Nothing big happened, except Solomon just wouldn't stay away while I tried to muck by his feed bag. It had so much hay on the ground and he had pooped there a few times so I really needed to clean it.
- So I told him to go stand "over there" (mind you he had already been eating for over an hour, just to be fair)....
- He kept coming back though...and I was working so hard to get him to stay over there. I think I put my rake down to get after him at least 10 times. So I went and got the flag.
As I was walk to get it , I realized I was starting to get a little annoyed and didn't want to work with him with that attitude. How did I know this? I was moving briskly, maybe possibly stomping my feet a little, and not having happy thoughts.... so I gave myself a talking to, and adjusted my thoughts so i would treat it as a learning situation...Whew! Stupidity averted.
- So using the flag at first only worked minimally... he moved away but still didn't take me very seriously. I put the rake outside the pen and moved him around the pen a bit. He was pretty high energy... which may be attributed to his not having been worked with for a few days. I'm sure he has some pent up energy.
- After about 10 minutes or so...he calmed down a LITTLE... and I decided to try again to muck. This is one of my questions...did I stop too soon? His head was still a little high... I wouldn't say he was relaxed. Did I just answer my own question?
I kept the flag nearby...but only had to use it about twice and it took way less to get him to know I wanted him not to come over.
At the end he stayed over by the water trough... and when I was done, I went over and petted him, and got him to follow me, and offered him his hay so he knew it was okay to eat again...
- It was fun!! I felt good that I did that by myself... There were a few times I could tell that my messages weren't clear...
- My second question is... how do I keep from getting so dizzy when he's running around in circles? Oh my. I've been told to find a focal point and not follow him with my eyes...but it's so HARD! Pretty soon I feel like I'm going to fall over! That would be a sight, wouldn't it?
So my lesson for the day, which I do think I learned, was not to react with emotion to situations when they aren't going the way I want them to. Take a moment to gather my thoughts and get my priorities straight. It's not about being "right"... it's about being fair and clear... whether I'm interacting with my darling horse, my dogs, my kids or my sweet husband.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galations 5:22
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