In a nutshell at the clinic, one might say I learned how to stop, back and go forward, how to steer Sully, sit in a “C” position and have him maintain gait. But really it was so much more…

Backtracking a little, I found out something interesting when I checked my records for AERC. Sully completed the LD 30min faster than Tesla did it in 2015 – I think the weather had a lot to do with it as I remember 2015 being miserably hot and humid, but interesting to note as Tesla was an Arab vs. Sully as a Standie! For the two weeks between the clinic and the OD Sully had time off due to my work and travel schedule. I got him an appointment with a new farrier put on composites Thursday/the day before we left for the clinic. Of course then we also discovered he had taken the LF shoe all the way off this time in the 4 days between when I had seen him last to check! I have been wanting to make the switch to composites and finally found someone who would/could here. It is crazy to see how out of balance his hooves still are, now that he has a shoe on that isn’t shaped to fit his hoof, but is trimmed to remove the excess instead (more info). He went running and bucking back into the pasture after they were put on, so I think he felt pretty good and was certainly still moving with ease. Bonus is that we don’t need bell boots as they should flex if he steps on them as opposed to rip off.

Now on to the meat of it…
Starting on that Friday afternoon, I experienced 4 days of learning, celebration, and fellowship with 5 other wonderful local women and our clinician Emily Kemp from WI. We started out about 45min behind my ideal timing for hitting the road Friday, but in the end all was good as we got to the Big Lonely around 430 and then got Sully settled into his paddock. Jaime and one of her horses had just started their lesson and it was perfect timing for me to sit and soak in the info and recoup from the drive, as they had rearranged the day knowing I was getting in late afternoon and was to be the last to join in the fun (they started earlier that morning with lessons). After watching those two work on some head lowering (for bit taking) and flag exercises, it was our turn to come out. For this lesson we worked on Sully not being so anxious about the flag being used in ground work, and how to better turn him out of my space. Emily confirmed my suspicions about him pretty quickly – he internalizes a lot, as seen by his tongue holding, but he is far from a “shut down” horse. We finished up, I got him settled for the night and headed back to the house and to get ready for dinner. It was a fun night of sharing our life stories of how we ended up living where we are today and learning more about each other.

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Saturday I got up and showered and then headed up to barn to feed and check in on Sully before the day began. The theme of the day ended up working on stopping, backing, and then moving forward again for several of us; there was also seeing how to offer the bit/bridle so the horse will take it on their own, and working on the sitting trot. In our lesson Sully expressed his displeasure with the bit (another suspicion of mine that we needed a change from the French Link) but we were able to continue working and got some good stop/back/go instances – it also ended up being a lesson for him on learning to pee under saddle! He is still not comfortable with the notion, but will get there in time. The last 2 lessons of the day had to do with ground work and trailer loading. We had some interesting discussions of how to make the trailer more comfortable for travel, and tying a horse versus leaving them loose while we were hauling. Then it was off to dinner at Jaime’s – she is a great cook btw – where we enjoyed a BBQ, conversation, and her playing violin while singing songs on the deck until late that night.

Sunday was our “off” day with a planned trail ride after church and lunch. We started the day with a pancakes, eggs and bacon breakfast from the amazing cook Jaime, then off to do some more positive experience trailer loading, and finally to church where one of the other ladies’ husband was the pastor as well as Jaime playing a special song during the service. We returned to the barn and 5 of us headed out on a trail ride. Sully took a bit to settle and eventually we had to get out in front to open up his walk. We saw some deer, and ended up saving a baby deer from a bear that was chasing it down the hill towards the group – the bear saw the horses and turned and ran (young bear). Once back , we took probably a 20min break back at the barn for Emily to switch horses and headed out with just 3 of us for second ride. This time I was also working on bending by having Sully circle back around to close the gap between us and the other two. We got to trot a little on the 2nd ride, and he asked a few times to pee but just wouldn’t let it go, lol. We also worked on stopping on trail and just standing still a bit. He was more settled the second loop, but still super forward. When we got back I took him into the arena and did a few trot loops of the ring/track to let him move out a bit, then he got a hose down, more mash, and tucked in with hay for the night. Dinner was back at the guest house, chatting and going through equine diet questions mainly. Lots to think on there for when I have horses at home and can do some “free choice” mineral/supplement options.

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Monday was our last day at the clinic… Sully and I went first for the day; we started out doing some steering exercises and walking around with getting him to maintain that gait (with help from a quirt), and then moved to trotting. And that is where I had to let go of control, ride him on the buckle, and just move with him. He became a speed demon a few times and did a random spook over the speaker once or twice, but then settled into a working trot around the track – going to the left. We had a little break to chat with Emily/the group some, then picked up the trot going right and began working on my body position. We worked in the trot for at least half of our lesson and I was beat! You’d think after an LD and riding 4+hrs an hour lesson wouldn’t be much, but there is so much going on mentally and physically that is tiring! The change of position definitely made a difference in my ability to move with his huge trot; we’ll eventually get to a point where I can work on a sitting trot with him. Lastly I watched another lesson working on the sitting trot and trying out a Balance saddle. Just amazing to see how free the horse was moving and picking up the dreaded left lead canter for her. I had to hit the road shortly after that lesson to make it back home, so I missed seeing the remaining lessons for the day.

So why the title? Well as we sat in a group and discussed on Monday, our relationships with our horses many times parallel our relationship with G-d. I had to let go in order to be able to learn in the lesson. My reins = my control over speed and direction. I had to give that up to really learn. Oddly enough, I had similar conversation with my coworker while we were traveling earlier that week – about having to adjust to life as it happens and feeling like or thinking we are “in control” or not. Not only that, but as you know my journey in horses has had rough spots; it’s something I almost gave up on, but I kept being drawn back – yes to face the possibility of heartache again, but also the bliss that comes with being with my horse(s). I can see the parallels, can you?