Never too young – or old – to learn

The journey to “Oz” started on a Dusty path – Dusty the pony that is.

I got my first pony – Dusty – when I was about a year old. I probably didn’t do much learning, or training at that age. But as I got just a little bit older, there was one time where a lot of learning happened in a very short period of time.

We used to keep my pony at a family friend’s place. One winter day, they decided that they should put should put cork shoes on Dusty. Now since I was little, I really had no concept of time – so I don’t know how long he had been in the barn. Nor how much ‘work’ this pony got when we weren’t around, as I think that he was kind of a shared pony. Anyway….

So they put shoes on ol’ Dusty. My dad wanted to take him out to see how they held on, and made sure that I went outside. I remember quite vividly what happened next.

Out the door they came, that little pony reared straight up in the air, and headed down the driveway – dragging my dad with him – and up the road they went, plowing snow the whole way. I am not sure how far they weren’t, or the details of how he got stopped, but I learned right there that day to NOT wrap the lead around your hand!

Sometimes lessons don’t have to experienced personally to be learned, or taught.

Another realization about this didn’t come until much later in my adult life. And that was no matter the size of the horse – or pony – when they make up their mind that they’re going, you’re not strong enough or heavy enough to stop them.

Now I see why the liberty work is so freaking amazing. It’s about creating that connection, the invisible connection, that’s only visible if you watch closely, and are truly connected. No amount of ropes, halters, bits, or wrapping that lead around your hand a dozen times is going to make that horse want to be with you.

If you want them to be connected with you, it starts with you being connected with them.