DayThirteen

This morning, Julia and I ended up waking up around 7 AM. Today is the last day, so it calls for a "celebration" of sorts, except for not really, we're just going to stay up late making s'mores around the fire.

I walked over to Cherish, who was now in the barnyard eating the hay in under the overhanging roof. She greeted me happily and reluctantly followed me away from the delicious hay... which she seems to get her face in whenever she can. My mom was tacking up Hope, both seeming quite happy. As I spoke to her, I dropped Cherish's lead and let her wander off towards the ash circle (firepit). I imagined her for a moment, dancing in reds and yellows and golds around the fire, with me... we wandered off into the grasslands then, and her paint transitioned to goldens, tans, and greens. As we made our way into the forest with the fireflies, her colors turned to blue and light green and dark brown and white, as we danced in under the trees. They were only glimpses of us dancing, me painted similar to her, with that one little fleck of white on the inside of my right wrist, the one little spot just near the line between my wrist and hand on the left side, and a star painted on my forehead. The tips of my ears were painted black, as were the bottom of my legs and arms. Both of us had wonderful colorful designs on us.... I popped back into this world, not any more at peace than I had been before. I found myself this morning to be very nervous and on edge, after having a series of dreams that had disturbed me, but that I could now not quite recall. 

Cherish and I walked into the gate, and as my hand brushed against the smooth but cold metal, I saw once again that beautiful wooden twisted and entwined gate that would be at the front of my land. I had burned it to a certain degree and soaked it in some type of liquid in order to make it flexible, then twisted it, crafted it and

Day Twelve

Today, I had quite the uneventful morning. I got up late, then went outside, took Cherish out of her stall, and turned her into the barnyard. I had played with her for a little bit and then realized that my stomach was running wild through the towns and burning them all, splintering large bridges as if they were popsicle sticks. After I ate some left over pasta, I anxiously but tiredly went back outside. There would be no way that I would have enough energy to do that much this morning. The air was already filling with heat, so I decided to just sit with Cherish in the little shade available - behind the barn. We enjoyed each other's company until it was time to go back up to the house.

In the afternoon, we took Julia to Lupi's pizza restaurant, where we had wonderful pizza. For most of the time there, Julia and I wrote and drew on napkins with pens. Much of it was about Rafik, a small rose grey Arabian colt who was sent from Mercy Stables to training at Heritage Farms.

For the evening, I decided that I wanted to do something slightly different from usual. I walked up to Finale confidently and anticipating the play. I had turned Cherish out in the barnyard to graze, as I didn't want her to have to stand in her stall another few hours while I went with Finale.

Finale and I trotted, danced, walked, backed, moved.... we flowed. We were free, for the time being, very expressive and joyful. This is like my way of painting with horses, painting the world and the dance. We had an absolutely wonderful time, and by the end we were so in sync and connected that it was amazing. When I dance with Finale, it is okay to not be so connected at the beginning and then let it gradually grow until we are

Day Six

Today, when I finally got out of the shower in the morning, it was time to move the pedestal to the arena for Julia so that she could practice with it in there at Liberty. The backfield was beautiful once I stepped out of the truck, although already getting warm and with a bright orange sun beginning to raise over the east ridge. Interestingly enough, I found out recently that it's called "Great Something (I can't remember the word) Mountain" even though it's truly only a ridge/hill.

Once we got the pedestal into the arena, I went to go play with Cherish. To tell the truth, I remember absolutely nothing of what I did until I got on her. For the most part, we just ate grass together with me on her back, being together in a calm way. It was very nice to stand there with her, just to be with her. Eventually, Julia and my mom came over, where we talked about things mostly relating to horses.

