YEEHAAA

 My Experience with Joe 

First of all, I never imagined the kind of experience I could have talking to a horse. I was skeptical and nervous because, even though I had ridden horses before, I had never really gotten up front and personal with one. As we walked through the stalls for an introduction, I basically walked through, timid, and when I was asked to lead one of the horses out to the corral I was a little scared.     

Once inside the corral, we spent some time just observing the horses as they interacted with one another. Then we wrote our 0bservationss down and discussed them. We shared who we thought were the bullies or who were victims, and answered several questions of how we thought the horses would react in different situations. That got our minds moving.
    

Next, we engaged in an activity. Our task was to coax a horse of our choosing to follow us across the arena to the Officials who would be standing on the opposite side of the corral. But, we could not touch the horse or use any object to coax it. All we could use was our body language and voice. That turned out to be a difficult venture. 

I chose a small black and white spotted pony named Joe. My partner chose another pony, brown in color. As I walked toward my chosen pony, I saw that he was shielded by the bigger horses. No matter what I did to gain access to the pony, the big horses would cut me off and protect the pony. At one point is looked like one of the big horses was talking to the pony and giving instruction, then they all bounded away and headed straight for a pen in the far corner of the corral. Once in the pen, I deemed it unsafe for me to enter and stopped at the opening, trying to coax the pony to come out. He almost came to me, but I realized I had blocked the exit so he was afraid to move forward. I stood there, frustrated and trying to be patient.  That’s when the Officials called us back.
    

This time, we were given a new ‘tool’ to help us out. We could choose any object we wanted, to entice the ponies to follow or get them to go in the direction we wanted. My partner chose a flag and began waving it at the pony and waved her hands to make the pony go a different direction. I didn’t see any object that I felt would be of any use, but I grabbed a rubber step stool I had seen the pony playing with, earlier. Both ponies were cornered in the side of the corral and the flag seemed to spook them into running away. I didn’t find any use for the stool, so dropped it along the way. 

The Officials asked us if we would feel more success by using Team Work. We decided to give that a try. My partner continued to try waving the flag and we decided to concentrated on my pony and let the other one go. We managed to get them cornered but each time the flag was used the pony would flee. So, we decided that I would move forward and change our position.  My partner backed off, still holding the flag, and I moved toward the pony putting my arms out toward him.
     

The first thing I noticed was the pony had a look of curiosity. So, I put one arm out as I got closer to the pony. He didn’t move away, but began sniffing at my arm.  I was able to get closer to the pony and calm it down by talking softly and letting it smell my arm. I kept repeating, “It’s ok. It’s ok, You’re ok.”

As I spoke, the pony shook his head as if to say “No”. I continued affirming and all of a sudden the pony looked up at me, sniffed my shirt, and when I pointed and told him to follow me over to the spot I wanted him to go, he began to follow me. 

   

I did it! I gained the trust of this little pony. The Officials congratulated me and I was then able to pet the pony. As we all walked back across the arena,  I didn’t realize it until I turned around, that Joe was still following me. I made a friend and he trusted me. What an awesome feeling. Tears welled up in my eyes and all I could do was cry, knowing I had been successful in the task of gaining trust without harming or even touching this beautiful creature. It was the most touching experience that I will not forget. Thank you for allowing me to participate in such a wonderful  opportunity. 

Esther Manning, June 18, 2016