Pleasant afternoon.

This morning I missed a big cattle sorting event because I had to show my house. We're looking for a housemate. :/

But I got to see my Solly! He is doing well. He called to me as soon as he spotted me way down the road. Today he was in an angelic mood. No misbehavior or resistance whatsoever.

Solomon got groomed and loved on, he got to do some roundpenning, and then I let him loose to graze around the ranch.

I told him "don't you go in that hay barn!" Of course he looked at me innocently- he only goes in when I've been in the house for a while and he thinks he can sneak a flake.

Today he just hung out with Lena, who was on the other side of the fence in the large mare pasture. He did come over to sniff me while I did my kata, however.

When it was time to put him away, I just walked over and gently tugged the bottom of his halter. Once we started moving, I let go and he just walked across the ranch with me. I opened the gate to his pasture and said "go on in," and that's exactly what he did. What a good boy!

Pure joy.

Hi folks!

Okay, I have to jump ahead this time, and then I'll give you a long overdue Solomon update.

Sunday was a big day for me! I got to do something I had never done before. Something I thought I would never get to do!

I got to LOPE!

All right, I'll back up now.

When I got to the ranch, I chatted with Bo and DeDe for a bit, then went and filled water troughs. I helped move horses, leading Leo to a pasture. He tried some stuff with me, but I was firm with him and he listened.

When I was done with all of that, I pulled out Solomon, who had been nickering and whinnying every time I came within 150 yards of his pasture, hah!

I'm going to show you his condition now. Topline is still horrible, but you can't see his ribs. You can feel them when you press. I want him to gain more, but he is gaining!















Meanwhile, the Little Bay Gelding and Remmy were chasing each other around and boxing. LBG was pretty interested in me though.



Solomon, nomming down his senior feed.



So he has these big bulges in the sides of his neck near his head. He always has. Is that normal muscling or not?



Next Solomon went to the roundpen. He did his usual leg-locking at the gate thing because he didn't want to work out, but I just told him he had to anyway.

We did some roundpenning, walking, trotting, cantering, and he did fine, but I didn't make him work too long in this hot weather. Then he had to steal my hat, of course.



He has a lot of fun taking it and scooping up sand with it. He likes to hold it in his teeth and toss his head around.





And how could I ever resist this face?





After roundpenning, I went to the middle of the pen and did my kata. A kata is a series of moves one does in karate- a sort of ritualized one-sided combat. It is a form of moving meditation, and it not only teaches the body how to move and fight, but it also makes the body much more supple. If you want your horse to be supple, you have to be a supple rider!

Solomon found this fascinating. He wanted to have his nose in my hair the entire time, and was trying to stay glued to me as I spun and shifted. He did a pretty good job of it, too! It made the two little wheels in his head spin a lot, I tell you what.

This turned out to be a really good idea. It helped me so much when I rode!

After I put Solomon away, it was time for Teddy Bear.

Tedders was in a really mellow mood. She didn't really want to leave the shade at first, so she planted her feet, but I made her do a circle and said "NO NONSENSE TEDDY BEAR," and then she was just fine. A good girl. I think that I have finally started to find that authoritarian side that one has to project with horses at times.

I had no problem grooming her. She picked her feet up for me and let me brush her out with no drama and no wigglies. She was half asleep.

After I had her all groomed up, I sat in the shade and meditated until Bo came out of the house. Teddy Bear napped.

We saddled her up, and Bo gave me a great lesson on how to mount from the ground. I'll be posting the video of that, but I have to get it up on YouTube, and it's a really big file.

Teddy Bear was so good that she stayed stock still the entire time.

Then it was time for me to mount. She was saddled, and I had this feeling. I wasn't sure, but it was a feeling...

I mounted up and we spent some time getting the stirrups right. I found neutral. Got myself feeling nice and centered. Bo told me that we weren't going to worry about steering at all- that he wanted me to remain in the center, keeping balanced on the horse's spine.

First we did some walking, then some walk-trot transitions. Bo roundpenned Teddy Bear while I balanced on her back. After a little while, he started having her turn and spin. Lots of rollbacks! It was challenging, but fun. I hadn't had the chance to ride in a while, but I was surprised... I still have a long ways to go, but I felt like my hips were a lot looser, a lot more supple. Then I realized it was because of all the martial arts training I'd been doing!

So there we were, trotting and spinning, and I was grinning my head off. I looked at Bo and he was smiling too. He said "Okay Ev, something really special's going to happen soon, so be ready for it," and I said guietly "YESSSSSSS" because I knew!

He got us trotting around and then he made the kissy noise. Such an amazing feeling! I was ready for it. I'd been watching and watching and watching.

