I started to get more and more comfortable on Luna's back in the last few days. Listening and following her movements was slowly shifting my attention from stiffed hands on the reins and from all those excess feet movement that I continuously made from the sides before.
Today I was about to ride her again, but when I approached the paddock, I suddenly changed my mind. Mumi, the calm fjord stallion hasn't been ridden for a while, and anyway, he has been giving me quite a hard time during our previous riding sessions. Whenever he sensed my unsecure movements was taking me around the hall just as I was a sack of potato, carrying me from one end to the other. Today, when we started our riding session my mind was still holding the broken glass bowl with falafel that I dropped on the floor half an hour before. After lamenting on it for a while, it moved to the next case: in China someone used my bank account on Valentine's Days, without asking for my permission. And the pictures of the counterfeit kept spinning in my brain over and over again while Mumi was walking below me completely confused in my swirling thoughts. I wonder from how animals are getting all the patience to deal with us people deeply lost in our dwell of thoughts? Mümi is teaching me authority, firmness and awakeness. With Luna I cannot even imagine not being present all the time. She is not giving me any other choice: be right there in the saddle or I show you quickly the way down to the ground. When I am too much delured in my thoughts Mümi gets frozen too. He is a fjord, but powerful one. And would be very hard to manage him with force. As an expert chariage horse he is in his full power of doing whatever he wants with you. But he is not that kind. Has immence patience and wisdom. And whispers me all the time: be firm with me but not violent, show me where to go but don't kick and drag me around as a I would be a stupid donkey.
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Horses can feel you more than you dare to believe. Whenever I try to ride a new horse, there is always this hidden excitement, this inner fear of how is going to be. And yes, this fear never stops to be there, even when you are an experienced rider (not me!) and you know are aware that you are about to mount a gigantic animal (8-10 times heavier than you!), with a chicken heart.
Luna is in her best riding shape (17 y) and she can easily lie about her age. She looks like a teenager at first encounter. She is quick in her mind and steps, with a vivid and joyful temperament, but having undergone of maltreatment at young age, she is super sensitive and extremely alert to all new riders. After riding Mumi, an ex-competition and an excelent carriage Norwegian fjord horse, with Luna was a completely new experience. I had hundreds of butterflies in my stomach when I mounted her for the first time. After we took the first steps together, I instinctively had this feeling, she has so much to teach to me. My task was to calm her down as much as possible, as she is generally a very fast moving horse. After a couple of round walks together in the hall, we started our trot in a tensed manner. I was annoyed and she reacted back exactly the same way. Had quick and insecure steps, ears flat back or turning around in every second like a fleeing zebra surrounded by a pack of jackal. I felt with every step how I am loosing completely my balance and control over her. Linda, who was following us from some distance quickly reacted to the scene: try your best to calm her down. Do yoga, do what you are good at. I didn't have much time to think, I just started to really breathe for the first time: deep long breaths in and out. Just focusing on my breath and looking straight ahead. The reins got loose and I colapsed back, deeply into the saddle. A few heavy moments, complete blackout and Luna changed 180 degree. She slowed radically her steps down, and we suddenly begun to walk and stare in the same direction. It was a split of second. And an imense magic. Just with a couple of balanced in- and exhale. And I never forget her left eye how she slightly gave me a quick glimpse back with a waggish smile on the edge of her mouth: truly, was it that difficult? :). |
Ági
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