Well it's been a great year! Ups and downs, plenty of downs in the first half of it. We started natural horsemanship in August, specifically Parelli in January. Lily has always had issues with catching and in March it got so bad that she was cantering off in the other direction if I came near with a halter! Whenever I did manage to catch her she was over reactive and frequently bolted, giving me 'learn burns' on my palms. I knew we weren't working in harmony and that we needed help. Thankfully a friend of mine put me in touch with my instructor who came and confirmed what I knew; that Lily needs a person with more Savvy than I have. Lily had always been my dream pony and although it was quite tempting to put her out on loan to a higher level student, I couldn't bear to part with her.

So in April she went to Arran's on holiday to iron out a few wrinkles, particularly the catching. The guy is a true definition of the word Savvy so I knew she'd be in good hands. I visited a few times to see how she was doing and have Arran teach me how to get good at the catching game. I needed these Savvy arrows in my quiver to have any chance of being able to get her to catch me and to keep her catching me well. She came home in July and I was absolutely dreading her coming home and old habits dying hard. She was good as gold though (despite the day we picked her up being very stormy with a lightning bolt hitting the top of Arran's yard at one point!) she loaded like a pro, came home and settled immediately.

Since then I've spent hours and hours spending UDT with her on line and at liberty to gain her confidence. She's now first at the gate, puts her nose in her halter and loves our herd of two. Knowing how hard it must've been for her to overcome her fear and distrust of humans makes me grateful each and every time she comes over to me just to hang out. Whilst she was away I spent a good few months playing with Benji and I purchased and studied Liberty and Horse Behaviour every chance I got. This helped me realise that although her chequered past hadn't helped her, our progress together had gone backwards because I was talking at her, doing things to her and not listening to what she was trying to tell me. She certainly wasn't ready for level 1 and all the pressure I put on her without even realising, thinking I was doing good had sent her off the edge and into right brain extrovert mode. Now I've taken the time it takes to put principles before purpose and the relationship before the task she has changed hugely and I have a better understanding of her.


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