Playing Charades

Today I learned how to play natural horsemanship charades. From a bystanders perspective, I must look ridiculous! I learned horsey charades due to the fact my German is limited to the words strudel, bratwurst, and gesundheit when I hear someone sneeze.

I had a German girl in her early twenties come today for a lesson with one of Pams horses. Jessika speaks English well so that was good but I still felt a need to prance, rear and lay my ears back to give her some idea of what I was saying. She worked with Trooper, the horse that has been fed "kraftfudder" (grain equivalent of candy bars) with no turnout for over a week. He's back at Pam's detoxing now and I figured even though he's a handful right now, I know his moves and it could give Jessika some confidence because he does eventually get a little more left brained as time goes on. She did very well and we figured each other out and I learned how to say only what's important.

Jessika has already asked her boss for 3 months off so she can come to VT and apprentice with me in the fall. It would be a great experience for her and for me so I could learn some German so my next tour of duty to Switzerland maybe I won't have to play charades with the locals!

Next lesson was Jacks school mate, a very polite 14 year old boy who has very little horse experience but has seen plenty of Hollywood westerns. Except Hidalgo. How could he have missed that one?!!! I guess he wants to chase cattle out west in Amerika some day! He'll need a Spanish Mustang for that.

This quiet boy was such a natural and without Jacks translation I wonder what dances I would have been doing to communicate with my new student. He spoke not a word of english. Jack is also very natural and he could teach his friend as much as I could so I stepped back and helped Jack explain things that I needed to communicate. It was great, the boy was able to get Star B doing some good stuff. He's coming again Friday!

Then on to Jacks lesson on StarB who has had only a handful of rides really. StarB isn't dealing with the mounting process so well, so we changed some things and will address the situation again at a later date. With only five days left of my visit, I'm having to really prioritize what are the most important things, with out rushing the horse. This is a challenge on many levels. It's a delicate balance. Placing the relationship first keeps coming to mind. In any event, Jack ended up riding StarB on his own in the big grassy field/arena. Figuring out how to make mounting a positive experience for StarB was the key to our success today. Tomorrow I'm sure we'll learn more things from the horses!

For now, off to eat some more chocolate before bed!!!! Snacking on bite sized Lindt's, the white chocolate are my favorite!