Well, I am still basically doing nothing with my horses as of right now. Mostly because I am consistently working 5/6 days a week, and still finding time for school & sleep. Somehow. I barely have time to think, let alone ride. Hopefully that will change in the very near future. Otherwise, if you don't hear from me for a few weeks, it will probably be because I died. #stressoverload
Anyways, because I am doing basically nothing with my lovely creatures, I have like 0 blog content, so I'm jumping on the Blog Hop train, and I'm going to do the two blog hops that are floating around right now. Both of them seem really fun, so I'm excited to do them!
Today, I am going to do the three words blog hop, started by Nadia. I was pretty fascinated by this topic. I use a lot of words to describe my ponies, but boiling it down to just three was really difficult.
Intuitive: I find Charmer to be a horse who senses things really well. He can always tell when I've had a bad day. And he cares. Maybe other horses I've worked with can tell I've had a bad day, but they couldn't care less. Whenever I'm frustrated, exhausted, overwhelmed, sad, or upset, he knows. And he quietly sets his head against my chest and won't move until I make the first move. Its amazing. I feel like his soul is on the same wavelength as mine in these moments. Of course, he also always knows when I am having a great day, or feeling exceptionally brave. These are the days he performs the best for me. Like on our amazing cross country day last summer. I was feeling exceptionally brave, and he rewarded me with one of the best rides I've ever had. It felt like he knew what I wanted even before I asked.
Honest: Charmer is always very ready & willing to do what I ask him to. He always puts his heart into everything, and he is never a dirty horse. Charmer has pulled out of tons of jumps, stopped at a few, bolted, bucked, etc. Basically anything naughty he can do, he has done. But he is very honest and up front about it. I can usually see the bolt coming from a few strides away. Maybe I can't stop it, but I can prepare for it. In all of the 2.5 years I've had Charmer, he has spooked with me all of 3 times. And I remember each one distinctly. He has never spooked out of the blue just to try and scoot sideways to get me off. In each case it was honest, real fear that made him get spooky. I also see his honesty especially when we jump now, no matter how much I butcher the distance, impulsion, or line, he always tries his heart out to get us over. Its easy for me to often take his honesty and heart for granted.
Athletic: I cannot even count how many times I've put this poor horse into some sticky situations, and he has always gotten us both out easily. He might get grumpy about it after the fact (and let me know it), but he always gets us out first. He is awfully athletic when he wants to be. I've seen him rear & buck higher than our 5ft fences, and I've watched video replays of his races. The horse is fast. There was definitely a reason he won 4 out of 6 races & got second the other 2. Sometimes I wish, for his sake, that he had been able to do more on the track, because his heart lies in being the fastest around, but if he had been the big deal on the racetrack he was supposed to be, I probably wouldn't have him now. And even though it took him like 18 months to figure out how to pick up his freaking feet over jumps, he has some pretty killer jumping skills now. I'm always impressed with Charmer's athleticism - I wish I was even half as athletically inclined as he is.
Opinionated: Wonder is sassy. The horse has opinions on every single thing ever. And you know exactly what they are, without a doubt. Peppermints - YES PLEASE. Petting at dinnertime - NO THANK YOU. Touching ears - NOPE-ETY NOPE NOPE. And lets not even get started on bits. The horse practically tried to break my nose our first ride because the fat double jointed lozenge bit I tried was OFFENSIVE to his highness (p.s. someone might be getting a standing martingale).
Thoughtful: This one is kind of a two-fold description of him. First off, he has a very high sense of self preservation. He is kind of low on the pecking order in the pasture right now, but also (see above) he has opinions. So he is very thoughtful about when he picks a fight, or when he simply wanders off to the other side of the pasture. The second part of this description is regarding his under saddle work. Based on his behaviors under saddle, he has very minimal post-track training. Which is 100% fine, and I knew that when I got him. But he is a thinker. He doesn't want to ever do the wrong thing, and he gets frustrated if he does. So he thinks about the question and gives me an answer. I am exceedingly careful to never get upset with him if his response time is slow, or if the answer is wrong, because I know he is always trying his hardest. He gives 110% every time.
Goofy: Wonder's little blaze face has goofiness oozing out of every pore. He has licked me several times on the face. He is always doing things with his tongue. Especially after I give him a peppermint. Wonder may (halfheartedly) attempt to bite me at least 3 times a day (we're working on that), but he always puts a smile on my face. He acts very young most of the time, and I often struggle to remember that he is older than Charmer! But I think a lot of that is because Wonder seems to have a childlike innocence, where Charmer has always been a bit of an old soul. Either way, my little Wonder horse is a goof (not that Charmer isn't too...).
This was a really hard post for me, and took quite a while to write! I struggled so much narrowing down to just 3 words. And specifically the three most meaningful aspects of their personality. If you ask me again in 2 years, I might have completely different words for Wonder, as I get to know him more and more. But I feel pretty confident in my description of Charmer, considering our 2.5 year (and counting) relationship together.
