Side Plot

Hello I'm Melissa, and I guess I am going to become a small part of this story now as well. :-) I am so happy to have K and Little Love in Finland and to have this opportunity to work so closely with two individuals who are traveling the same path as I. Up to now, I have typically felt that whatever I do with horses has been a sort of compromise. Never having owned a horse myself, I have recently mostly been at the mercy of others with vastly different goals from mine. So if I did what I felt was right in my heart, I risked being a disappointment or annoyance to the horse owner who mostly just wanted me to make sure the horse got enough physical exercise (no matter what it took to make the horse move forward). But if I tried to do what I thought would be pleasing to the owner, I felt like I was betraying the horse, since there was very little time left to care for their (or my own) emotional needs. And allowing the horse to have choices was generally a no-no, since it encouraged free thinking, which usually gets a horse in trouble with its owner. Needless to say, I am excited to experience a relationship with a horse and owner in which I don't have to worry about these things! 

I have only spent a few hours alone with Little Love up to now, but already I can say what a different horse she is from the one I met a few years ago in Switzerland. I remember when I first met her while visiting K (not long after the two of them had started to work together), she seemed so reactive and ready to flee if threatened, it was scary for me to walk her in hand from her stall to the wash rack...and her stall was the first one in the barn next to the door that led directly onto the wash rack! :-) Keep in mind that, up until about three years ago, most of my horse experience had been on the backs of these patient creatures. It was really less than three years ago when I first began to experiment with doing anything else, so still today I am not completely confident with myself when walking next to a horse, a rope in my hand attached to its halter or neck. But at one point yesterday, while taking one of my first short experimental walks with Little Love up the road next to the new barn, I suddenly realized how unbelievably calm I felt in her presence. Little Love was not 100% calm, and she clearly does not trust me to be the protector and soother that K has become for her, but she was having an amazing calming effect ON ME. In analyzing this experience later, I think it stems from the fact that I have (as I have seen K do) made a vow to remain as congruent in my emotions, truthful about them, and present with Little Love as I possibly can. And in only a couple of hours alone together, this has already made all the difference for me. Judging from Little Love's behavior and patience with me, I think she appreciates it. Now I hope I can stay true to that vow, and I cannot wait to see where it takes us!