Magic and I had our first meeting.
While I was brushing Magic I discovered a scrap wound on her belly. But that was fine because I don't normally ride during the first session.
Started with some lunging, found what I usually find with a confused horse, any movement of my arms or body sent Magic into a faster more frantic trot. Although I noticed immediately that Magic always had an eye on me. This instantly clued me in that I could start to have a conversation with her. So I followed my instincts and walked into her space and started the conversation that "its ok if i want to walk up to you and give you a pat on the neck during a work out. Its ok if you want to slow down and look to me for some comfort." It doesn't matter how long she walked or trotted for, what mattered is that we could be in each others spaces and start to build a connection.
This is a HUGE misconception in the horse world about training. Training should never be: i the trainer stand in the middle of the arena and do nothing and you the horse go around and around in circles, and then were done, good job, back to the field you go. This results in the trainer knowing nothing about the horse and the horse knowing nothing about the rider.
Now here is the weird thing, something I haven't felt before while working with a horse, I felt Magic looking for someone...to Magic something was missing. I could see it in her eye, there was a longing there. And all I could think was Maggie. I really think Magic was looking for Maggie. Very interesting for me to notice this because I have never started a horse that already has a connection with someone else. So I made the decision that night that i was going to have to bring Maggie into the training sooner then I thought. I normally spend the first month of training all by myself and then bring whomever in, but something tells me that this time it will be different. My number one rule in the horse world, always go with your gut instinct.
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