So hot...45 degrees in the shade!

Well if little Pokey here had been outside today he would have been a melted mess! It got to 45 degrees at home in the shade!! I have written to a friend of mine in Canada and asked for him to send some snow!

I spent time with the horses this evening..it was still over 35 degrees at 2030. The only thing to do was congregate at the water trough...play friendly game with water. Scout wasn't interested but Star let me saturate him with water, he then walked off to his rolling hole and covered himself in dirt. A grey turned brown in front of me. Perfect sunscreen. Querida seeing Star rolling decided she would go for the environmental dry grass roll and ended up looking much like Worzel Gummage! Covered in straw she still looks resplendant!

The garden has somewhat survived..some plants are looking sad but they will get a reprieve overnight and a drink in the morning. I have had to order some more water so we don't run out over the next couple of months. We will be set next summer when our big 20,000 gallon tank is full. For now we have to be careful. I wonder how hard it will be to plumb the toilets into bore water? We shall see.

While the weather is hot it's the perfect time to get all our accounts done and the paperwork for the business..not that I like doing it but at least I am not feeling like I am doing nothing!

Water trough or paddling pool?

Tonight on my regular check of the horses I caught sight of something amusing. Two geldings playing splashing games in a 200 litre water trough. They were both soaked from head to chest! When they saw me they stopped playing and came over, the aroma of wet horse was very pungent! Tonight I gave out scratches and managed to find an itchy spot on Scout at the base of his withers. He rarely lets me scratch him but tonight he obviously felt he had to let me get this spot. Star as usual allowed me to move my hands over him and guided me to his spots, as usual head, withers and rump. Querida just had an itchy head, but playfully asked me if I had any itchy spots I needed itching. We played porcupine game...she leans into pressure..funny girl. Looking out into the distance this evening she easily measures over 15hh so she is going to be big! A wonderful evening, no glaring sun, plenty of appreciative horses and not a care in the world. If only I didn't have to go to work tomorrow life would be almost perfect!

From Danny to Scout in less than 12 months I have an amazing partner

Scout who used to be called Danny. I first saw him at a PNH Clinic where he was terrorising his 13 year old human. I saw him and thought...what a challenge. Strangely I also thought that he needed help. He needed safety, leadership and love. The more I have found out about him the more I know this is true. This is us last summer....many things have changed and we are becoming partners...equals and mates!

Star Assault - from prey animal to partner

This is the photo that accompanied the advert that drew me to him. His racing name was Star Assault and by all accounts he did assualt several unsupecting stable hands! He knows he's big, he loves to play and he was an "in your face" type of horse. This shot was very interesting as it told me a lot with no words at all.

Star Assault - Now changing to Super Star!

His racing name was Star Assault, he was bred from a very proud sire, Starraq and his father was At Talaq. Both his father and grandfather were described as temperamental hot headed horses..I wonder if they really were.

This is the photo I bought him from. His attitude was what drew me to him. He was confident, good looking and athletic. He loves to play and that was very daunting at first. Now I know how to channel that play drive and he literally stops traffic when we play at liberty. He excels at the difficult, finds the everyday stuff mundane. He's a LBE with a very good sense of humour.

Weather heating up.....horses are chilling out

Well the weather is set to bake the land for the next week. 4 days over 40 degrees is seeing us become nocturnal and the horses seek shade!
Last night I puddled around with the horses, they like being with me now. So wonderful.
Star is becoming very calm and quiet, almost ridable! This time last year he was running into trees in a right brain kinda way. He couldn't cope and would run and run until he got puffed out, or distracted! Now I know what to do when this horse turns up and he spends less time on adrenaline!
Scout is turning more and more LBI and it's taking all my savvy to get him interested in things. He looks at me asking what's in it for me more often than not now :-) I watch certain DVD's over and over again looking for extra help in tempting him to play and enjoy it.
Querida is learning avidly. Something tells me that she is going to be very special indeed.

My year will be filled with many challenges I am sure. Mostly me overcoming my long held fears. I want to ride but my horses can be challenging and so I don't. I really want to work on my position, relaxation and fluidity. I know it will change, I am taking the time it takes and while doing this I am becoming more and more confident with my horses.
Sooner or later I am sure we will all feel the same. Confident, safe and in tune.
Until next time.

Our Horses are our mirror

Well I had a BFO today.  I watched a little bit of Parelli Tellie while I ate my lunch.  This stuck in my head.  "Our horses are our mirror, as we become happier so do they.  They feel our mood and refelct where we are at."  Well I think that this is bang on the money.

