Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Seacoast Ladies on January 12th

Do you ever have one of those days where no matter how much you try things don't always go according to your "plan"?

That was the case for me this past Sunday.  It was my plan to arrive thirty minutes early, bring the horses in, lay tack out and wait for our participants. However, when I pulled into the gates, I was greeted by Lake Double C, located in our arena. After some mechanical errors and a quick lesson in tractor driving from Jennifer we had a usable arena for our riders today.  Before I knew it, the parking lot at Double C Ranch was full with volunteers and five young ladies from Seacoast Youth Academy.  I checked the time to realize I was behind schedule.  Our volunteers handled the rules and introductions with our new riders and off we went to bring in our trusty therapy horses.  Unfortunately, our equine partners had other plans in mind.  They were found way back in the mucky pasture.  Covered in mud up to our shins we returned with four horses who were ready to teach us some lessons!

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of trying to get things started on time, I noticed myself feeling stressed.  Little did I know I would be partnered with a young lady and pony who would teach me a thing or two.  This young lady not only shared my name and hair color, but she too was feeling stressed!  It was her first time on a horse.  I could tell by the look in her eyes and her posture that she was apprehensive about riding.  Horses have an amazing sense of our feelings, that is one of the many reasons they are so valuable in our program.  The tension in her body was quickly sensed by Holly (the pony) who began to pull at our riders hands, take quick steps, and carry her head high, which as you can imagine only caused more worry for our rider who had never been on a horse before. 

It was at this point I realized that perhaps it was my baggage that was impacting this situation.  I look forward to Fidelis all week and I was not going to let time and muck ruin our day!  I had our rider practice halting her horse.  While we were stopped we did some deep breathing exercises.  I could feel myself relaxing, I could see Holly relaxing and most importantly a smile on this young girls face.  Amazing how something so small has such a huge impact! 

As we continued our walk around the arena, this novice equestrian moved from gripping the horn on her saddle to riding with two hands on her reins to walking independently!  And her grin only got bigger!  It was an honor to see her gain such confidence in only a short period of time.

If you have not had the opportunity to join us for Fidelis I invite you to take the time out of your schedule and see what we are doing.  You may not know it, but you might be the one who leaves the barn with more than you came with!

No comments:

Post a Comment