1 day

Wow! We are leaving tomorrow! It is just amazing how quickly today has passed. I hope that everything will pass easily and go without a hitch. When I return I will write a long and descriptive post about it.

But for now, I will say a small goodbye. I hope that this camp will meet and pass my expectations, and I am sure it will. It will all be a learning experience. From the traveling down to the simple relaxing time. To finally go to a place where my beliefs and dreams with Natural Horsemanship will be accepted and rewarded, and not flicked off like a bug.

I hope to return with a changed horse and myself a changed young lady.

Taking for granted

To take something for granted is something many people do often and without realizing it. I was taking Sharlie going down to camp for granted, but now with only a couple days away, I am not so sure. I have to face the fact that we may have to leave her behind. But I don't think that it will be a problem. Sharlie getting into the trailer won't be a problem. The time from closing the door till we get moving is what I am worrying about.
Cross fingers!
~Julia

Undemanding Time

Today I came to a very important realization. Undemanding time is absolutely essential to a true relationship. I came to terms with this with a horse I don't spend much time with. After I turned Sharlie out, I went to say hello to the herd of horses that share the field with Sharlie. The Alpha of this herd is Doc, a 25 year old (estimated age) horse that has cushing's disease. He is much more active in the winter, but the summer is when his cushing's acts up. He moves from one spot in the shade to another spot several yards away. I feel so bad because his lack of movement causes him to receive most of the flies. So I walked over to him and started just stroking his face, to shoo away the flies. And that is basically what I did for half an hour! Just stroking his face gently and slowly. He became so relaxed that he had to rest his head on my shoulder at one point so it wouldn't touch the ground. By the time I was done, the rest of the horses were all lining up to have a turn. It was very rewarding to see Doc so relaxed. I don't think I have ever seen him that relaxed before. It is hard to be the Alpha over 6 horses! (Especially when 2 or 3 can act like children) I would have just sprayed him with flyspray but that would not have done the job. Not only would it spook him, but it wouldn't have relaxed him the way it did when I did the non-lazy thing of spending half an hour stroking him (something most people at the stables wouldn't do)

This made me realize how essential undemanding time is for a horse-human relationship.

10 days countdown

Its 10 days till camp and I am starting to feel stressed. I was on vacation in Europe for 3 weeks and when I got back, I wasn't used to the extreme heat. It is very hot, and the 2 days that I have been down to see Sharlie have been during the middle of the day -the hottest part.
Over the next 10 days I am working on a few things with Sharlie. Online is something we will be focusing on before camp. And Freestyle. I hope to start riding her bit by bit starting tomorrow. I won't be doing any Liberty or Finesse so I don't go overboard on information. As well as Online and Freestyle, I am focusing on the trailer. So those are the main 3 points and I will be posting a camp journal when I return.