This month my sister Brooklyn and I visited the local auction before grabbing some lunch. I wasn’t looking for another horse; just browsing!
However, as we were walking through the paddocks we stumbled across this 5 year old, grade mare that is just shy of 16 hands. I walked around and inspected her and noticed that she was gentle and had a kind look in her eyes.
There was a bridle on her saddle and though it was an aggressive bit she wasn’t mouth shy and accepted it without hesitation. I took her out into the ally and took her on a short walk and trot; and it was incredible! She was responsive, had energy, a fast walk, a smooth trot… I wanted this horse!
We went to lunch and I couldn’t stop talking about this new horse and wondered if she would be a good intermediate horse to play with while waiting for Phoenix to mature and possibly a candidate to try my hand some roping events.
After eating we went home and grabbed the horse trailer and came back to the auction to get a bidding number and waited for the auction to start. To my delight the horses were going lower than I had expected and when they got to the sorrel I had been waiting for I made the opening bid and then the closing bid with a win! 🎉
I’ve been riding her for a few weeks and it’s been an adventure. I don’t think she has the experience that the “horse trader” mentioned in her online listing; but she’s been doing incredibly well. She is incredibly light on her feet and will get out of the way of anything that spooks her; and we’ve had some close calls!
This has turned into a fun experience of practicing some of the teachings from Tom Dorrance’s book “True Unity: Willing Communication Between Horse & Human“. In particular, learning how to build her confidence as we find things that bother her and being patient as we work through things she doesn’t understand.
While I have been covered with good ideas and helpful lessons from friends and YouTube; there’s been something special as I’ve recalled some of the ideas Tom has laid out so clearly in his book while riding.
I’ll close this post with the following excerpt that has been a constant reminder as I learn to be soft with my hands.
In starting this work, sometimes it will take just a few minutes to get this message through to the feet. Some horses will have a tendency to want to go forward just a little instead of preparing to go back. At the time when the horse needs to start preparing to position to back, he may start forward. If so, he walks into pressure and then gets ahold and pushes—if that happens you won’t try to move his feet. As the horse goes up into his pressure that he’s putting on himself, the rider will just wait until the horse will move his feet away from his own pressure. Don’t be in a hurry. You let the horse move his feet. You wait for his feet to move; don’t try to move them. The horse will do that.
To start with, the horse may yield to his own pressure, but be teetering. Then when he starts to get right on, straight and even, where it means something to him, the rider will be smooth and easy with him. But remember the horse puts the pressure on himself; he’ll move away from his own pressure. Let him apply the pressure so that, in his mind, he is putting on himself. If you present this to them as if they are putting the pressure on themselves, then they will yield to their own pressure to freedom. If the rider can get that separated for himself and the horse, then things will be easy and that heaviness will disappear.
Tom Dorrance – True Unity: Willing Communication between Horse & Human