Are you Crazy?

Foxy is on the up and up. She was very happy today. She rolled, she kicked, she bucked. She and Belle ran around. She is eating like a pregnant mare. Her ouies are healing up, too. I have not been working them because I don't want to add anymore stress on either one, but we played in the arena today. Belle is so jealous of Foxy. I was rubbing Foxy's belly and feeling for Outlaw (alive and kicking). Belle had to butt her head into the process. She had to be loved on. Then Foxy decided that she needed more TLC. It was a circular circus. They could not be rubbed at the same time, but took very impatient turns. Kid #1 was home babysitting Kid #3 so that he would not be late for scouts (lately I am taking way too long at the barn and the kids are sick of being late for everything) Kid #2 was beating the jolly ball in Foxy's stall to death, so it was just me and the girls. He would love to be able to sit on Foxy while playing tether ball with the jolly ball that is suspended from the ceiling, but even he realizes that she would kill him. He waits until the stall is clean and then attempts to kill it.

The weather has been so warm that both girls are shedding heavily. Belle is really bad since her coat is so thick.

Anyway, back to the title. My family and I went to the Clinton Anderson Clinic. It was really interesting. He has some very good points. The kids really understand now that they need to be able to convince the horse that they are working with that they are the boss and that there are extremes to being too nice and too harsh. However, I am not about to turn them loose on Foxy or Belle to ride bridleless (did I spell it right? I have no freaking clue!!!) I might ride Belle with a halter on occasion, but it would not be "natural" for either one of us to do without. Belle would say "WooHoo!!! She wants to die today!! Let's do something really stupid!!!" I understand that it is supposed to be the "ultimate test of horsemanship" OK, so what? I am not ready for the ultimate challenge. I like to ride my cranky mare. We like to be cranky together. There are many things that we can both improve upon, but it would be like me running around topless. Yep, I could try it, but it would get ugly and everything would all hang out. If I really want to do that, then I need to work hard to lose a ton of weight, firm and tone the muscles, get a tummy tuck and a chest lift, but then I would not see the point. Why not just wear a shirt? It's the same with a bridle. Just use the darn thing and nobody gets sued.

Apparently I did not get the same presentation that others got at the same event. I never thought that the whole idea was to go bridleless. I thought that the whole presentation was about figuring out what made your horse tick so that the horse could do the job that he was meant to do, with out us sabotaging the horse by reinforcing bad behavior and punishing good behavior. That is what I understood. I liked the presentation. I will use some of his ideas, but that is as "natural" as I can get. The tickets were free. I got more than my money's worth. What more can I ask for?