I hosted another Parelli clinic yesterday and it was great, as usual! Ernie and I brushed up and refined things that we had been doing. Rosa, our instructor, showed me that I’d been letting Ernie get away with some things - now that he’s more confident, he’s also arguing with me sometimes. So I worked on bumping up my leadership and insisting he do what I ask. That’s one reason it’s so good to have feedback from more experienced people, sometimes we just can’t see these things for ourselves. She found some holes that we need to fix too.

I could see a lot more confidence in Ernie. In the past, he’s been worried about hula hoops. Yesterday, they were no big deal. He wore one around his neck and walked around, I pulled one up around his back legs, and Rosa and I stood in front of him throwing hula hoops back and forth to each other. He stood there quietly, almost looking bored with the whole thing. When we tried to do things with hula hoops two years ago, he about came unglued. Now I know the potential for him to encounter hula hoops on a trail is probably pretty small, but it was a good way to test his reaction - or lack of - to something unusual. Yesterday shows me that he’s confident and won’t get scared by every little thing.

But the most important thing came at the very end of the day. I’ve had this saddle for a few weeks that a friend is letting me borrow to get Ernie comfortable with being saddled. But I hadn’t put it on him yet. We’ve had some bad experiences with saddling and the images from those times were stuck in my head. They were times when other people had helped me and we went too fast. I know that I have done enough work with Ernie since those things happened that he was prepared and ready, but I couldn’t get myself past those images and was afraid that he would be able to read my fears if I saddled him. So I did nothing.

At the end of the clinic, I kept throwing the saddle pad on him, with no reaction at all. So Rosa actually saddled him for me. He acted as if he’s been saddled every day of his life. No big deal at all. Rosa walked him around, bounced the stirrups, got on the mounting block next to him, put weight on him, even put a foot and some weight in a stirrup. None of it bothered him one bit.

So, I am now able to replace all of those old, scary images and feelings in my mind with the image of Ernie being totally calm and willing with a saddle on his back. With that, I believe I’ll be able to saddle him on a regular basis now and move forward. I had felt sooo stuck before because I knew that if I didn’t get past those fears, I will never be able to ride him. After seeing how calm he was yesterday, I have a lot of confidence that I’ll be riding him soon.

Rosa even said that Ernie is going to make an awesome trail horse, which is what I want and I have felt for a long time that he would be a good trail horse. And I feel very proud of myself because I think all the time I have spent on the relationship with him and all the playing and training I’ve done set Ernie up for success yesterday.

I think we’re getting really close to the day when I can start riding him! I have two friends, both with lots of experience, who have both volunteered to do the first ride. I was planning to take them up on it but now am thinking that I might be able to do it myself. His trust in me would probably make it easier for him. We’ll see - I don’t have to make that decision yet!

I went riding again yesterday - my second ride in 20 years - and it was great.

For the first ride, I used a western saddle just for security. It was fine but reminded me of all the things I don’t like about western saddles. I grew up riding mostly western but there was one horse I rode English and I loved having more contact with the horse. I also rode bareback a lot and felt the same way about feeling the horse’s movement.

In the past couple of years I’ve read a lot about Australian saddles and thought they would be a good fit for me. The friend who is letting me ride her horses has an Australian so I used it yesterday and now I’m convinced that’s what I want.

The ride was great. I felt much more like I was riding and not just being a passenger. It was a windy day and the horse spooked a couple of times but I was fine. She also argued with me about where we were going and I was able to handle it. All told, we did about two hours on the trails and I had a blast.

Happy Ernieversary!

Thank you very much! Adopting him was one of the craziest things I’ve done in my life but definitely one of the best things too.

Quick note because I’m on my way to the barn. But it had to be noted that today is the two-year anniversary of when I adopted Ernie. We’ve been through a lot in two years but it’s all so worth it when he rests his head on me and tells me I’m his person.

So, who the he** adopts a horse when it’s been 20 years since she’s been ON a horse?

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My baby boy is really filling out and developing lots of muscle these days.

When I took Ernie out to his pasture, we had to go find his herd. Then, instead of leaving me for them, he wanted to hang out with me. I finally got him to go join them and they all started running. I’ll never get tired of watching a herd of horses on the move!

I was just watching a couple of old videos of Ernie to remind myself how much he’s grown and filled out. Love this one from May 2010 …

This is actually a couple of years old but it’s so cute, I have to trot it out for the holidays.

Ernie and his favorite cat. The amazing part is that usually he takes every chance he gets to steal hay out of the rack behind the cat. But when she’s there, he has no interest in hay.