07/20/2026
Appreciation doesnât even begin to describe how I was feeling last nightâŚ
Arrow is the last horse I work 99% of the days I work him. And honestly, thatâs largely because he is my most trained personal horse. Client horses always come first, followed by my priority project horses, followed by my newer personal horses, and then itâs finally Arrowâs turn. He always gets the tired, overwhelmed, frustrated, annoyed, and checked out version of me, and yet he still works hard for me. I often end his training sessions feeling better than I started and he usually manages to make me get caught in the moment and lose track of time. There have been several times recently that I didnât realize it had gotten dark outside until I was leaving the pasture.
Yesterday, I got up early to drive 2 hours to teach a clinic(which was so fun, thanks everyone for coming!), drove 2 hours home, ran some errands, and worked 5 other horses before I got to Arrow. Tired and brain fried is an understatement for how I was feeling and I almost didnât work him. But then I decided to aim for 10 minutes of quality work and Iâd say we got some stuff done! Iâve never asked him to go straight from maneuver to maneuver like this before, weâve always gone straight for a few strides in between or gone from one to another, but never strung this many maneuvers and adjustments together at once. While I see plenty of room for improvement, Iâm quite happy with how it went! I was so tired, I donât think I could have told you which direction was left and which was right, so naturally my body positioning and energy were a little off, but Arrow took responsibility and filled in the gaps I was missing. Itâs a pretty big deal for him to pick up the slack like that. It made me pause and appreciate all of the time Iâve put into him and into all of the tiny pieces that fit together so nicely tonight. All of those days that I wanted to give him the night off but didnât, all of those short sessions that most would overlook, are adding up and paying off in the best way.