February 2, 2022 – EMM Day 16 Sometimes the best thing you can do for your horse is nothing at all.

Last week, I started getting sick, as I normally do every winter, I seem to get sick for weeks at a time (this time it’s strep) I was feeling pretty bad on Sunday (he gets Sundays off anyway) and by Monday was no better, just kept feeling worse as the day went on. I tried to power through it and work with Sandy on Monday afternoon and his whole energy was different, significantly more fearful of me than normal.

He was acting much like he did on the first day of his training.

Very snorty, and would try to join up to me but kept changing his mind for awhile. When he did finally join up with me he was on high alert the whole time I was working with him. As you all know, horses in general are highly perceptive beings but formerly feral horses are even more so.

Because I was sick and tired, my energy level was incredibly low, low enough that all the other horses I worked Monday were more mellow. But to Sandy, It didn’t matter that my energy was up or down, just that it was different, and this difference was just a lot for him to handle with where he is at in his training. My movement, reactions, and cues were all slightly off because I was sick and this created quite a bit of mistrust for him.

About twenty minutes into the session I accepted that were we not to get anything productive done, so we worked on some simple things then I let him be done. I’m going to give him a few more days off until I’m feeling much better and we will get our bearings next week.

Working with him when I’m not myself is not fair to him. The best training for the next few days is no training at all. Thank you to everyone who reached out to ask about him, we will pick back up with the videos and updates soon!