Turning them over

The month of February was interesting. It would be the last month of owning the horses and I allowed them to be used for lessons.

How would it settle for me to give them up? I think I had a harder time November thru January thinking about where they would end up, hoping that they would be okay in their new homes, wondering if I could find one home for both of them. One thing that remained was my resolve that this was the correct decision, it was time to let them go. Small things happened that encouraged me to keep going down the same path even tho it was going to be a big change. And when I finally made up my mind to donate them to the barn for lesson horses, it was a huge relief, it was the correct choice.

 Now what would it be like for me to see them being used as lesson horses and how would the horses react? This turned out to be the easy part. I got a chance to teach some lessons for about a month while the barn manager was recovering from knee surgery. During this time I got to use Zoe and Skippy for lessons. The horses didn't seem to mind being ridden by other people. They knew their job in the arena. Skippy can be a bit of a challenge for some - because for her, everything a rider does means something. You can't flop around on top of her and accidentally hit her with your leg and expect nothing to happen. She is like a finely tuned instrument and everything a rider does means something.  Zoe is a bit more forgiving, trying to please but a bit more patient with a new rider. It turned out to be a blessing to be able to teach lessons during this time. To be able to encourage someone to ride for the first time, to watch their understanding of horseback riding grow, to see progress in the riders ability was very satisfying for me. And it gave me a chance to see how the horses would react and they did just fine. I remember a lesson that I took when Zoe was younger. The teacher had us all change horses for about 1/2 the lesson. I remember that there were about 3 of us that had younger horses in that lesson, all 3 of us had horses that were born close together. At the end of the lesson we all got back on our original horses, the ones we owned and raised and worried about and ....  anyway it was like we were worried that somehow having someone else on them would "mix them up", we fussed over them, rode them again even tho the lesson was over, making sure they were ok. Now that I think back on it, it was funny. The lesson instructor must have been smiling to herself. The horses were just fine, they weren't confused, no horse was "ruined" by this experience-and life went on. It reminds me what the instructor used to say all the time, "a horse lives up to or down to your expectations", they don't forget. I can still get on Zoe at anytime and she will mind me just fine. Skippy for years has been ridden by 2 other people, my husband and a friend's husband, and that has not made her forget anything that I have ever wanted to communicate to her. The lesson program at our barn is starting to increase but will never get to the place it once was. There was not very much rest for the lesson horses, they didn't have very many breaks between lessons. Now things are slower. I was also proud of them. It was like raising a child and watching them exceed at something-there is the same sense of pride in their accomplishments, satisfaction in seeing them do great, amazement and wonder as I watch them move thru life. It is the same feeling I have for the horses. So it has been a good experience.

We have a new lesson instructor at the barn and it's been fun to get to know her and let her use the horses. It is nice to have a knowledgeable person using the horses. It turns out that she loves the horses. She has been mostly using Zoe and ChaCha for lesson and will use Skippy soon. She has been showing me pictures/videos of how Zoe is doing and that has been very helpful.

So that was February. March turned out to be a bit different...more to come later.