My horses have become happier and I have become happier as I feel more fulfilled in my life.  No longer do I feel trapped by work and pressure that I can't control.  I am learning how to deal with stress, live in the moment and I am finally giving myself permission.  For so long I have had trouble doing this.  I can see that decisions I made regarding work, although difficult, were the best decisions I ever made.  I can see that my future is mine to shape and mould and so armed with this knowledge I am changing the way I live, look at life and react to what's happening to me.

Last night I spent 15 minutes of undemanding time with my horses.  Querida got scratches fixing all her itches to the point where my fingers were aching!  She is still sore and is symptomatic at the moment but she seems happy enough. I have to get some weight off her but even in a paddock with not much feed and her not getting anything additional other than the odd carrot she is still rotund!  She is also changing and starting her journey towards being rose grey :-(  I love her as a black bay.

Star and Scout each got itches scratched and ear massages.  I feel a very calm wave come over me when I am with Star.  He is the one I am most in tune with.  I think he is in tune with me, he sulks if I play with Scout and not him.  When I spend time only with him he gives this feeling of being very satisfied, happy and at peace.  This horse has come such a long way it's amazing that it's all happened in only 16 months or so.  I am so proud of him.

Scout is forever trying to test my leadership every morning and every night.  I still have a way to go in our partnership but so does he.  He needs to act like a partner more and I am slowly seeing this happening.  Last Sunday he stood on a stump for me after trying listlessly for 20 minutes to see if I would give up.  When he did eventually get on the stump I praised him and left him be watching him and marvelling at what he is capable of when he "wants" to try.  Someone said to me "there is nothing better than having a big solid horse to ride when you are out" I know one day that will be the case and it won't be too long away.  I want him to be that big solid horse who is safe and dependable that Bruce can ride and I will know he will be ok.

My garden is going well.  We are pumping from the bore and our water worries are somewhat gone now.  Bruce has set up a fire system run off the fire pump so we can wet the house paddock should we get a grass fire.  I can water the lawn and get it growing to reduce the dust!  Our new tank is a 1/4 full which is great and there is rain forecast for the weekend!

Oh well, back to work but I have a busy few weeks ahead and playing with the horses keeps it all in perspective.

Until next time.

2009 A New Year and more surprises

Wow, time has flown, I have not had time to write my blog but my horses are all loving life!

November 2008, we lost our herd matriach Jazz to colic.  She waited for me and told me in no uncertain terms that she was unwell as soon as she saw me.  I had come back from Equitana in Melbourne eager to get out and see them.  She was waiting under her tree, she didn't come up to me like she usually did, my intuition told me all was not well here.  She tried to come up, then turned and looked at her belly and then dropped on the ground groaning.  I ran to her, checked her and then ran inside and frantically put calls into the vet and a lovely friend of mine.  The vet for medical help for Jazz and my friend for moral support for me.  2 hours later Jazz was taken by the angels and died in my arms.  There was nothing I could do to save her.  I felt so helpless.  We buried her in her favourite resting spot with that area being fenced off forever now.  We are going to plant some maples so every autumn I will see their chestnut leaves and remember her.  Its been nearly 3 months and I still get emotional when I think about her.

The boys are becoming partners!  People who told me to get rid of them, send them to the Pal Factory are now wanting to know what I have done to change them.  My neighbours are stopping to quietly watch me as I play at liberty with Star, who offers to show me how much he values me by playing off-line like he was on-line.  There is no bigger compliment than this as far as I am concerned!

Scout and I attended a camp in Victoria with Chris Corbidge, a Parelli Natural Horsemanship instructor, and we made the biggest in-roads into building our relationship to date.  We now have an understanding and he's letting me be the leader and having faith that I am a worthy one!

We have had a new arrival in between all this.  Querida, a 2 yo Pura Raza Espanola.  She is my project, my blank canvas and my little special girl!  Well not so little as she's 15hh at 2 and won't really mature till 4 or 5 so i think she's going to get to 15.3hh possibly?  Who knows.

I am avidly learning as much as I can, reading, watching and surfing and I am collecting more savvy arrows as I go.

I hope to come back more often to fill in what's going on.  Things are changing so rapidly it would be a shame not to have something to look back on and relish our achievements!

So 2009 holds for us.  More of the same, a wonderful journey with three very special horses and carrying the memory of Jazz always very close.