In my last blog I wrote about the beginning of how I got to where I am now, before I had discovered 'natural' horsemanship. It was a really hard couple of years trying to find the right situation for me, but after trying multiple places and none of them working out for some reason or another, I had resigned myself to the fact that horses were a thing of the past. Looking back, I realise these experiences actually taught me a lot and helped me realise my values and define my approach.
After a while, my mum could see that there was a horse-shaped hole in my life so put a shout out on facebook to see if there were any loans or shares where I could practice the kind of horsemanship I believed in. Luckily for me, a lovely lady replied saying sorry she couldn't help, as she only had a 3 year old called Bracken who couldn't be ridden yet. We immediately got in touch, because a couple of years of doing groundwork actually sounded perfect to me! We went to meet him and of course I immediately fell in love. We decided on an arrangement where I could work with him whenever I liked, as she didn't have the time she would like to train him.
Bracken is a bay New Forest pony, with a long, curly mane and tail. He is a total sweetheart and super eager to please. His owner has had him since he was 6 months old, purchased at the New Forest pony auction. She has worked really hard to give him the best life possible, so luckily for me, he didn't really have any past problems or major trauma to work through. However, he was quite pushy and would try to lean on whoever was leading him when he was stressed. I also was terrible at setting boundaries, so we were both struggling a bit.
Luckily, we came across a truly incredible horsewoman called Mandi, and she absolutely saved the day. Me and Bracken started having regular lessons with her, and I found her to be truly inspirational.
I will write all about her in my next blog, thank you for reading!
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