in the greenhouse and bashing myself on the windows. It's given me some idea of what confinement is like for a horse, when they're recovering from an illness or injury. My claustrophobic side begins to come out. I need to move my feet! Must be the extrovert in me.

I have nothing profound to say, no amazing discoveries except that I'm getting better at being in the "middles" with Lucky, on our journey together. It's OK to take tiny baby steps, even if some of them are sideways. Pat Parelli says that a horse can only go six ways "Forwards, backwards, right, left, up and down." so I guess practicing my Sideways game, even in my head, is still another way of going forward.

I am ever yours, Nancy...in the middle

RANTS, BOOKS AND IMAGINATION

Well Rats-a-Rama! I blew out my computer and back in the same week. Hmmm...wonder if that has some kind of cosmic meaning? Just got the computer tower back on Friday and it turns out that when they saved things to reload, all they saved were the personal files and pictures, not the programs. AAAACK! (head back, mouth open, major grimace). And I don't have discs to replace them because it was one of those ordered computers with programs in place. Sometimes I despise the learning curve.

You're wondering why I'm going on a rant about this? I'm tired of my pictures on here. I wanted to put some new ones in. These are all from last Winter. ** low grumble** and **teeth grinding** So John is going to pick up the programs we need to reenter on the way home from work today. In the meantime, no new pictures. (New saddle first, then a computer. Patience is a virtue.)

So, on to other things. I'm still not supposed to be working with Lucky yet. I did last week and blew things out again. Bad Nancy! Seems that being a rule breaker isn't always in my best interest. Lesson learned again. I have been going out with them every day and just hanging out. I love that. Nothing like warm, grassy breath blown into my face for making me feel better.

While I've been standing around looking like a philosopher in the field, I've been doing "mental training"...visualizing. I have a well honed imagination, so I put in as many details as I can right down to stopping to tie my boot laces. And I've been adding in fanciful things too, like orchestras in the tree lines and Wolf Kahn talking to me about color theory and horsenality. Yup. No stops on this kiddo's head.

And I've been reading. Some of the books are total bubble gum that I use to stop my head when it's time to go to bed. But the other's all have to do with relationships, motivation and horsemanship. The local librarians love me! I'm taking the books home that usually sit on shelves, at least around here, and get dusty. Someone's got great taste in aquisitions though.

Two that we bought to add to our personal collections are : ANIMALS MAKE US HUMAN, by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson, and THE REVOLUTION IN HORSEMANSHIP AND WHAT IT MEANS TO MANKIND, by Robert Miller, DVM and Rick Lamb. Excellent books! Definitely worth adding to any personal library. If I were teaching in either High School or College, I would have these on my reading list for the students...required reading!

The other two books (I always read in multiples. I'm kind of ADD about that. From my point of view, you can never stuff your head too full!) are : CARROTS AND STICKS, by Ian Ayres and THE TWISTED SISTERHOOD, UNRAVELING THE DARK LEGACY OF FEMALE FRIENDSHIPS, by Kelly Valen. Interesting combination, don't you think?

CARROTS AND STICKS is about building incentives to keep yourself going, motivation and persistence (hmmmmmmmm...how interesting!). I've just begun that one this morning. My style of reading drives my husband nuts. I read in circles...back, middle, front and then front, middle, back. He was an English Major, so reading the back of a book is kind of like practicing literature mayhem and murder. " Honey, you just can't do that! It's against the rules!" ah me. He gets so distressed when he says that too.

My reply is "What rules?" **big grin here**

THE TWISTED SISTERHOOD is an odd choice, you're thinking...yes? An explanation is in order here. My past isn't relevant to this except as a reason for the kinds of relationships I have with my girlfriends, the types of people I've been attracted to. My roll models were difficult (and that's being kind) in my childhood.

