The Countdown (5/30/23)-by Anne

The Whippoorwill woke Rob up this time, sometime around 4:30 am.  He is preoccupied with the last minute details of his trip, so he isn't sleeping much anyway.  This is when I start getting sad, so I try not to think about him leaving.  I am happy that he has the time to seek out great adventure.  I feel a bit like Caroline Ingalls from Little house on the Prairie.  Pa leaving for weeks or months at a time to go find work, and she stayed home 🏠 to take care of the children and homestead.  I can't imagine waiting patiently for weeks for  a letter that might come or not,  to know that Pa was okay.  At least we have cell phones, internet, and GPS satalite tracking devices.   He may be going far, but at least I will know where he is,  most of the time.  

To keep myself busy, I have three great clinics coming up this month.  The first is a Stockmanship Clinic on June 3+4th.  Working with cattle is a great way to do something interesting with your horse.  The moving of the calves through different exercises,  gives your horse a purpose. Giving your mount  a clear job to do,  is an important aspect of good leadership.  

As well as my teaching, I will also  be putting on another obstacle clinic later this month at Riley's Farm. These consist of a variety of obstacles such as bridges, tarps, poles, flags, balls, trailers, and cones.  The course of obstacles can be done online( the handler leads the horse) or under saddle.  It is a great way for the humans to improve their ground skills and relationship with their horse.  It can help build confidence in horse and handler, through good leadership. It also helps teach the handler to use their imagination so that they can  be more provocative in their training.  

In the third clinic,  I have the privilege of riding with Linda Parelli again.   I have been following the Parelli program for over 20 years.   She recently went out on her own and has re-done her program.  It is excellent.   We are going to do more advanced work than we did last summer, so I have been studying and practicing with Takota almost every day.  As Pat Parelli says " Riders teach horses and horses teach riders".  I am a trainer and a student at the same time.