What can I say? Saturday was a beautiful day for a beach ride.
A few weeks ago our friend Chris, the horse-people trainer, held a clinic in Rincon. I couldn't go but Elaine did. She brought back this gem, this nugget, this pearl: "We don't call our horses and make an appointment to go for a ride or to work out. We just walk out and expect our horses to be ready and in the same frame of mind as we are. We take little notice of where they are. It's about what we want."
A few days ago I went out ride Chocolate. I wasn't stressed but I didn't have a lot of time and was tense and rushed. I didn't take time to really get in sync with Choco. I just put a bareback pad on him and expected him to be ready to go with me. Off we went.
It was obvious from the get-go we had different agendas. My agenda was a nice easy beach ride. His was to eat every blade of grass longer than 1" from the corral to Jobos. Obviously it was not our best ride. We struggled against each other the whole ride. We never really were in sync.
On Saturday I took Chris's wisdom to heart. I went out to the corral early so I had time to just sit and be present with Choco. Then I spent a few minutes doing a series of simple warm-ups. I almost always do these with Choco every time - unless I'm rushed or tense. They are simple and only take a few minutes but they make so much difference in the connection with him.
What a difference in the ride! We were connected. He was listening, responding. It was beautiful!
So the best moment wasn't just the ride. It was the lesson learned. This is another piece in this partnership Chocolate and I are forming.
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