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| Casually running away from my problems |
Anyways, because I am doing basically nothing with my lovely creatures, I have like 0 blog content, so I'm jumping on the Blog Hop train, and I'm going to do the two blog hops that are floating around right now. Both of them seem really fun, so I'm excited to do them!
Today, I am going to do the three words blog hop, started by Nadia. I was pretty fascinated by this topic. I use a lot of words to describe my ponies, but boiling it down to just three was really difficult.
Charmer
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| Maybe handsome should be one of my words. |
Intuitive: I find Charmer to be a horse who senses things really well. He can always tell when I've had a bad day. And he cares. Maybe other horses I've worked with can tell I've had a bad day, but they couldn't care less. Whenever I'm frustrated, exhausted, overwhelmed, sad, or upset, he knows. And he quietly sets his head against my chest and won't move until I make the first move. Its amazing. I feel like his soul is on the same wavelength as mine in these moments. Of course, he also always knows when I am having a great day, or feeling exceptionally brave. These are the days he performs the best for me. Like on our amazing cross country day last summer. I was feeling exceptionally brave, and he rewarded me with one of the best rides I've ever had. It felt like he knew what I wanted even before I asked.
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| "CHEESE" |
Honest: Charmer is always very ready & willing to do what I ask him to. He always puts his heart into everything, and he is never a dirty horse. Charmer has pulled out of tons of jumps, stopped at a few, bolted, bucked, etc. Basically anything naughty he can do, he has done. But he is very honest and up front about it. I can usually see the bolt coming from a few strides away. Maybe I can't stop it, but I can prepare for it. In all of the 2.5 years I've had Charmer, he has spooked with me all of 3 times. And I remember each one distinctly. He has never spooked out of the blue just to try and scoot sideways to get me off. In each case it was honest, real fear that made him get spooky. I also see his honesty especially when we jump now, no matter how much I butcher the distance, impulsion, or line, he always tries his heart out to get us over. Its easy for me to often take his honesty and heart for granted.
Athletic: I cannot even count how many times I've put this poor horse into some sticky situations, and he has always gotten us both out easily. He might get grumpy about it after the fact (and let me know it), but he always gets us out first. He is awfully athletic when he wants to be. I've seen him rear & buck higher than our 5ft fences, and I've watched video replays of his races. The horse is fast. There was definitely a reason he won 4 out of 6 races & got second the other 2. Sometimes I wish, for his sake, that he had been able to do more on the track, because his heart lies in being the fastest around, but if he had been the big deal on the racetrack he was supposed to be, I probably wouldn't have him now. And even though it took him like 18 months to figure out how to pick up his freaking feet over jumps, he has some pretty killer jumping skills now. I'm always impressed with Charmer's athleticism - I wish I was even half as athletically inclined as he is.
Wonder
Opinionated: Wonder is sassy. The horse has opinions on every single thing ever. And you know exactly what they are, without a doubt. Peppermints - YES PLEASE. Petting at dinnertime - NO THANK YOU. Touching ears - NOPE-ETY NOPE NOPE. And lets not even get started on bits. The horse practically tried to break my nose our first ride because the fat double jointed lozenge bit I tried was OFFENSIVE to his highness (p.s. someone might be getting a standing martingale).
Thoughtful: This one is kind of a two-fold description of him. First off, he has a very high sense of self preservation. He is kind of low on the pecking order in the pasture right now, but also (see above) he has opinions. So he is very thoughtful about when he picks a fight, or when he simply wanders off to the other side of the pasture. The second part of this description is regarding his under saddle work. Based on his behaviors under saddle, he has very minimal post-track training. Which is 100% fine, and I knew that when I got him. But he is a thinker. He doesn't want to ever do the wrong thing, and he gets frustrated if he does. So he thinks about the question and gives me an answer. I am exceedingly careful to never get upset with him if his response time is slow, or if the answer is wrong, because I know he is always trying his hardest. He gives 110% every time.
 |
| "Peppermint, PLEASE?!?" |
Goofy: Wonder's little blaze face has goofiness oozing out of every pore. He has licked me several times on the face. He is always doing things with his tongue. Especially after I give him a peppermint. Wonder may (halfheartedly) attempt to bite me at least 3 times a day (we're working on that), but he always puts a smile on my face. He acts very young most of the time, and I often struggle to remember that he is older than Charmer! But I think a lot of that is because Wonder seems to have a childlike innocence, where Charmer has always been a bit of an old soul. Either way, my little Wonder horse is a goof (not that Charmer isn't too...).
This was a really hard post for me, and took quite a while to write! I struggled so much narrowing down to just 3 words. And specifically the three most meaningful aspects of their personality. If you ask me again in 2 years, I might have completely different words for Wonder, as I get to know him more and more. But I feel pretty confident in my description of Charmer, considering our 2.5 year (and counting) relationship together.
I love a horse who can quickly figure stuff out - sounds like Charmer is good at that!
ReplyDeleteHe learns really fast (except learning to jump lol), and it is definitely one of his best qualities!
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