Repeat

Today was much like yesterday, without the initial transition for Gwin once she realized that I was getting back to the heart of us.

Today, she knew the feeling as soon as I stepped out of the Jeep.

She was anxious for me. I could tell. I thought I would clean up her area a little, fill her feed bag, and then get to visiting and playing with her... but I could tell she was not thinking to wait for me the way she would have gladly gone about her business until I came to catch her in the past. Her energy was directed right at me, as if she were wondering and hoping that things would be the same today as they were yesterday between us.

And they were. After our hello and snuggles she politely followed me around, keeping at least 10 feet between us, but soft staring at me until I was finished working. We couldn't wait to get our hands on each other. :)

We went right out to the round pen first. I didn't even close the gate. I just led her to the fence and climbed on her bareback. We rode inside, practicing our leg reigning and stretching a bit. Then we went out into the yard.

It was beautiful out, again. We walked and trotted all over the place. Back the pond, up the tree hill, around the pastures, on the trails... Gwin grazed shortly now and then and I took in the time we had. It felt perfect.

Then tonight, I finished my first Mark Rashid book, and funny enough, he wrapped the whole thing up with a story about a woman who was all command and tactics and alpha. Her horse did everything she wanted it to, but she didn't have any connection to it. It has built a wall between itself and her, and the woman wanted more.

Of course, it all ended up that she had to build back the kind of trust that would bring the horse around to her heart. And of course, the horse preformed even better once she was allowed to rather than demanded/expected/forced to.

The woman wrote in a letter that she wanted to get back to the way she rode at heart when she was younger.

I couldn't help but remember what happened to me as a result of learning all the technicalities of photography AFTER I became a photographer at heart. It took all the heart out of it. My photographs just weren't the same when they were technically correct but had no heart connecting. I regretted letting that happen, knowing I would never be in a place of full instinct again having piled to much information, theory and technique on top of my natural work.

I won't do that again. Not with Gwin.