Later in the afternoon, we began to make t-shirts - or I made t-shirts while they watched. It wasn't like my mom or Julia could really help, as I had pretty much completely taken it upon myself to create the t-shirts, which I absolutely love for each one of us. Each of us has a different horse face on the front, with "Back to the Herd" written somewhere on the front in pretty lettering. Julia's t-shirt shows a patient, quiet, wise horse (more of a pony - compact and short) with simplistic lined features and a rain drop shaped star on its face. His name was Solo. My mom's t-shirt shows an expressive, humorous, adventurous, spirited Haflinger with flowing, artistic and creative lines and a rounded blaze down his face. His name is Montagne, which is mountain in French. My t-shirt shows a wise, deep, quiet and prideful stallion with detailed, contrasting shades and lines and an intricate mane and forelock pattern with a fairly straight, but more fading, blaze on his face. His eyes are large and knowing. So far, he does not have a name. Each t-shirt was special to each person, and I was very glad that I was able to create them for us.

In the evening, it rained and the wind blew hard. I only went out to see the horses and take care of them then. I remember that I really enjoyed spending time with the horses even though I had really wanted to finish the t-shirts, but I don't have any specifics to offer. They have all been forgotten.

Day Five

I headed out with Cherish to the backfield. I had actually planned on playing with Finale first, but my mom ended up taking her out to the pasture before I could say much. We trotted around a bunch and did some circling game, with more relaxation than usual. Since I do my circling games differently than most Parelli people, it's a bit of experimentation, but I enjoy it as such. Unfortunately I cannot remember most of the details from our play session, but the important thing that I remember is that both of us had fun and were connected even though I was rather tired.

Horses never focus so much on meticulous details, but they do notice the abstract details such as the environment, the emotions, the feelings and the senses, the connections, etc. These are all things that I tend to notice more as well. To get more out of it, such as what we actually did step by step, you would either have to video me or I would have to write it as I went along. Each memory, for me, tends to stay so fresh for a while that it has no chronological order, and as I put more and more thoughts between that and the time of now, all I end up remembering is the important things. The abstract things.

I headed up to get Finale, because I had promised her that I would play with her when I ran out of time the night before. She walked up to me eagerly, with the brightest face on. I slipped the halter off of Cherish and stroked her neck twice, then approached Finale as she approached me. I was standing there talking to my mom and stroking Finale, while Cherish stood at the water trough with water dripping off of her bottom lip. I truly can't remember what we were talking about then, but I remember seeing Julia beginning to become aggravated at Sharlie again (or hear and feel her rather, I really could not see her) and was about to yell at her to relax or get creative or something, rather than focus so much on the circle. Right as I opened my mouth, Finale asked Cherish to move over ... and all of a sudden, Cherish had had enough. She has been more and

Day Four

Today, I ended up not getting out to the barn until about 7 am. The sleep in left me very refreshed and ready to go. I went and got Cherish, ignoring most of the details that I would usually pay attention to as I was remembering everything that we had gone over last night. I was planning on teaching Cherish the Parelli Patterns, which I now call Abstract Designs, with ease and flow. I reminded myself of this as I walked out to the barn.

When I brought Cherish into the arena, I went straight for the cones. We did some figure 8 around the two cones, with little success on the "flow" part. I was not using my body language, nor was I employing lightness, nor was I really mentally into it. Both of us were extremely bored. I went over to the barrels, to try figure 8 there. Cherish walked one Figure 8 around. For one moment, I thought "Wouldn't it just be so much more interesting to do Touch It? The moment after I thought that, Cherish stepped forward, put her hoof on the barrel and chewed on the edge. I had to laugh at her sense of humor. "So can we stop the Figure 8s now?" Cherish asked. I shrugged, and decided that that was fine. If we weren't enjoying it now, why would we enjoy it in a few minutes, after we had already worked on it for a while? What was the point of doing something if, at the moment, it was completely boring? I made a note to myself to figure out how to make it exciting.... energy!

In order to bring both of our energies up, as we were both lagging slightly by now, Julia and I went to smack the carrot sticks on the barrels... we had seen Linda doing it before, but I had never actually tried it. The harder I smacked the carrot stick on the barrel, and the more times, the more bored and tired I became... I