Bruja here…..

With……

Your Monday Morning Bru!

It worked! I’ve been putting a picture in His head of my saddle and doing riding. Yesterday we did that. It was a normal day otherwise, at least at the start, with poop scooping and all. The four of us hanging out in the big paddock. Mid day, He put me and Luna over to the “across”. We like the across because part of it is the round pen. The round pen has nice sand footing for us. The sand is also SO nice to roll in. Rolling in nice sand kind of gives our bodies a massage and a reset.

Luna and I both rolled lots and when we get up we shake and jump and buck a little. It feels SO good! The sun was out some too so we both got some lay down and sleep in the sunshine time. Towards the end of the day, He showed up with my hackamore. That made me happy.

I knew He would do it this time. I DID put the idea and pictures in His head after all. When He came into the round pen, Luna and I both tried to put our noses in the hackamore. I won because I’m a little more pushy than Luna and, I am the boss of her ( even though she is my best friend).

With my hackamore on, He had me use my butt open the panel to go out of the round pen. If He opens the panel with His hands and leads me through, Luna will follow. So, this time, we out smarted her. I backed through the opening like we learned a long time ago. It’s kinda like my gate trick, only with panels. I’m very good at this and understand what needs to be done. By me going first, He can close the panel opening behind Himself so Luna can’t follow.

Luna doesn’t like to be left behind or left out. He always makes sure Luna knows she is loved and cared about so she doesn’t feel too bad. Her turn will be later.

At the tack shed, He did my feet first. He’s really proud of me about my feet. I watch and when I see He wants to pick up one of my feet, I pick it up off the ground for Him to make it easier for Him. I like to be helpful for Him and I am always anticipating what comes next.

He then brushed me all over. On my body He uses a soft brush that’s kinda like a gentle massage. On my mane and tail he uses a coarse brush. He’s proud of my mane and tail too. It’s all long and a shiny pure black. I am a pure Bay horse. That means no markings or different colors. Even though it says that on my papers, I do have about a half dozen little white hairs on my forehead. These are Eva hairs. They are right where Eva had a white spot on her forehead. ( It does make sense because her spirit is in me.). My mane is kinda split. The foreword half or so lies on the left side of my neck and the withers end lies on my right side. I like it that way and so does He. When He has tried to get my mane all lie on one side, it feels funny to me. When He has done that to me, I just shake real good and it all goes back the way I like it. ( a while back He decided He like it best split that way too).

After that was all done He got the saddle pad. I grabbed it out of his hands ( gently) to show Him I’m ready to do this. With the pad on, He threw the saddle up and on. He takes His time to make sure the saddle is just so and everything is right. It’s a process compared to the bareback pad. All the straps and buckles and such. I like it. The saddle is just for me, like my hackamore is just for me. This makes both of us feel special.

We entered the round pen kinda like how we came out. I pushed the panel open with my butt. He then had me turn around and walk through the opening forward. The stirrups hit the panel on the way through but this time it didn’t bother me. It used to be that when the stirrups hit is was really scary but He showed me I wouldn’t get hurt and that I can be brave and do scary stuff without getting hurt. I just need to trust Him. He never lets me down.

With the saddle on and mostly adjusted, and back into the round pen, we then did our usual pre-ride liberty and warm up. He then double checked the saddle and went to the mounting block. I followed of course so we could do some riding. We walked around and practiced turns and stops. He wants to do it without my hackamore on but we aren’t quite ready for that yet. We are working on it.

By this time it was windy and I started feeling frisky. It’s hard for me to not trot when I feel this way. He swung His leg over my head and dismounted. Out of the round pen, He had me stand at a spot in front of the tack shed that has a step up. I know what to do and positioned myself so He could get on again. After mounting, He always just sits still for a bit. We don’t walk off right away and He does a breathing exercise that gets both of use ready to go. We can stay focused this way.

We went straight away up the tunnel trail. It’s kinda mucky muddy now because of spring time and rain. I didn’t want to go in the mud but He asked nicely so we went. On the dirt road above the tunnel trail we went towards the apple tree place. As we got to the first house, I saw a big hole in the ground. I think the big noisy digger machines did it. Humans have big scary machines to do work like that. I don’t like that.

By that hole, I stopped and was really nervous. I told Him we should turn around and stay far away from any scary hole. He disagreed. So, we just stood and watched the hole for a bit to see how scary it really was. He kept putting his hand on my neck and stroking me and talking to me. He explained that even though it looked scary, it would not hurt me and He would never ask me to do something that might hurt me. Since I trust him, I listened and we gave it a few tries. As we got closer I could see we could get by the hole without going in it. When we got by it, I realized He was right and we kept going.

I was still feeling pretty frisky so I trotted a bunch. Most of the time He had me just walk so we could stay calm. Up by the last house on the road, there was more scary stuff. Again, we stopped and He talked to me about it. I stayed calm ( mostly) and we turned around. Again, I wanted to trot more. He did let me trot some but walk some too. When we went back by the scary hole, I didn’t even look at it. I trust Him.

We rode back down the tunnel trail and down to the house. She was watching us from inside the house. She was happy to us riding. Along side the driveway, there are a couple of small scary machines. I don’t like or trust machines. He had us ride up to the machines and I touched them with my nose to show Him how brave I am and that I trust Him. He gave me big praise and treats for being so brave and calm. This felt really good. We then rode back up to the tack shed.

After getting untacked, He put me back in the big paddock. He brought Luna over too. We both got big praise for being so good even though it IS spring time and windy and we were both pretty frisky. ( Luna did lots of running around and bucking today, more than I did )

He always leaves us felling good after doing stuff like that yesterday.

Today, it’s more spring time wind and some rain. ( this keeps us feeling frisky!). I’m still waiting to see ( and eat) some good spring time grass. It seems to be taking forever! ( yes, I’m impatient and always hungry)

Im looking forward to more riding. All the snow and ice is gone from here now. That makes me happy too. Maybe we can even go to the beach!

I hope you are having a good spring time and are finding some grass.

May you be happy

🙏❤️🐎🐎🐎🐎🐕🐕‍🦺🐕