Jason & Spirit day 1

So now that I have a kid who seems to want to play with the horses with me, and is seems sincerely interested in passing OLL1 in Parelli, I thought I would tell you all a little bit about him and his pony Spirit. We rescued Spirit about 8 yrs ago when Jason was 3yrs old. Spirit was severely abused, and deathly afraid of people. He is partially blind in his right eye. With people he is an RBI, on his own and within the herd, he is an LBE. He is very nosey, and always makes a mess of my stuff when he has the opportunity to snoop! He is not bothered by things, but if a human sneezes or makes a sudden move, he jumps out of his skin. I started him with Parelli, back in the beginning, but have done little other than what is required to care for him since. Of course we always handle him naturally when we are with him. For the first year or so, I would lead line Jason on him down the road, and while he was OK, he was a bit jumpy. One day, my friend brought over her son and his pony, for the boys to play together. We were in the round pen, and for the first time I let Jason circle around me. Big mistake. He and his friend got to giggling, Spirit spooked and lurched forward a bit, Jason came tumbling off the back of him, and when he hit the ground it scared Spirit and he kicked out and barely grazed Jason’s head. OMG he bled like a stuck pig. I was wearing a new white sweatshirt and looked like I had murdered someone, as we drove to the emergency room. 30 seconds with the DR, one drop of surgical glue and $1000 later, it stopped bleeding. It seemed Jason would never forgive Spirit for hurting him, and he lost ALL desire to do anything than say hi to him and give him a hug. A couple of years ago, he expressed a desire to show him at the pony/mini show, but due to other circumstances we did not pursue it. Late last year, the ‘circumstances” were gone, and we took him to a show directly after his soccer game, and that is when we came home with the rescue mini’s. Since last fall, Jason has showed more interest IN the horses, wanting to help me feed or open gates, or put the horses away after grazing, but little more.




So last weekend was the spring pony show. It is one of only a handful we can take Spirit to as he is not registered. Jason got to show him in all the classes, rather than share his pony with me, as I had Miyagi. I had him do the obstacle class as last year he was not confident to do it, and I showed him in that class. I asked him if he wanted to try the jumping class and it was a very serious……”NO”. But after the show, he said he wanted to try it next time. I told him he could, but that he would have to practice for it. As he has not practiced for the other 2 shows. He agreed he would and I thought I would hear nothing further from him. The next day I let him play with Cha’Cote for the first time. Both were very patient with each other and I was proud. So the next day I printed him a packet like the ones I make myself for each savvy for each horse. Which includes the self assessment checklist, the patterns, horsenality strategies that apply to that horse and the Audition score card. Stapled together, it is handy to grab and take with me while playing and able to mark things off as we go. I gave him his packet Monday when I got home, but he was heading out the door to boy scouts, and not interested, chattering and interrupting about everything under the sun. I figured his Parelli journey was doomed before it even got started. But, to my surprise and joy, he showed up in the rain with his packet Tuesday night, asking to play and work on his packet. Yeah. So now you are up to speed on their journey. I intend to not interfere or train his pony for him, as he already knows this stuff, but hasn’t really done them for years. Spirit seems to be quite patient and obedient, so unless it is absolutely required, I will stay in the background gently coaching and teaching Jason.



It is easy as parents, to fail your child while teaching them. Disappointment and heartache are usually the theme of ‘teaching” sessions, and lack of interest usually follows discouragement. I will have to be very careful not make him feel wrong while he is learning, and always focus on his and his ponies confidence. Not to micromanage him, and allow him to make mistakes so he can learn from them. As long as Spirits needs are not compromised, I can follow my above principles as a teacher and a mother, and hopefully gain a lifetime friend to share horses with.

Savvy On

Michelle
Here is day one.

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