How Did It Get to Be May?
Thank you so, so much to everyone who boosted the signal and sent back pings and book orders and mentee bookings and one lovely Camp signup. I did get flights to the Nebulas, and will be there with bells on. There is a public signing btw that Friday (the 20th) from I think 5:30-7, with masses of authors in attendance, so if you're in the area and are moved to stop in, come and say hi. And if you're attending the event, our panel is Saturday at 2:30, and is about backlists and ebooks and making it in the brave new world.
We are still more than a little wheezy at the price of hay, which has gone up 30% since the winter, so if anyone missed the book sale or the mentee sale and wishes they hadn't, send me a ping at capriole at that gmail thing.
I lost all my mail and all archives last week, destroyed when my mail program crashed and reinstalled in -just- the wrong way, so if you sent me mail and I didn't reply, that's what happened to it. I have no history prior to last Friday. Slowly rebuilding the address book, and hoping I didn't lose anybody irretrievably.
That was one bad Mercury retrograde.
Horses are happy however, and we've been doing quite a lot of that collection thing with Pooka, which feeds into my work with the mares as well. Finally really getting the feel for -being- his hindlegs with my seatbones, and being able to connect with his sacrum through my sacrum even from 20 feet away on the longeline. He can still turn into the warp-powered exercise ball, perch me on top and try to take off, but it's getting progressively easier to go from on to in, connect and collect and really, finally, ride the rocket.
The one who has the most trouble with this concept of plugging in is Camilla, on which more below. The ones who find it easiest are Gabriella and her daughters. The Girlz I would expect; they've been here since they were babies. But the Divine Miss G has been making up for lost chosen-human time in a very big way. She has that laser-beam stare on me All The Time, as Carrma does on T. And she demands her share. Yesterday she let me know she wanted Walkies. Walkies are a thing she is very good at. She has no problem leaving the herd, and she loves to explore. I think I may have found another Awesome Trail Horse(tm).
The Girlz are somewhat jealous of this, especially Ephiny who is not bonded (though we love each other dearly), but it's helping me figure them out, too. The challenging one, as always, is Camilla. I adore her, smile whenever I see her, but lately I've come to realize that it is about her.
If she were human, she'd be in the autism spectrum. She's high-function on a daily basis, does very well in the herd, understands and settles well into routine and daily discipline. She wants to be ridden and worked. But I've always known that the world comes at her on too powerful a frequency. Take her outside of her routine and everything is too strong, too fast, too loud, too much. She tracks every step like a mobile GPS, but get her off her map and she starts to fry. Then she explodes.
All horses have some variation of this. Some can get very herdbound. One trains them by taking them out at gradually greater distances for gradually greater lengths of time, and/or by taking them out with trusted horse friends, and most of them eventually adapt. But Camilla has had an edge of danger to her that has kept me from doing much of this at all. When I have pushed her, she's physically harmed me, or else shut down and refused to move.
Pooka is a challenge to take away from the herd, too, but that's stallion instincts talking, and he clearly likes to go out. He's like Capria: gets excited at times and can be a handful, but his brain isn't frying. He's just being a horse, with testosterone added to the mix. I can toss him on a trailer and take him anywhere. He loves to travel.
Camilla, no. For years I never quite found the approach that would work for training her under saddle. The normal approaches--both the gentle way and the "show her who's boss" way--left me with an angry, and in the latter case thoroughly fried horse.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with her physically. She's an outstanding athlete, a true Airs horse, and a splendidly scopey mover. She's a beautiful and very old type of classical horse. But mentally, she's...different.
When we came round to the horse-yoga thing, Camilla let us know we were on the right track. Camilla is a Storyteller in the yoga universe. She loves the quiet, the calm, the way you breathe, the way you move. These things help her focus, and help filter the world that's always been so overwhelming for her.
Still not doing a lot with the saddle work, though she is asking. The groundwork, asking her to line up her spine and rock back onto her hindquarters and move from there, pushes her right to the edge of what she can tolerate. She's not ready for me to be in her back or body rather than on it, though we've managed this in a lesson or two with S--but lessons on that level are, again, just a bit more than she can take. I hope to be able to get her to the point that she is up for them on a regular basis rather than once or twice a year, but it will take time.
Interesting to figure this out. When I was talking to the Wonder Shoer about it, she came over and stood next to us with her head down, almost as if asleep, but in a way that said, "Yes. That's how it is." When we changed the subject, she lifted her head, shook herself, and left.
