Home Coming

I had another blog all written; however, having been away from our American Curly Horses for 18 days brought another subject to mind.  Often when a human is away from their horse or horses there will be a “testing” of sorts when they return.  Curly Horses are, after all, horses so one may expect them to behave appropriately.  I expected, at the very least, our youngest Curlies to test my leadership abilities by trying to make me back-up or seeing if they can bite me and get away with it. 

I flew in Tuesday evening and after arriving home joined in doing chores with my husband.  As I brought the food buckets into each paddock, I was amazed to find that not one Curly horse behaved as if I had been gone more than an hour or two.  Not one chose to test me as they often test the leadership of a fellow horse, a new human, or even one who they know but haven’t seen for a few days.  When the testing didn’t happen I thought it might be related to the fact that I had food in my hands, so then watched for it the following morning when I did not.  Yet over the ensuing days not one horse has tested me.

Not even in the least do I believe it is because they are Curly Horses, neither do I feel that it was a fluke.  I do think that it is a testament to the relationship I have built with each horse from my oldest *Glory, at 24 years of age, to my youngest *Andrea of only 17 months.  I try to always show them that I am steady, trustworthy, and consistent.  That allows them to feel safe and to know their place in the hierarchy.

Here’s hoping that each of you have the chance to develop such a deep and lasting relationship with your Curly.

(Please excuse the delay in posting.  I arrived home from Indiana, where I had been for the birth of a grandson, only to find that my computer’s hard drive had developed problems.  Thankfully, Chuck was able to replace it and save all my data.)