The Gift

Today was a very special day…...I was given a gift by Maia, Pip’s beautiful grey mare, whilst Freeschooling (Maia is the grey in the photo above).

Before we got to that point however she spent a while gadding about in the corners of the menage, ignoring me entirely and had a lovely time running around doing the horse equivalent of shouting ‘nah, nah, nah nah, nah!’. I must say she looked utterly beautiful whilst doing this but it wasn’t quite the start I had planned!

Once I got myself together and earned her attention it was really interesting working with her for the first time; finding out how she responded to my energy, intention and body language. It was completely different to working with Amber or Monty. Maia was very responsive to direction from my hips. I could actually steer her direction from in front of her or behind her just by moving the angle of my pelvis. She was so sensitive to the movement of my right arm it was like having a brake and accelerator! But the real moment of wonder came when we truly connected mentally. The only way I can think to describe what happened today is to say that I held her energy in my hands. She moved in time with my movement and it was one of the most exquisite experiences of my life! In that moment I felt like Klaus Hempfling, although possibly without the goatee beard! I didn’t know that level of connection with a horse was possible or that such a feeling was even in existence.

In my usual fashion, having achieved such a sublime result, I thought we would try to attain the same level of connection on the other rein. In reality I was too tired both physically and mentally and Maia took to prancing about in the corners of the menage once again whilst occasionally cantering past looking fabulous. We couldn’t end on that note of course so I took a breather, garnered my last shreds of energy and asked her to circle around me and stop. To my delight, and immense relief, she did both and we called it a day.

I am still in complete awe of what happened between us today and will always have a very big soft spot for her for sharing that gift with me. I can only smile when I consider how, having been so connected, she was quick to show me that as soon as I wasn’t deserving of her gifts she would happily revert back to laughing in my face! The honesty of horses is something I truly admire.