Pistol Has an Audition

Brett has been volunteering for an equine assisted psychotherapy program in our area called Windows To My Soul.  Because of privacy protections with the clients, Brett has not been directly involved in helping with the sessions but instead helps out with general maintenance.

And, of course, he talks about Flash and Pistol.  Those of you who know Brett are nodding your heads, "Of course he does.  He talks about his horses constantly."

Currently, the therapy provided at Windows To My Soul uses two recognized models, both of which involve the client working with a horse on the ground.  Horses are excellent mirrors and can bring great healing to victims of PTSD and domestic abuse.  A psychotherapist and a horse handler (certified in one of the two models used) stage, watch and discuss the interaction with the client.

Recently, two clients have been identified who they feel would benefit from riding therapy.  I'm sure many of you have seen pictures of disabled people being led around on a bareback horse.  The side-to-side, rocking movement of the horse stimulates something positive in the brain (that's all I know, sorry for the hazy explanation).  WTMS called Brett and asked him to bring Pistol to the center for an evaluation of compatibility with the program.

Before Brett took Pistol on Tuesday, we gave her a bath.  I scrubbed her mane with brightening shampoo and Brett washed off the dust and dirt.  She looked stunning when Brett unloaded her at the center.

I was at work so I didn't get to watch the evaluation but she, of course, aced it.  They did some ground work, they walked her up to obstacles (yawn), they walked around her, stumbling and bashing into her as an inexperienced horse person might.  She looked at them with concern but didn't blink.  Then they put a bareback pad on her back and two of the program staff rode her around.  She was good as gold.  She has a wide, comfortable back so nobody will be in pain while riding her.

They have requested that she return next Monday for further training/exposure to the program. They are also going to put Brett through the requisite background checks so that he can be involved as the person leading Pistol around for the riding therapy.

Brett has wanted to be involved with therapeutic riding for a very long time.  I am excited for both he and Pistol.

Workshop: Transitions (Part Three)

Sunday morning, thankfully, was a bit cooler.  I limped to the barn, my heels covered in band-aids to cover the blisters that grew, burst and bled as a result of my sweaty feet slipping in my tall boots the day before.  I skipped my tall boots on Sunday and wore paddock boots and half chaps.  And I was luckier than the others who had ridden their lessons in sitting trot and, as a result, were so chafed from their breeches that Sandy had to ride their horses.  My lessons were in rising trot -- I think to help Lucy with rhythm but possibly because my sitting trot sucks. So, I didn't have the chafing issue which was possibly worse than smelling like cat pee the first day.

Lucy was very relaxed, she'd been in the covered arena three times already.  It was much cooler at 10am, around 82, when I took my lesson.  After our warm-up, we worked on asking for trot from the walk -- sounds easy, right?  Not so much.  Sandy wanted me to get the timing exactly right so that Lucy could step directly into trot.  No mincing half-steps, shifting to medium trot in a stride or two.  I was to give the aid and Lucy was expected to launch herself into a foward, expressive, nicely tempo-ed trot.  The first time she did it correctly, she left me behind a bit and I choked -- she surged and I went ACK! and slammed on the brakes.  oops.  Thank goodness she is a sweet and forgiving mare.

Once we were doing those transitions well, Lucy was rewarded with some more stretchy trot.  Then we moved on to work on our trot-halt and halt-trot transitions.  Lucy rocked the halts -- square and prompt.  And then she raised her head and looked around at her fans, watching from the observation deck.  She twitched her lip at them -- then she fussed, she backed up, she clearly wasn't thrilled with holding bend in the halt.  But we got there too.

Last, we worked on transitions from a forward trot to a collected trot and back again.  She felt... different; more powerful but in a controlled way.  She was pushing from behind, she was responsive, and the only thing holding us back was me losing rhythm in the corners (tried sitting the slower, collected trot and I changed my rhythm as a result) -- which made her lose rhythm.  As long as I stayed in posting trot we were good.  If I sat, she thought "canter coming - woo hoo" or "what the ?? is she doing?" -- either way, it was much better when I didn't sit the trot.  So, I didn't.

It.was.awesome.
Will we go back in November for the half halt workshop?  You bet.