before and after

left: may 2011                                                             right: june 2013

 

billy was a weedy looking yearling that has blossomed into a hunk of a three year old.  he has become super athletic and has learned to use his body correctly.  it's been a joy to watch this unfold.

billy june 2011

 

billy september 2011

 

billy december 2011

 

watching a young horse learn to use his hind end efficiently, tucking his legs up under his body and lifting off with them.  thereby lifting his withers and actually changing the lay of the shoulder!  when things are in alignment magic can happen.

billy spring of 2012

 

luckily i have been snapping pictures of billy all along this journey so i could SEE the changes.  i knew that they would happen slowly and i might miss a few things along the way.  of course when i put the top two pictures side by side it's pretty amazing the dramatic changes that have occurred, but watching them happen over the last 3 years has been enlightening!

he has taught me so much about conformation and how the muscles and ligaments are put together to form the outline that we see.  it's been so interesting to really understand that the conformation is really just the bone structure but the "ewe" neck, straight shoulder and weak back are all things that are changeable.

it's clear that one should not judge a book by it's cover... or a horse by it's yearling picture...

your horse is your mirror

mirror: v.

to show a reflection of.

your horse is your mirror.  this is something to think about.  IF your horse is your mirror, then what do you want your horse to look like?  act like?

if we manage our emotions then our horse can manage his.

"your horse is only as brave as you are."  ~ pat parelli

"my horse was fine until i showed up." ~ linda parelli

i find it interesting that when i have a lesson i tend to get nervous.  i'm nervous that things are not going to go smoothly so i can get help with the things that are popping up in our daily play sessions.

what tends to happen is when i am nervous, my mirror, my horse, gets nervous and old problems pop up.  then we spend our whole session playing with THOSE issues, never getting to the things that i WANT to address.  this is very stressful to me because my ego comes up and i worry about how inept i look to the instructor, how inept i am actually being and how that is also affecting my horse, my mirror.

me not being in control of my emotions sets us back during our lessons.  i know that if i took a few minutes to just get things under control, we would both benefit, but i get all flustered, so billy gets all flustered and acts differently than he does when it's just us and the camera man.  different than when it's us and people visiting and watching a session.  having that instructor around sends me into a whirlwind of emotions!

i am a right brained extroverted person so i can get pretty crazy when i'm nervous or upset.  when billy is right brained and extroverted he can get pretty crazy as well!  talk about an effective mirror!  sometimes i don't love the reflection however...

billy blaze comes into my life

my allergies had gotten worse.  i couldn't get within 10 feet of a horse without having an asthma attack and feeling like plucking my itchy eyes right out.  it was awful.  i had gone almost a year without a horse and was paying for it.  what was i going to do?

i was doing some research on line and stumbled across the Curly Horse.  they were touted as being hypoallergenic.  they had curly eye lashes, curly fetlocks, curly hair on their bodies, curly, dread lock manes and tails.  they have ultra soft hair coats, more like a bunny rabbit than a horse.  you just want to push your face into it and snuggle.

my heart was still healing from the loss of my farm and all my horses.  we had to re-locate and finding a place to keep my Andalusian gelding proved to be difficult.  it wouldn't have been if the horse couldn't jump upwards of 7 feet and didn't have a problem jumping out of every pen i put him in.  i found him an excellent home, gifted him to the gal and said my goodbyes.  that happened about a year before i stumbled on the Curly Horse.  my handsome hubby said i could get another horse IF someone gave me one.  after all i had given away my last horse and he had also been expensive...  my heart sank a bit because who was going to give me a Curly Horse?  hypoallergenic and rare.  i decided i would just work really hard for the next year, squirreling away all my money towards the purchase of a Curly Horse.  in the mean time i would find the breeder i wanted to go with and get to know them and their horses.

i called around and emailed several.  of all the breeders i tried to contact only one even made the effort to reply to me.  not one of the other breeders even emailed me back.  they definitely didn't call me.  this breeder did both!  we visited a little bit and during our visits it came out that i wasn't planning on purchasing right away, but would be saving my money and making plans.

"if money is a problem i have the perfect horse for you!"  she said.  "he's a bay yearling colt that has a few faults.  other breeders have told me he's too ugly to have in their barns.  they told me he has a ewe neck, a straight shoulder and a hammer head.  if you are interested i'll give him to you for a dollar."

[caption id="attachment_27" align="aligncenter" width="640"] LEFT: the day after i brought him home, May 2011 RIGHT: September of 2012[/caption]

i could not believe my ears!  someone was willing to GIVE me a hypoallergenic Curly Horse for FREE! (well for a dollar... but basically, for FREE!)  talk about karma!

i asked for a few pictures and loved what i saw.  billy blaze was just an awkward yearling that needed some lovin and some gymnastic exercises and he was going to be beautiful!

my hubby and i drove the 8 hours to pick him up and the rest.... is our journey.  the journey to find myself, my heart and become a horse-woman.

ray hunt