If you go back to the first paragraph (and previous postings), it's obvious that it sometimes takes hitting my head on hard walls more than once for me to learn and change. The women I've had friendships with in the past have been domineering, angry, verging on sadistic on their part and masochistic on my part. In other words I've put up with a lot of sh!t over the years, thinking it was the right thing to do because I believe in unconditional love. Love people the way they are. Don't try to change them.

The last part is still true for me. Unconditional love is important. But now I practice it because I'm honoring who people are and celebrating our differences. Vive la difference (you have to say that with a French accent, through your nose**another big grin here**)! Spending concentrated time with my herd has taught me the importance of being honest with myself at a deeper level. And that means admitting that I don't like feeling bad. Most of my past relationships were based on that. They made me feel bad. I wanted to change them (the people) , couldn't, so I tried to change myself.

Now there's nothing wrong with making changes in yourself. That's how you grow and mature. But the women from my past didn't want those changes to be in a direction that made me stronger, happier or more self reliant. In fact, I found that when you do learn how to defend your personal space it begins to shine a bright light on what those relationships were really based on. They were practicing CONDITIONAL love. If I was the way they wanted me to be, they were my very best friend(s). But when I made the polite request to back off, or I disagreed with their point(s) of view, lord love a duck and please pass the pickles! You had better duck and run because it became a free for all and I was the target. Viciousness is a pretty word for what they did to me while trying to maintain control.

I should tell you that this simply separated out the chaff from the grain. The grains or seeds were the friends who were real, who wanted to help me grow. Nice metaphor, don't you think? When I saw THE TWISTED SISTERHOOD on the shelf, the title leaped out at me. It was in a stack of brand new books just being added to the new titles shelf. I asked the librarian if it was ready to be checked out. Good thing for me, it was. But I've just started it, so I'll have to wait to tell you what I think about it.

I love the new directions my life with my herd is taking me. I'm poor as a church mouse and happier than I've been in a very long time, all the way back to having babies (still my all time favorite part of my life!). I can't even remember why all the other things I thought I was supposed to want were ever an issue. Maybe that means I'm really letting the old goop go? I guess I'll let Lucky, Apache and Willow tell me.

#7 Horses teach humans and humans teach horses. , Eight Principals of Horsemanship, Pat Parelli

I am ever yours, Nancy, smiling at the way things go...and reading!

AND ZEN SOME

Sometimes things happen. Last Monday I did a number on my back. It isn't really very serious, but I had muscle spasms that kept me from being able to walk or get out of a chair. I back (pun intended!) tracked to what I probably did. I threw hay bales. BIG MISTAKE. It wasn't something I needed to do. I could have waited for help, but ohhhhhhh nooooooooo...had to do the pride thing and do it myself.

Lesson learned. I haven't been able to play very actively with Lucky at all this week, or even take care of all my chores by myself. I even had to call my husband home from work to take me in to get things checked (scared myself silly. Thought I'd done something to my back.) when I couldn't get up out of my chair.

I promise to do my best to remember to swallow my over sized pride from now on and ASK FOR HELP. Ever so often I have to hit my head on the wall hard enough to do damage, to get these little messages that life sends me through this thick, stubborn skull of mine.

Not being able to do, do, do like I usually do (love playing with words like that! You can almost hear that bosanova beat, can't you?) has forced me in to a quieter place, a more Zen kind of place. Maybe I did this on purpose, trying to slow myself down? If I did, it wasn't a conscious choice. But the inner me sometimes finds ways to slow down the outer me, the brainiac who takes over. I call her the "Evil Aries Nancy". She's hyper goal oriented, snotty, boastful, puffed up and driven. Most of the time I have her under control, but last week she got the better of me and now I'm paying for it. sigh. Lesson learned the hard way.

I've spent this last week in a legally drug induced state (don't much care for that either), drifting through my days. I get things done, but at a very slow and deliberate pace. Lucky and Apache love that, by the way. About all I can do is go out and be with them, maybe groom the upper part of their bodies and then just hang like a leaf. I've been walking with the help of one of my hiking sticks, one I bought nearly thirty years ago in the Grand Canyon. It's made from the heart of a saguaro cactus by the Havasupi (Native Americans who live in the bottom of the canyon).