I didn't do really well with moving with the horse, but I was determined. It was like being on an oscillating rocking chair moving at 25 miles an hour. So much fun! I worried about bouncing, but the second time Bo had Teddy Lope, I really felt like I was moving with her, and not bouncing! The third time I was behind the movement and I did bounce. Teddy was such a good girl though. She didn't act up, despite my newbie riding. She was a total doll. And I was simply elated.

Thank you so much, Bo. I didn't think I'd ever be able to do that. I will never forget that day!

Good news!

Solomon has gained 15 or 20 pounds since last week, yay! It isn't a lot for a horse, but it is still progress in the right direction.

Actually, I think he might have gained more than that. You know how some people gain weight in the thighs more, or they gain weight in the belly more? I don't think you can really tell exactly how much a person weighs my measuring one band around their body.

Horses have different shapes too. Some have bony withers, some are wider further back, or they have a huge neck, or they have a big butt. Solomon is shaped like a gumdrop, except at the wither and heartgirth. Go further back along his body, however, and he balloons out. Not worm belly- he is on a regular worming schedule. It's just how he's shaped.

Anyway, I can feel his ribs but not see them, which is good. I prefer having to press a bit to feel them, but we'll get there, hopefully.

For the most part he was a very good boy today. He stood patiently for me, he took his fly spraying well, he performed in the round pen... his penis was flopping around a bit as he trotted though. This is a concern because before I owned him he had to go to UC Davis; he had summer sores on his penis. That just sounds so horrifying... I had to check him out and make sure he wasn't swollen and unable to retract. He sucked up when I cantered him, however, and I couldn't find anything that looked unhealthy on him.

After I roundpenned him, I stood and chatted with Bo for a good while. Solomon got bored, but stuck himself to me like glue. Horses are very tactile creatures. They use closeness and contact for comfort. Solomon is pretty bonded to me, and in a roundpen I'm the most interesting thing, so he stays close. He very lightly touched his shoulder to me for a while, and wrapped his neck around me for a while. Then he backed up and stuck his nose in my hair. I put one foot up on one of the bars of the pipe panel, and he decided it would be a great idea to hold me up with his poll. He just stood there with his head under my leg, as if he was trying to prop me up. Not moving, not doing anything. Just... standing there. What.

Then I sat down in the sand for a bit, and he alternated between keeping watch, nuzzling my hair, putting his head in my lap, and shoving me with his head. That last bit got him walked in tight circles. He stopped shoving me then.

Then he discovered my hat. Took it right off my head. And he found it to be so VERY fun... he tossed his head around, making it flap. Then he ground it into the sand. Then he scooped up sand with it and threw that around. He did give it back when I told him to, however. Having a horse is like having a toddler.

At least this time he did not unbuckle my belt or try to unzip my pants. He has done both of those things before!

Anyway, I took him for a little walk and put him back in his pasture.

I know, I know, some of you are probably shocked and horrified by how in my space I allow my horse to be. Well, I don't tend to be like that with other horses. Just Solomon. Solomon is old and retired and he is my service horse. He is a therapy animal. He doesn't get dangerous, and if he starts to, he knocks it off when I set a boundary.

I trust him a lot more than other horses. I don't trust him entirely, because you always need situational awareness and risk assessment around horses. They are very large, strong, fast prey animals. But Solomon also has a special job, which is taking care of me when I need him to. When I am in a lot of pain or when a panic attack comes over me, he has to take control, to a certain extent. He knows what to do. How, I'm not sure. But he does. He helps me walk, or he holds me up and keeps me still until the panic passes. If I were more strict with him and didn't let him express himself as much, I might have a little less trouble with, say, leading him places he didn't want to go, or getting him to not shove me a bit once in a while. But if I were to do that, he might not feel comfortable and confident enough to do the things he needs to do to take care of me when I need it. Most of the time, people don't want their horse to be in charge. Most of the time, it's not a good idea. Sol is a special horse though, int hat one way. He can't be ridden and he isn't going to go and win any pretty ribbons. But when I panic, he takes care of me. When I am in pain, he takes care of me.

And I take care of him. We're partners. And most of the time, I am in charge. Sometimes he has to be. For a lot of horses I think that would be unsettling. They would feel insecure. They are more comfortable knowing what role they play, and feeling that role firmly in place. Well, and Solly is comforted by that as well. It is just something that he has to be able to be more fluid and flexible with.

Here's the thing though- he isn't the only kind of horse that needs to be able to make independent decisions and act on them!

Cutting horses... they are pointed at a cow but then it's up to them! They have to go after that cow and decide how to move to keep it from the rest of the herd. A human can't guide the horse fast enough. He has to have cow sense.

So I guess Solomon has Ev sense. <3