The last of 2010!

It's been a month since my last entry..... I have noticed a similar pattern amongst my co-bloggers. I think we've all been too busy with Christmas and perhaps don't have as much to write as usual due to the weather.

The week after my last entry (13th-17th Dec), I only took Duncs out on the Tues. The other 4 days of the week (don't usually go up at wkends) were a no-go due to lack of pre-school, Philpots, Edmunds birthday and S having her NH assessment with Duncan.

I can't remember what I did with Duncs but on the Weds, whilst S was having her NH assessment, I went to Pippa's to play with Rosie. Did more stuff on the ground and took her out for a walk. She had been turned out in the morning and was really chilled. She's a fast learner and, in the main, very anxious to please. What is interesting is that she can get very defensive very quickly and worries about doing the wrong thing all the time. She needs lots of praise and repetition. She is quite a lot like Ollie in character.

On the way back, I passed Sharon's and saw her in the field with Rebecca who had come to assess her and Duncan with a view to them doing some groundwork/ridden stuff in a very similar style of training to Parelli. I was glad to hear afterwards that Duncs behaved himself and appeared to know what he was doing!

On the Friday, it started to snow and actually prevented me from getting back to Philpots (luckily had done all the work am.). The snow stayed until the following week and we had to delay our departure for West Kirby (in-laws') for a day because of it.

Although we returned before New Year, I had a 5 day run at Philpots starting the next day. With 3hrs am and another hour pm, there was not a lot of time in the middle to do anything! Two of those days we had the neighbours in and my family over. Also, sadly my Gran was very ill so I was seeing her when I could in the day and the evenings too. New Year passed by in a bit of a tired haze!

Looking back over the year, I know I've made the biggest discoveries of my life with regard to building a relationship with a horse. What's so amazing is that the discoveries, in themselves are very small - literally just one liners/soundbites..."don't push your horse over the threshold" but the impact they have when you really understand them is huge.

As with all relationships, when you get in a bit deeper, you are opening yourself up to the possibility of getting hurt and I've had some challenges there too this year. Duncs is not my pony and, if I'm honest, was not my cup-of-tea at all (give me a super-confident, playful horse any day, preferably SKEWBALD, about 15.2hh!).

I have felt like quitting many times when Duncs' lack of confidence, my lack of knowledge, our lack of riding facilities etc. etc. made the climb seem too steep. I kept going for the following reasons;

1. I'm not a quitter
2. I'd already invested a lot of time - like waiting for a bus; don't want to start walking just for it to pass you by!
3. I recognised how much I was learning - even if it was frustrating
4. I believed we could get through the "lack of trust" issue and that Duncs was worth it
5. My friendship with Sharon and recognising I was in a good situation having Duncs to myself!!

It's nice to observe that the further I get with Duncs, the more he becomes the sort of pony who is my cup-of-tea. Pat Parelli says something like "You don't always get the horse you want but you get the horse you need!" Now if someone could just pass me the white paint!