It's old and worn and kind of greasy and dirty where my hands and my sons hands, as little boys, used it. It's one of my "old friends". We've shared a lot of miles, that stick and I. John calls it my "Yoda Stick". I hobble out to the pasture and just stand there on the top of the hill, watching the pond, the grass, sky...whatever strikes my fancy. I'm not there for very long by myself. Lucky, Apache and Willow end up next to me, grazing and watching too. In that amazing Zen kind of way that horses (and donkeys. Willow would be quite upset if I didn't say that.) do, we just exist in the moment. No thinking or worrying, just standing and being.

Both of them, at one time or another, have come up to "groom me" on my back too. They rub their nose and teeth gently back and forth right where it hurts. How do they know where to rub? I can't answer that, but both of them did. I just relaxed back in to it and ... didn't think. I've done that every day now for six days. And I think I've discovered something, or at least re-realized it.

Remember the section in your old Level One pack that suggests you spend a 1/2 hour doing nothing with your horse...just sit on a box or blanket and do nothing? Try it in their pasture, their space on their terms in their time. And do it with no itinerary, no time line (you don't have to be under the influence of a drug to enjoy it either.) and no reason except just to breath and be. It's magic!

Do any of us allow ourselves time to do that anymore? If I take anything away from this, it will be that one thing. Don't forget to just "be" with your horse...to stand and watch the world and breath. I found places inside myself that I'd forgotten about...places that I went to when I was a child and time had a different flow to it.

I think I'm becoming addicted to this "flow", this state of Zen. I haven't felt this good, even with a sore back, in more years than I can count (and today I'm not using the drugs either, so it's not that). And Lucky and Apache? "All of a sudden, for no reason at all" my draw is like glue! We've become a true herd. They've been following me everywhere, and softly too. I love the huge sighs and back rubs.

Does it get any better than this? Yes....and Zen some.

I am ever yours, Nancy Yoda, meditating my way through my days...and smiling.

OCTOBER WALK-ABOUTS

It's nearly the end of October. I love this month. The weather changes daily along with the trees and grasses. For an artist, it's a true color fest. The skies are full of color with grey, blue and white, yellow, pink and purple clouds. The wind blows and things rustle, keeping it VERY interesting for Lucky and I when we're out together. This morning it was a huge truck driving up that made it exciting and unexpected for us.

We were out working up and down along the drive, one of the few places we have here that is level. I use it for Weaving, Figure Eight's, Falling Leaf and some of the other more complicated Patterns when we're warming up. Later we go out into the fields where it's all hills and valleys, holes, dips and rocks. Keeps us all fit.

We were up next to the dumpster playing games (it's one of his 'humpy monsters') when this huge truck comes up the drive. Now Lucky's an old veteran of trail rides, so he wasn't too concerned, but he was fascinated. We turned in behind the truck and played Approach and Retreat up the drive, following behind as the driver turned in at the house.

Last week the Foreman of the team that were going to be working on our curvy gravel road had stopped by to ask if I wanted the dirt from the grading they were going to do. Talk about synchronicity! Just the weekend before John and I had been going over our meager budget, trying to figure out how to afford to have some dirt hauled out to our place to fill in the back of the dry lot where the rains from the past two years have caused some erosion. I love it when things work out like that.

The driver of the truck was a young woman I'd met last year. She knew I had horses and wanted to ask about the dirt before she dropped it off. It had a lot of rocks in it. I showed her what I wanted to use it for and she agreed that it wouldn't be useful if it had too many rocks in it. She took it on up the road to the next place and will bring the not so lumpy loads to me. She watched in her back mirrors while I played with Lucky down the drive as she drove in. I even played some Sideways down the side of the truck, just little steps, while we talked. I arced him around us while we talked dirt and rocks, trucks and horses. It was an interesting morning with another opportunity to give out one of my little pieces of paper that had Parelli.com written on them. (She'd asked about what I was doing...how she could learn and would I teach her.) You never know where the seeds will sprout or the ideas will find the opportunity to grow.

