With age comes a certain wisdom...

Over the past 3 years, I've learned a lot. I've learned that each horse is an individual with his or her own personality. Sunni IS what he is. Gigondas IS what she is. Quad IS what he is. Beauty WAS what she was...a friendly, loving, caring, patient, intelligent horse! Just like my current German Shepherd, Rommel, is different from our other two German Shepherds that we've had. He is the most mellow of the three. Our first one, Metternich, would have taken on ANY male that approached me. Yes, with FANGS showing and a deep growl. He was my protector. Our second male shepherd, Maverick, also completely guarded me and growled at everyone who came to the house. He hated every vet we ever took him too, except one old guy at PetSmart who told him to "Knock it off" when Maverick growled at him. And, he gave him a cookie and patted him on the head. Rommel loves everybody. I've never even heard him growl. And, he is the one with the most physical problems. BUT, his personality has allowed him to continue to be the mellow gentleman that he is. Quad was bred to race, but he prefers to walk everywhere and look and smell the roses and enjoy the air! Gigondas was bred to race, and she LOVES to run! In fact, she wants to run EVERYWHERE, so we have to slow her down. Sunni...(sigh...) Sunni is Sunni...we don't know what kind of life he had his first year, but obviously, there is still some fear there. Fear of things that move, fear of unknown shadows. Cali, on the other hand, and Scout, are totally UNafraid of anything. Must be a mustang thing. Every horse is different, just like every dog is different, and each of us are different. No one training program fits ALL our horses. I guess it's time for me to really reflect and decide what each horse REALLY needs. Sunni needs a LOT of groundwork. Gigondas needs a little bit and she'll be ready to ride (hopefully). Quad IS rideable and now that his feet have healed and he has recovered from his colic, I would love to have Valerie ride him and see how he does. Cali and Scout are both ready for their groundwork. BUT...the days are getting shorter. The mornings are cool, and even COLD in the mountains. Soon I'll be running out of daylight during the week...time to train the horses during the week is drawing to a close as summer ends. I'll have to do what I can on the weekends. Valerie will be bringing her horses down to the desert soon and she'll be closer to me, but further from my horses. Ahhhh...the changing of the seasons.