She comes over when we're talking Story in yoga class, too. Leaves when the topic changes. Camilla has Stories. It's taken her a long time to teach us how to listen to them.
We are still more than a little wheezy at the price of hay, which has gone up 30% since the winter, so if anyone missed the book sale or the mentee sale and wishes they hadn't, send me a ping at capriole at that gmail thing.
I lost all my mail and all archives last week, destroyed when my mail program crashed and reinstalled in -just- the wrong way, so if you sent me mail and I didn't reply, that's what happened to it. I have no history prior to last Friday. Slowly rebuilding the address book, and hoping I didn't lose anybody irretrievably.
That was one bad Mercury retrograde.
Horses are happy however, and we've been doing quite a lot of that collection thing with Pooka, which feeds into my work with the mares as well. Finally really getting the feel for -being- his hindlegs with my seatbones, and being able to connect with his sacrum through my sacrum even from 20 feet away on the longeline. He can still turn into the warp-powered exercise ball, perch me on top and try to take off, but it's getting progressively easier to go from on to in, connect and collect and really, finally, ride the rocket.
The one who has the most trouble with this concept of plugging in is Camilla, on which more below. The ones who find it easiest are Gabriella and her daughters. The Girlz I would expect; they've been here since they were babies. But the Divine Miss G has been making up for lost chosen-human time in a very big way. She has that laser-beam stare on me All The Time, as Carrma does on T. And she demands her share. Yesterday she let me know she wanted Walkies. Walkies are a thing she is very good at. She has no problem leaving the herd, and she loves to explore. I think I may have found another Awesome Trail Horse(tm).
The Girlz are somewhat jealous of this, especially Ephiny who is not bonded (though we love each other dearly), but it's helping me figure them out, too. The challenging one, as always, is Camilla. I adore her, smile whenever I see her, but lately I've come to realize that it is about her.
If she were human, she'd be in the autism spectrum. She's high-function on a daily basis, does very well in the herd, understands and settles well into routine and daily discipline. She wants to be ridden and worked. But I've always known that the world comes at her on too powerful a frequency. Take her outside of her routine and everything is too strong, too fast, too loud, too much. She tracks every step like a mobile GPS, but get her off her map and she starts to fry. Then she explodes.
All horses have some variation of this. Some can get very herdbound. One trains them by taking them out at gradually greater distances for gradually greater lengths of time, and/or by taking them out with trusted horse friends, and most of them eventually adapt. But Camilla has had an edge of danger to her that has kept me from doing much of this at all. When I have pushed her, she's physically harmed me, or else shut down and refused to move.
Pooka is a challenge to take away from the herd, too, but that's stallion instincts talking, and he clearly likes to go out. He's like Capria: gets excited at times and can be a handful, but his brain isn't frying. He's just being a horse, with testosterone added to the mix. I can toss him on a trailer and take him anywhere. He loves to travel.
Camilla, no. For years I never quite found the approach that would work for training her under saddle. The normal approaches--both the gentle way and the "show her who's boss" way--left me with an angry, and in the latter case thoroughly fried horse.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with her physically. She's an outstanding athlete, a true Airs horse, and a splendidly scopey mover. She's a beautiful and very old type of classical horse. But mentally, she's...different.
When we came round to the horse-yoga thing, Camilla let us know we were on the right track. Camilla is a Storyteller in the yoga universe. She loves the quiet, the calm, the way you breathe, the way you move. These things help her focus, and help filter the world that's always been so overwhelming for her.
Still not doing a lot with the saddle work, though she is asking. The groundwork, asking her to line up her spine and rock back onto her hindquarters and move from there, pushes her right to the edge of what she can tolerate. She's not ready for me to be in her back or body rather than on it, though we've managed this in a lesson or two with S--but lessons on that level are, again, just a bit more than she can take. I hope to be able to get her to the point that she is up for them on a regular basis rather than once or twice a year, but it will take time.
Interesting to figure this out. When I was talking to the Wonder Shoer about it, she came over and stood next to us with her head down, almost as if asleep, but in a way that said, "Yes. That's how it is." When we changed the subject, she lifted her head, shook herself, and left.
She comes over when we're talking Story in yoga class, too. Leaves when the topic changes. Camilla has Stories. It's taken her a long time to teach us how to listen to them.
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