But that's not what I wanted to tell you about today. It was supposed to be a story about Apache, my Left Brained Extrovert, and John (a Left Brained Introvert and my husband). John is working with Apache now. He took over when I told him I was having a hard time keeping up with both of our complicated horses. He's fully committed too, reading books, doing research and watching videos. He and Apache had their first completely on their own adventure yesterday.

He told me he was going in to the living room to sit down and read the new book that just came, a book by Dr. Miller, DVM, about Natural Horsemanship. When he looked out the kitchen window, Apache was standing there staring at him from the paddock, waiting. He set the book down and answered the call by going to get him and take him on their first Walk About...just like that!

He and Apache stopped at the door to my downstairs study to knock and show me what they were doing. Talk about surprise! I opened the door and there was my big, beautiful seal bay Curly looking at me and John standing next to him with a huge smile on his face because they were out on their own without me and Lucky! Huge step for both of them! Best thing was that it was working too. Apache had been pretty nervous without being able to see me or Lucky, at least up until yesterday. But, in that way that horses have, he was confident because John was confident. Working together for three months while they learned the Games and built the relationship helped too. John had set themselves up for success by taking the time that it takes.

I stood there and watched from the little stoop next to the door as the two of them took off across the pasture in to uncharted territories, walking and playing through the long grass, up over the terraced hills. Apache walked with John, head down, ears following John. They looked like they'd been out walking those fields for years together, like it was old home week and they were just out for a stroll. I saw so many of the Qualities, Keys, Responsibilities and Principals going on between the two of them, it would be hard to write them all down. Maybe the best one to describe them would be #5, Qualities of a Horseman... "Attitude and Focus. Positive, Progressive and Natural." The two of them together were a walking, living, breathing example of everything we've been working so hard to learn and practice.

I let them be. Lucky and I went out on our own journey, with Willow following us. When we all came back to the barn after dark, the lead between John and Apache had no tension in it at all. They are partners now and I am one proud 'Mom'!

I know I keep saying this, but it just doesn't get any better than that!

Nancy, smiling so big it makes my cheeks hurt!

IT HURTS SO GOOD

So I was wondering around in my head today, trying to decide what to write. It isn't that I'm not inspired. It's more like I'm overwhelmed. When you are working on desensitizing a horse to stimuli, you flood them with information until they realize it isn't going to kill them...until they relax. Horses think that nearly everything is going to kill them. Not so long ago, in geological terms, that would have been true too.

I don't think everything is going to kill me. But sometimes my circuits do get just a bit blown with everything that I'm learning. My head feels like it's bulging. I wish I could remember who it was that wrote "it hurts so good". It's a lyric in a rock and roll number from my oh so distant past. And it explains exactly how I feel today...sort of dreamy and blown away with everything that I'm doing.

I'm in that category of folks that is, unfortunately, growing. No job and too much education. Not so bad if you love to learn...and I do love to learn! Pinches a bit in the pocket book, but that keeps me motivated. I heard an artist once say that they do better when they're really hungry. I agree. It takes my creativity and motivation up several notches.

You're wondering what this has to do with horses? Everything, at least for me. When I am with them, just being or playing games (ala Parelli) or doing chores, my creativity, my ability to visualize, to tell a good story or to draw or paint goes up at an exponential rate. Sometimes I feel like the Mother Ship is up there doing a huge download in to my head. " Auggghh...I'm bulging here. Give me a chance to digest and assimilate."

