Friday, January 1, 2010

2010!! Horsey New Year Resolutions



Solitary Deer Tracks in Snow, Cloquet River December 22 2009

My last ride of 2009 yesterday was a thoughtful one. I pondered the path I would take with my horse through the unknown territory of 2010. I thought about the past year, and consolidated some New Year's Resolutions.

1. Slow Down.
Too often I bring my human time frame to interaction with my horse. Hurry up! I only have an hour. come on come on come on. On to the next thing! What's the matter with you? Come ON you big lunkus!
I believe horses need time to let things settle in their minds. Not to mention, time to turn those big long bodies around and co-ordinate 4 feet in space they often can't see (directly behind them).
When I consciously take a Zen minute and let John just breathe, he is so much quicker. When I give the 1-2-3 prepare-prepare-ask sequence, he is so much more ready to move out. So that's #1 for me. Slow It Down.

2. Spend time with John on the ground. Because John is in many ways an easy horse - quiet, mellow, and trustworthy - I tend to take advantage. As in, a few licks of a curry, slap the saddle on and ride. Get done riding, drag the saddle off, few slaps with a brush and off to the pasture.
Then of course I complain and whine about his ground manners. Well my own manners can be pretty bad when I think about it. He's not a faucet to turn on & off.
With my thoroughbred, who could be more of a spooky dancing handful at times, I did hours of ground work and never really let up on that. He needed the parameters outlined in bright light, in order to relax and work. Well, John deserves some of that too.

3. Keep up with the 3 B's (Buff, Bendy, Bootylicious Regime) and improve overall fitness of us both. Good Lord I ate too many cookies over the past week! And maple pumpkin cheesecake, and pistachio fluff, fruitcake, and bourbon fudge...I could go for some of all this right now.
John has slimmed down a bit over the past month as the temperature drops and he begins to burn his stored fat to keep warm. That doesn't work so well for me somehow har har...but the gym works, and walking works. Since there is almost nothing I can't turn into a shopping opportunity, I've ordered some ice cleats for my boots and so, pretty soon I can't use "Oooh I might slip on the ice!" as an excuse not to walk my dogs.

Who are here shown eating gift-wrap tubes, their sick little addiction:



So those are my horsey 2010 resolutions, only 3 of them so I hope my brain can remember them all.

Happy Trails to you in the New Year! May all your days in the year ahead be filled with light and grace, and may good horses lead you always to beautiful new horizons!

13 comments:

Grey Horse Matters said...

All good resolutions that we could all try and remember.

Happy New Year!

Anonymous said...

Those are excellent resolutions that all of us could use - and please have a wonderful New Year!

Flying Lily said...

GreyHorse and Kate: Happy New Year to 2 ladies whose blogs always inspire me.

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

Keeping it down to three is a good idea. My To Do List usually has 20 items on a daily basis and I'm lucky if I get 3 things crossed off. 3 goals for the entire year should set you up for success. This reminded me that I have a video of my dogs attacking and tearing apart gift wrap tubes. I don't know if I'll post it, but it's pretty funny.

Flying Lily said...

NM: Would love to see the video of your dogs vs tubes smackdown. My dogs would find it inspirational.

EcoLicious Equestrian said...

excellent resolutions! I especially love the "slow down" one..I need to do that not only with my horses but with everything I do...slow down, enjoy the process and be present, easier said than done with my ADD personality, but I will give it my best...happy new year!

Flying Lily said...

Petra: Happy New Year!! My son told me he heard a radio show about happiness earlier today - and one of the people interviewed said being s-l-o-w at everything is the key. !!

Unknown said...

I like how you put it - Human time vs horse time. Something I strive to remember.

I love ground work. I'm a ground work geek. I love having this big dog walking with me.

Here's to a resolution keeping 2010!

Jocelyn said...

Those are fabulous resolutions!

I wish I could make more time for pony time, but there just isn't any!
Got to win the Lottery and soon.

Anonymous said...

It is certainly interesting for me to read the blog. Thanks for it. I like such topics and everything connected to this matter. I definitely want to read more soon.

Once Upon an Equine said...

Very thoughtful resolutions.

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prashant said...

Those are fabulous resolutions!
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