Day Four High and Wild Adventure

BY: KELSEY SIMPSON

I woke up in a slight panic this morning. First I thought I had slept through breakfast, but when I realized I hadn’t something else entered my mind. “Day four? How is it day four already?” I thought to myself. We only arrived a few, very short days ago and now the trip is already half over! What happened to our week!

But after thinking about it, and how we had come as a group, and as individuals it kind of made sense. When we stepped off the plane we were “newbs”. We acted like “newbs”, we walked like “newbs”. We were true “newbies” to this strange and unique environment. It didn’t matter if you had been on a horse a thousand times or just once. For the most part everyone was on a level playing field. I mean we were dealing with wild horses.

In the beginning we watched Glenn with intensity as he entered the large pen full of horses. I grew up on the back of horse and rodeoed all my life, and yet there was still a sense and almost fear, or apprehension, of the unknown. These weren’t my horses at home (although they can pretend quite well to be wild horses and not come in when I need them to). These horses were foreign and I had no idea what to expect from them. I found out later they also had no idea what to expect from me. Still, the thought of wandering through a pen of over 100 wild horses was worrisome, but we all witnessed Glenn smoothly and casually stroll through the herd and come out unscathed. It appeared like a risky place, one we wouldn’t want to be in, one we probably shouldn’t be in, but today that changed, we changed.

Even though our group ranged from people with zero horse experience to moderate experience, we all grew from that first day and that first impression. We have continuously been pushed (for some forced) out of our comfort zone as we listened, learned and experienced new things or reinforced old things to a higher level everyday. This results in varying levels of newfound confidence. A confidence no one was looking for but we all gained.

Today we continued to work on horses that needed some yearly maintenance. Yes they sound like cars in need of an oil change or a tune-up, but cars are maintained more than once a year and these horses are not. Some needed their feet trimmed while others had injuries to attend to. Some needed a good wipe down while others just needed quality time around people.

Just a chance to work with such horses, to learn and grow in confidence with them was an amazing feeling. We were not allowed to just come in and work with these horses; we had to earn the privilege. Over the days I have observed how Glenn is assigning more difficult tasks and challenges to different people, while allowing them to gradually increase their ability to handle the challenges offered.

Today everyone pitched in to catch the horses, spending time with each one to identify anything that they could help with (or fix themselves), and if not, then be able to bring it to Glenn’s attention for help. For some that once feared the large pen of wild horses, were now able to go and aid in helping the herd get through another year.

We have one 2 year old that has an abscess, two days ago she was assigned to two of the participants to soak the horses foot. Can you imagine a horse that has only been haltered one or two times ever in her life to allow us to place her foot in a bucket full of water? The two took on the challenge, and applied Glenn’s program and principles. They worked at their own speed and the speed necessary for the little mare to learn, building trust and confidence in themselves and in the horse. The first day it took them a little over an hour for the horse to comfortably place the abscessed foot into the bucket. But today they were able to walk right up to her, and after a moment of greeting they were able to bring the bucket of medicated water over, lift the foot and place it right in the bucket like they had been doing it for years.

These are the kinds of things most people in the group have found so rewarding. We are all learning that our actions either individually, or as a group, will help aid the herd and the horses, and their overall quality of life. Even though we all came here with varying levels of knowledge and experience with horses, we all did what we could to help because of our common interest, the horses standing before us.  I am so impressed about the health and quality of the horses in the herd. 110 horse’s all shinny coats, clear bright eyes, and I have not heard one horse cough

You could tell people had grown more relaxed with the horses and themselves. They weren’t afraid to ask Glenn for help or advice, but they also weren’t afraid to try it out for themselves. After spending countless hours trying to pick up on the slightest details of Glenn’s skills, it was rewarding to think that it had paid off. It didn’t matter if we had never lead a horse before or if we grew up on the back of one. Everyone’s skills and self confidence are improving by leaps and bounds each day in this environment.

It is interesting to me how little people in the more “traditional” horsemanship world learn and change each day, or how little the horses learn and change each day. I have found here the changes in horses and horsemanship have been extreme.

These experiences we have shared far exceeds our horsemanship. It is all spilling over to our everyday lives.

None of us will leave the same people we were when we arrived, all due to the experiences we are sharing.

Find out more about Glenn Stewart at his website and his Facebook page. Also check out his educational video on his Youtube Channel.