Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony. ~ Thomas Merton

Monday, January 16, 2012

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Change

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad. ~C. S. Lewis

I think both Cricket and I are emerging from our shells.  And we are learning to fly.

The journey to my green string was huge for me.  Taking the time to build my confidence and chip away at my fear was a long process.  It's not finished.  There are still moments where I feel my anxiety rise.  That's okay.  I've come this far; I can keep going forward.

Cricket is becoming the horse I never imagined I could own.

Our session on Saturday was mind-blowing.  I love the development in Cricket's magnetism.  I've stopped screaming at her with exaggerated phases and I've started keeping an eye on her confidence.  I've started allowing her to initiate games and I've stopped feeling the need to manage every step.

She left once.  But that led to the coolest part of the day.  I brought her to me at the canter.  First. Time. Ever.

We had tons of fun.  Her circle game is back.  Including transitions and change of direction.  We had a little trouble with the FLC from right to left but she nailed it going right to left.  And she maintained the canter in the new direction.

We played with some sideways and she gave me a few hop-canter steps going down the arena wall.

Riding didn't start so well.  Not sure where we broke down but she seemed mad at me.  I think my energy was off before I even got on and we were just out of sync.  It took us awhile to find a rhythm but eventually things started to harmonize.

I played with her canter on the question box.  I learned, very quickly, that I'm not ready to ask her for flying lead changes under saddle.  I need to go back to lower gaits and work out the mechanics of my body and her body.  It doesn't matter that it didn't work out - we played with it and she was so patient and tolerant.

We did a little bit of jumping and my friend helped me find better position and the last time over the cross-rail felt so good and balanced.

When I got home, I charted Cricket's horsenality.  I converted the PDF horsenality charts into a JPG image so I can just chart her on my computer and then upload.  I'll save that for another post . . .

4 comments:

Anna Mae Gold said...

Wow. I can feel it. I can only say: I read your post, felt it, felt the joy and the possibility and the "getting it". Wow.

Lisa said...

Thanks! My pony-girl just rocks my world. Just when I think I've got things figured out, she shows me a whole different dimension that just shatters my assumptions.

For the first time, I feel ready to handle this. I'm so happy she has it to offer.

Tina said...

I'm so jealous of your liberty. I can barely even think about that yet.

And I think it's just mean to tease us with the horsenality chart. C'Mon, I think it's time for the next post already! ;) But, make sure you post her old horsenality chart, too, cuz I'm guessing there's some ch ch ch changes!

Lisa said...

Tina - I wish we could play together. I just keep thinking about how Carol radically changed my approach to my phases and how that's taken my groundwork to a whole new level. It's so soft and so subtle and yet so effective and Cricket LOVES it. She wants to play and interact and show me things and try things. In eight years I've never seen this spark from her.