I've started keeping pads and notebooks out in the barn with me because I loose a lot of what comes to me by the time I get in here to the keyboard. My sons have been helping me with tech possibilities, but we're living in the boonies here, so our connection to the internet is iffy at best much less writing from my dusty barn or 'off the beaten path' pastures. I counted this morning. I have six full notebooks out there, covered in cobwebs and dust. I keep them in the area where I fix grain, so there's a bit of horse slobber in the mix. (Somehow apt, don't you think?) Tech stuff, as much fun as it is to learn how to use, will have to wait. No worries. I'd rather spend my time grooming or playing or getting dirty.

Lucky and I danced again last night. We stayed out until after dark, playing in the arena, exploring the back fields. When we go on a walk-about now, it's always one that I control. He takes me but I tell him how to get there (Traveling Circles, Falling Leaf, Weaving, Figure Eight's, Point to Point...anything that I can think of to keep him guessing.). Slowly, slowly I'm figuring out how to BALANCE (that's #8, Qualities of Horseman) his needs and mine. I'm not as intimidated by the TOOLS (#3, 7 Keys to Success) as I was and rarely get tangled anymore. Lucky, Left Brain Introvert and funny horse that he is, has learned how to step on the rope so he doesn't have to go. "Oh no! I can't move. I'm stuck. Guess I should keep eating." I laugh a lot when I'm with him. No wonder I feel so good out there!

No grass diving last night. That's a first for us! He put his head down to eat when I got us to our destination, playing whatever game we were focused on. His Traveling Circles were especially soft and easy. We floated down the hillside to the backyard. He did three Circles for me, no rope tangles or sticky feet either. Best part was that he stopped to touch me before he went for his reward...the lovely, long, silky grass under the Broken Oak (the tree we named our place after).

By the time we reached his paddock, it was dark and the moon was up and Lucky was almost purring, like one of the barn cats he loves to hang out with. When we stopped in the paddock, always at the same place, he let out this long, soft siggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh. I'm cheating when I play with the word like that, but it was so soft and long and perfect, it's the only way I could write it out.

I took his halter and lead off, but he was so hooked on he didn't want to stop, didn't want me to leave without him. So I didn't. I stayed and gave him a massage, scratched him on his itchiest spots. By that time John and Apache were in and Willow was out of her shed stall, asking for her share of the attention too. It was just about as perfect as an evening can get.

Afterwards I had a hard time getting myself to slow down so I could sleep, my head was so busy. Lucky, idea generator and initiator of Love, Language and Leadership.

"Whoooo ahhh!" ( a line from movie that I can't remember the title from, but remember the phrase from. Helpful, aren't I?) Are we having fun yet? All the time people...all the time.

I am ever yours, Nancy with the bulgy head and bugs in my teeth...from smiling, of course!

#3. TOOLS

What a weekend we've had here in OZ. The weather's been perfect...70's and clear. I love this time of year. I can get so much done without the heat and humidity to slow me down.

I've been experimenting again. (No surprise there!) Saturday I decided to try turning the herd OUTSIDE (my way of saying outside the fences...big deal to them, so it has to be in caps) in the evening before grain.

Talk about excitement! They knew what I was going to do when they saw me with the ropes I use to put up the temporary 'fence' that keeps them back from the road. It was a full out gallop from the back of their pasture...eyes sparkling, ears forward and "Whooo hooo hooo'ing" from Lucky, who loves to talk even more than I do.

I opened the gate and out they came, stopping long enough to touch my hand and to take off jumping, running and bucking into their long space OUTSIDE. It's hilly, like nearly all of our property is, so they look like ships in a rocky sea, disappearing in the valleys and reappearing on the hills. Every time they came to the top of the hill, Apache did a star buck straight up. Lucky was having too much fun running to worry about exuberant jumps. He just wanted to stretch out and go!

