Off on an intelligent path - Part 3 - Casting the lines

“You muppet, you can put a saddle on, Matthew.  You’ve done it before!”  My self-motivational talk wasn’t really helping.  It’s funny what pressure can do and how it almost always comes from within.  I had put saddles and other tack on before but, for a few seconds, as I looked at the various pieces of equipment on the ground my mind went blank.  Luckily, I had Sandra just outside the round pen who knew exactly what to say and exactly when to say it.  My mind was still buzzing from my second join-up of the week, this time with a lovely pony called Derek, so Sandra gave me a moment to let that soak in before bringing the tack in so that I could start the process of getting ready to long line.  (Long lining is a method of working a horse from the ground, like the more commonly used lunging but with two lines. For more info on long lining I’ll put some links at the end of this post).  I’m used to having a horse tied up whilst putting tack on but I didn’t have that luxury in the round pen, so I fumbled around trying to get the saddle and bridle on whilst getting tangled up in the line I had attached to the head collar.  I’m sure this amused Derek.  With the tack in place, including a stirrup leather to hold the stirrups in place so they don’t bang on the horse’s side, it was time to clip the lines on and get working.  Derek knew what he was doing and responded to my requests to speed up, slow down and turn with no problem at all and he stood wonderfully still while I took all the tack off and made a big fuss of him.

That afternoon I would be doing more long lining, only this time out on the roads.  I genuinely struggle to think of a better way to spend an afternoon.  We got in the car with Ian, who owns and runs the farm and drove for about 5 minutes up the road to some lovely, quiet country lanes.  The ponies, Precious and Gromit,  were  fitted with their training surcingles and lines and off we strolled.  My partner and I were working (if you can call it that) with Gromit.  As we spent the next hour or so wandering through the chocolate box countryside, listening to Ian’s stories, all felt very right in my little world.  I would actually prescribe this activity as a stress reliever.  I went to sleep that night with a  smile on my face.