Tales from the mountains - part 1
Jul 4th, 2008 by Carolyn
Hello and a happy 4th of July to you!
I am delighted to announce the first in what we hope will be a series of stories from Margaret who featured on the post Being in nature. We have been exchanging messages with each other and I asked her if she wouldn’t mind sharing some of her journey with us as she gets to know her mare, Amber, in the 230 acres they and 30 other horses share up there in the mountains in northern California. Margaret seems to experience the same joy as I do from the simple pleasures to be found in nature and her stories bring a smile to my heart, I hope they do to yours too.
Have a super weekend and I look forward to talking with you again next week.
Carolyn
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Hi Carolyn
Last Saturday was a real neat morning for us. I couldn’t sleep and decided to head to the barn around 5:30. I found Autumn in the lower meadow of the pasture which looks like the edge of it just falls off into the the redwooded mountains below us. A thunderstorm the night before lit up a bunch a forest fires and a light veil of smoke hung in the valley. I could just barely see the outline of the full moon. I was sitting there, Autumn grazing away beside me when the sunlight behind me lit up the smokey haze in an orange glow. I turned to look at Autumn when I noticed that the moon and the sun were completely parallel to each other in the sky. It was like two old lovers catching a glimpse of each other in a crowd of people. It only lasted for a few minutes before they were torn apart but it was so cool. I felt lucky to have seen that with my best friend beside me.
A little after that I dozed off and woke up with Autumn standing with her head right over me while a bunch of her friends crept in close to me. I was a little alarmed an glad I didn’t have a hoof wake me up but there was my baby standing guard. She wandered off as soon as I was awake and resumed her eating.
I’ve been on a bunch of your YouTube videos. It’s hypnotic to watch the horses and you work with each other. That magnetic bond is just unbelievable. I have just a smidgen of that with Autumn and I know how exhilarating it is, even if it lasts only for a short while. But I’ll tell you, what you do with your horses is what I want to be able to do with Autumn and any horse I ever get to work with. I’ve been watching Panendaro’s DVD’s and scouring them over and over again to see what I can do with Autumn right now. I did the treats and the bucket and didn’t let her “take it” but kept my space until she lost interest and I let her have her little treats. She kept an eye on me the whole time she ate and when she was finished she was “hooked on” to me. It was like a relaxing way to accomplish the join up in a round pen without all the tight circle running. She just followed me around forwards and backwards.
We’ve had a few funny things happen the past week. I’ve just been sneaking in little bits of time here and there because work has been busy, I hate not having enough time with her. Anyhow, her boyfriend horse, Opi, has been chasing her away from me when I come out in the pasture. She’ll start walking up to me and he’ll just run up to her biting her on the butt and hocks until she walks away all floppy eared and sad. I’m a pushier mare when it comes to my Autumn time and I’ll chase him off and she’ll just hide behind me, all 16 hands of her. Sometimes, in the mornings when I go to check on her I can’t find either one of them with their normal herd. I swear he’s hiding her!
She’s really such a neat horse. I can tell she really loves me. I just found some old scrap books I made at about 10 years old and found all these letters I wrote to my horse Flicker and they all had the line. “I love Flicker. I know Flicker loves me” they cracked me up…20 years later I’m writing the same things.
I have one neat story that happened a few months ago. I decided to take Autumn on a hike to the top of the mountain for some ocean views. We just were making our way down a narrow path where on one side is about a 6 foot straight drop that connects with a steep hill and the other side is a big pond. The width of the path is about six feet wide. We had just got to the middle of the path when Autumn hit the breaks and the sound of 20 -30 sets of hooves were storming up the hill. We had nowhere to go. My mind slowed and reviewed what was about to happen… I have a 1 & 1/2 year old youngster, a herd of 30 horses coming at us and the only options are to jump or swim. But before a plan of action could be made Autumn arched her body around me, head tucking me in, and those big beautiful draft legs anchoring themselves into place. The horses sped by in bay, sorrel, palomino and painted blurs. They splashed through the pond, balanced on the edge of the drop off and crashed into Autumn, rocking her body as she kept me tucked in safe next to her. When it was all over my heart was pounding and I was shaking like a leaf. I looked at Autumn and just knew that she just saved my life. She protected me. She kept her head on her shoulders when most horses would’ve kicked me in the ass as they were high tailing it out of there. I guess that is why it is so important to me to work with Autumn in a way that is respectful of her, that keeps her spirit and her heart. I always want Autumn to have that love for me enough to save me from being trampled on a trail or in life. I love Autumn. And Autumn loves me! (it still cracks me up to write that again!)
Take care
Margaret
P.S. For my birthday present, my husband Casey hired someone to trailer us to the beach