John came home part way through chores, so we finished together while we talked about the day. The days are shorter, so I was only able to leave them out for about an hour. I wouldn't worry about them, but Willow was with them and we have lots of predators out here who might find her a tasty little morsel. And it's hunting season too. I don't want some hunter, who's sneaking around on the preserve, accidentally shooting at my horses. It's happened before across the road. Never want to go there again!

We sauntered out to bring them in. In the mornings they come in on their own because they know when it's time for grain. But this was new...being OUTSIDE in the evening... so no pattern is set. I whistled as I walked out with John. I have one I use just for them that mimics one of the song birds we have here in the Summer (easy to tell me apart from the birds since whistling is not my strong suit). John was going to walk in with Apache and me with Lucky. Willow usually follows us with no prompting.

Lucky came to me, no problemo. It's my reward...that draw. He comes ears forward and face soft. Even though I've said it over and over...THANK YOU PAT PARELLI! That's such a gift from a horse.

I have to stop here and tell you that I bought a new bit of equipment, this time for me. Running alongside Lucky has gotten harder for me, especially since he's so healthy now. He stretches those long legs of his and, even in an easy foxtrot, he can out pace me. He's getting better and better at matching himself to me, but when grain is in the offing he wants to go faster. Food is serious business to Lucky (*big grin here*). So last week I drove into town and went to the shoe store that all the serious athletes go to. They don't have riding boots, mores the pity. But they do have cross country running shoes made especially for running on rough ground. Around here that's mostly what we have...all pasture and gravel roads.

They also have this computerized platform that you can stand on to have your feet analyzed. Way cool! It shows whether you have a tendency to pronate (roll your feet to the outside) or not, what your arch is like, how your feet strike the ground and where the pressure points are. Shizaam! It shows you everything on a big monitor and then tells you whether or not you need to add anything to the inside of your running shoe to make your stride more efficient.

Was it expensive? Yupe. But it was not as expensive as going to a Podiatrist and buying those $800 pads for the inside of your shoes. In fact it was 10 times less expensive and more effective, in my humble layman's opinion. I used to run, when we lived in town, for exercise. Got really hooked on that runners high, but the injuries to my legs were the downside. Driving into town to run takes up too much time and fuel, so I haven't used that as my exercise for years.

Running out here was worse. And running in riding boots? Shin splints, cramps, hip injuries have become an issue. Everything is solvable though, so I spent the money and it's working! When we're doing Online or Liberty, it's cross country shoes and insoles every time from now on. Injuries are a thing of the past. I'd like to meet the person who designed the program that analyzes your stride and foot and shake his or her hand, maybe even give them a hug! The shoes are practically doing the running for me!

Back to the story...the long and short of it is that Lucky and I ran in to the barn together! I used my Savvy String around his neck, but didn't really need it. We had a blast! In fact, we had so much fun we did it again on Sunday morning and this time HE OFFERED! When it was time for grain, I whistled and he turned and came to me and asked the question. "Wanna run? Great day for it, don't you think?" Of course my answer was " I'm on board Big Kahuna! Let's rock!"

We started with a nice walk with him matching me! (This is so HUGE for us! It was at Liberty and he suggested it!) And, with just one little "cluck" I was able to take us up to his gait (he usually foxtrots or does a lateral pace) and then we came back down. We were doing transitions at Liberty with him matching me. It was a first for us at Liberty. Good thing is wasn't too buggy yet because I had a huge grin on my face as we came down the trail the whole length of the field. I would have had bugs in my teeth!

He even cantered into his paddock the last several paces. HUGE! (my favorite word for our breakthroughs, if you can't tell by now.) Part of the reason it worked for us was due to my new shoes . I was doing wind sprints with Lucky and not even breathing hard. The shoes were doing enough of the work for me that we were able to match our paces to each other. And no sore joints either.

I love this program! #3. TOOLS in the 7 Keys to Success was so important for us. YEEHAW! I've even gone back to jogging in the mornings again, in my own pastures. It just doesn't get any better than that!

I am, always yours, Nancy ... smiling!