The bond between women and horse is something to behold. This of course can be said of man too; however, as I am the only man in our family I thought I should do the right thing and let women go first.
We bought our first horses over 10 years ago now. It makes me smile to think how little we knew back then and how much more we have to learn about how to be great guardians of our equine friends. In the last decade we have had our share of broken bones and tears from horse handling. Alison, who has been the driving force in getting us into horses, came off of our first horse (who we still have and I now call her mine). It was not Lady’s fault as we now understand more and more. But the damage done from that fall has turned into a real blessing and forever changed how Alison handles horses. Through many courses and lessons Alison has taught me, our girls and most importantly our horses that we need to be trusting partners and give each other respect. This goes both ways. There is nothing more dangerous then a horse and rider who do not hold each other in high esteem and respect each other.
This leads me, pun intended into what I believe might be one of my brain explosions that takes us on a new and exciting trail. Horse Walking. More over the experience of walking with a horse not on a horse. Furthermore, giving people lessons and taking people on horse walking adventures. As Alison has explained to me this is just another form of ground work. A great way to find a connection and so you can learn to stimulate and get your horses respect on the ground.
My nature is to figure out a way to turn ideas and resources into business ventures. It’s the entrepreneur in me. However, the newly emerged farmer in me is quietly saying take this one slowly mate. Don’t turn your farm into a circus and take the joy out of having horses. Using one of my favourite philosophies: creep, walk and then run; we will take this slowly and test drive our horse walking and horse walking lessons in house. However, if anyone is reading this and would like to get a better understanding what is behind the paradigm of horse walking drop us a line and with Alison permission we might just put a line between you and one of our horses and take you for a walk to our “back back” Forty.
What’s a blog about horse walking without an image. I will take one of our own soon on this subject but in the meantime here is an image with a story that feels just right.
And read more about the horse and young girl in this image.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/08/05/regional/blind-show-horse