My Natural Horsemanship

My Gypsy Cob and Fell Pony 

Bohemia's India and Inglegarth Harcala

I have two horses that I am finally able to really enjoy without the dread of “how long will this last this time?” My gypsy cob mare, India, came to me as a weanling in 2005 and my Fell pony gelding, Inglegarth Harcala, came to me from across the pond as a stud just under two years old in 2006. My living situation became precarious and, in the fall of 2006, I was forced to leave and move several states away, leaving my horses (kids) behind until I got something figured out. That situation changed again and they needed to move from where they were much sooner than expected. So, with some quick finagling and pleading I made arrangements for them to stay at a wildlife sanctuary over the winter of '07, sharing their lives with lions, tigers, bears, oh but that's not all, wolves, coyotes, llamas, 50 dogs, more cats and lots of volunteers that didn't know beans about horses, but certainly meant well.

Winter came and went fast and I was nowhere nearer an answer than I had been before. I was very close to putting them up for sale and the situation changed again. We were back on the road heading across several states where we had a promise of living accommodations for the summer of '08. It wasn't great, but I took it.

That summer, I played with my kids and built a pretty good rapport with them through being around them all day and also having the opportunity to go for walks with them, get PNH lessons with them and slowly progress as best we could given our situation.

I spent a great deal of time and energy trying to find our next diggs. But I couldn't. The end of summer was approaching quickly and we needed to leave our place with nowhere to go. I finally, at the last minute, made arrangements for my kids to stay somewhere for the winter and I would hit the road, again, in order to find a home for us. My goal was to have made arrangements by mid-March of '09 and be moved in by April. Mid-March came and went quickly, still no idea where we were going.

I was given a reprieve for my horses and while I was sitting in the Arizona desert, my kids up to their hocks in snow in Wisconsin, and having a couple more weeks to get something figured out, I did some deep thinking and soul-searching. Laying on my makeshift cot above the sword booth of the renaissance fair I took a job at, I thought about my goals. I thought about my kids. I thought about where we had already been and what worked and what didn't.

I can tell you that Wisconsin winters did not work for me. The cost of hay and land in South Dakota did not work for me. Being miles away from my kids did not work for me. Being around normal horse-people was not working for any of us. So what was the answer? What kind of people did I want to be around? Whom did I trust to be around my kids? What weather did I like? What could I offer? So, I wrote it all down... all my needs and goals and placed an ad in the place where I thought my kind of people would see it, the Parelli-shoppers-yahoo-group. And I got an answer. A level four Parelli student and horse trainer had a place for me and my kids and I could work off my rent.

So, on my way back to Wisconsin from Arizona, I stopped off in South Carolina... cuz, ya know... it is right on the way. And I met Michelle Donlick, her husband Steve, and her working student. And I felt it was the right place. And I was right. I went home, packed up my rickety steel trailer with all my stuff that hadn't been unpacked for years, stuffed my kids into the back (and I do mean stuffed) said a little prayer for my tires that cost $100 for all four, and we hit the road once more.

Two days later, I opened up the back, my kids disembarked with much more finesse than I expected, and I put them in their new pasture. My Gypsy cob, who is anything but graceful actually floated around with her head higher than I had seen in quite some time. My gelding strutted his stuff up and down the fence line for quite a while. And I breathed a sigh of relief. We might actually finally be home. More to come... part two.

Check out my blog, The Healthy Horseman.