--- In [email protected], Lorraine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I get off in traffic sometimes. > Better safe than sorry. People drive fast and don't > care that you are on a live animal. They must not own > horses. After a accident. ( I have had many) it is > hard to get the confidence back. I know I can ride. > I know body language is transmitted to the horse big > time. Sometimes I sing.
> Lorraine Hello Lorraine, Thanks for sharing your story about working to get your confidence back. It has been reassuring to me that people share the fact that they are sometimes afraid and how they work through it. The ironic part is that fear is not rational. Blessi is usually very laid back and not much bothers him. When he does spook, he tends to spook in place. Last week, the stable owner weed wacked the area around the arena. We were practicing in the arena and Blessi took no notice of the noise or commotion. So I spent almost 2 years really scared as I was riding a basically calm horse--what irony. In fact, I give Blessi a lot of credit. It can't be pleasant for the horse to go for a trail ride and have a nervous rider constantly do unneeded checks with the reins. Thank goodness Blessi tunes out a lot sometimes. I just kept imagining all the worst that could happen. Sometimes my trail buddies just kept saying "Are you breathing Pam? Just breath." Breathing is better for me than singing since I am so off tune. People have asked to borrow Blessi for demos because of his laid back nature. Robyn Hood used Blessi in bridle-less riding demo at the Mane Event in Ridgefield, WA in a large agricultural building with an audience of hundreds. Robyn's team worked with Blessi doing some leading exercises and Ttouch. Robyn was working with a Tennessee Walker mare with some issues. At one point, Robyn said to her team "Please don't put Blessi to sleep. We need him later for the demo." I have dug out my Ttouch riding ring and Tteam directions for riding bridle-less. I hope to work on that this week. Regards, Pamela
