Day 4: Red Pine

That morning, Janice Wagner invited us to watch her give a riding lesson which Jewel and I both really enjoyed and learned a lot from. Then, Damiani’s once again came to the rescue! Kathy picked us up and we headed into Bridgewater for some much needed wifi and messaging. The Rhodenizer’s met us there and took us grocery shopping and back to Red Pine. That night, Janice and Philip Wagner invited us for a BBQ! They made us veggie dogs and veggie shishkabobs, and even home made chocolates! We had a great time, and once again, were so blown away by their generosity and hospitality. We went to bed full and and, at last, the big storm came and we were so grateful to have a proper structure around us as the wind and rain beat down.

I learned so much more about horses while staying with the Wagners. I had wonderful conversations with both Janice and Philip. Philip asked me what I thought the most difficult thing to do was when training a horse. I answered that I thought it would be training the people. He said that too, but the hardest thing to do with a horse was nothing. We always want to fuss over them and do something, it's hard to just do nothing. But sometimes thats the solution. Let the horse process the lesson and figure it out for themselves, and sometimes it's best to just walk away.

The Wagner's also taught us valuable lessons about respect. That our horses aren't pets because, well they weigh 1000lbs and could kill us. I think Jewel and I can forget this sometimes and have established a bit more of "equals" in our relationship. But our horses can't treat us like they would other horses, it would put us in danger. It was really good to be reaffirmed that we can be assertive with them. "Aggressive and assertive are much different things" Janice told me. "All our horses still have their own quirks and personalities, but they respect us."

Jewel and I will take these lessons with us as we continue on our adventure and grow and bond with our horses.