Day 6 ~ First Smells

"You've got to give something you never gave to have something you never had" ~ Ray Hunt

I have pondered the above all day and I believe what you "Give" is unique to everyone...for me I think it is my "all". Every bit of my emotions and feel, I think I need to dig down deeper than ever before to connect the way I so desperately want to.. and will .. with this amazing individual. It is said that we humans give only 5% of ourselves whereas our horse counterparts make up for the other 95%. Horses many times learn and become successful in spite of us, not because of us. I want to give 100%.. not 5 % .. I want our Mustang to become successful Because of me .. not in spite of me. It was reading an article on the late, great Ray Hunt early this morning that these thoughts entered my mind. I shall do my best to use more than a grain of sand to at least attempt to equal her pea.

I approached today with a deeper attempt to really read Lindsay. She tells me everything I need to hear, it is right there in front of me.. it is my job to allow myself to read her.. listen and hear her before she reacts and it becomes obvious what she was trying to say. I must hear her when she whispers.

She has become so consistent in facing me and following me, no matter where I turn she is there...but she remains a good few feet behind. I can still approach her, but she is still not ready to walk directly to me. Most all babies and even older horses (problem horses included) would have walked right up to me by now...and reached out to smell me..but Lindsay remains reserved. I desperately want her to reach out on her own accord and smell me, I know it is a necessity in building her comfort level with me. I decided this morning that my focus would be on reading her body language as accurately and efficiently as possible. In return to her for always being so clear, I should do everything in my power to use my body language to speak to her as well. I know she will gladly read my body language, that is her primary form of communication and 6 years running with a herd has given her plenty of time to master it. So as I approached her this time I did even thing in my power to sink my body and energy down low. I did not squat, I just rounded my shoulders and lowered my head. Similar as you would when riding a horse and asking for full relaxation from the horse by using your body language. I also directed my eyes down low at her feet and attempted to melt beside her. I rested my hand on her side and even leaned my head into her a bit. To my surprise she curled her neck around me and finally took a sniff of my back! What a relief! I had wanted her to reach out to me so badly I could hardly stand it, but it is sure not something I could force, nor would want to. Her sniff of me was brief and it almost seemed to startle her as she brought her head back around quickly and became a little tense again, but she did not scoot away. She actually sniffed me quite a few times, each with a similar reaction, but I was still thrilled she was reaching a point where she actually felt comfortable checking me out a bit. As I walked away from her after her smelling me, she stayed closer behind me as she followed than ever before!

I am so thankful I did not opt to have the halter put on her in the shoot at the pick-up facility. I am taking longer than is probably necessary to get her "Started" so to speak, but it is so very worth it. Each step in this process leaves me in awe of her intelligence and "try" If it takes 30 days for her to become totally confident in me and ready to allow me on her back I will be entirely ok with that. The relationship we will have built along the way will carry through everything else we do.

As in everything worth doing in life.. Every step is worth it.