Update on Dakota's hoof

The farrier was out today and the hoof that was cut away to drain the abscess has healed up nicely. No more duct-tape boot, thank goodness!!!! He also said he sees a bit of thrush around the outer rim of her hoof. I clean them daily, but where she was, she was standing in very clay-ridden mud for a good deal of the time! There is lots of that around here. Her new paddock is MUCH drier and her feet are already better. But I'm going to treat her for a bit of thrush. It's strange, because I've had several horses over many years and never had thrush to deal with. Then again, I always treated their soles with iodine, which my vet and farrier both advised against, saying it really didn't do anything.

I'm not convinced! The farrier definitely thinks the abscess was caused by the front of her soles being a bit thrushy! So back to my old protocol.

Okay, these latest posts are so exciting, but it's been a big deal. I am greatly relieved that he has found a clear cut reason for her abscess and I feel I have a way to prevent more of them!

I feel badly, because of what I took her from. I know someone else would have bought her, and she may or may not have had a herd to be in, grass to walk on and eat. Who knows? But I'm doing my very best and hope I'm giving her a good life. For sure, she couldn't possibly be more loved, and I am very committed to doing the very best I can to do right by my little girl.

Dakota's hoof!

Well, her hoof seems to be better. She isn't limping any longer, but I'm continuing to pack her foot with sugar and iodine and make duct-tape boots each day. She's been pretty tolerant, but the experience of being in a stall for a week has brought out her inner brat! Ha! She has been rather pissy and acting dominant, etc. All things I can deal with thanks to the Parelli work, which usually gets things shifted pretty quickly. I've been taking it very easy with her because of her foot, but she is entering her 'teenage' years as she approaches being two, and I need to keep these behaviors in close check. Luckily, with the work I'm doing with her, and can achieve that in a good way. I just got a Level 1/2 DVD from Parelli and it is really, really helpful! I've been learning from videos from the site and a borrowed older DVD, but this fills in many gaps. I keep getting, over and over, how it's not about the horse but about ME. I feel like right now I'm training me not the horse! Though she gets to learn with me.

Anyway, I'm anxious to get back to work. I changed paddocks in the hopes that this one will be less muddy and I never have to deal with another abscess! I have never had a horse get an abscess before, mostly because I had a lot more control over what my horses stood in all day and I've always been very diligent about taking care of their feet. No matter where she is at this stables, she's in mud at least part of the time. Being young, she has feet that are still forming, thin soles, etc. Plus there are plenty of sharp rocks around, which is what the vet things punctured her sole. So I have my work cut out for me to make sure this never happens again!

I'm sad...

On Saturday, Dakota came up lame. The vet came out Sunday AM and immediately (and easily) found an abscess on her hoof. She will be fine, and is already feeling better, but it's been hard on us both. She has had to stay indoors in a stall, and does not like it one bit! She's been outdoors her whole life, so being cooped up all day is not making her at all happy! For me, it's taken away the most fun part of my life here in Ashland. My two hours with Dakota is taken up with making duct-tape boots and getting Dakota to stand still long enough to put it on. I hope her abscess heals quickly and she never, ever gets another one!

Of course I am grateful it is something simple to treat and not one of the horrible things that ran through my mind when she first came up lame!!

Today we had sun!

It's been very cold and wet here in Ashland this past week. Even had some snow! But today, Sunday, we had sun!! So we bundled up and took the family out for a walk.

It was beautiful! I finally got a picture of John with the kids! You can't see his face because of his big, fat hat! Next time I'll make him take it off.

Dakota was in a rather bratty mood. Mostly she wanted to eat grass and do nothing else, but the walk was good for her. She was breathing a bit heavily at the end. She needs lots of conditioning! It will be harder to get her conditioned in the winter months, but I'll do my best! We are doing a lot more with Parelli games and there is so much more to learn. Should keep us pretty busy during the cold, wet months. We'll do lots of circling game to get her in shape. Me too!

Scenery

Some scenery from our walks. John takes great pictures!

Dakota's first day of school!

Today was a banner day for Dakota! I joined Pat Parelli's Savvy Club when I got Dakota so I could log in and see videos and access resources to help me learn natural horsemanship. I hooked up with a local group of Savvy Clubbers who get together each month for a 'play date.' Today was our first play date, and the second biggest event in Dakota's young life up till now, the first being the day I brought her home, of course.

There were 14 horses and owners there to play together and learn from each other. Everyone there knows more than I do about Parelli work, but it didn't matter. Dakota did GREAT! She loaded on and off the trailer well and did everything I asked of her, despite the bigness and newness of the situation. Pictured to the right is Trish and her horse, Mystic, who boards at my barn and took us and our horses to the play date! She has been a generous friend to me.

We did a lot of fun stuff, working online and at liberty with our horses. Well, they did liberty. I don''t work Dakota that way just yet. We've done a bit of work at liberty, but mostly Dakota sticks to me like glue and I haven't pressed it. I've only just started sending her away. She's still young and I want to build her trust and confidence in me and in our relationship.

Here are some photos from the day:

A long post, but it was a good day...

Wrote this two days ago after an amazing inner 'breakthrough' with Dakota:

I am so excited I wanted to share this with someone! I watch Parelli videos from the Savvy site just about every night and then trying things the next day. Each night I go to bed thinking about what I want to do with Dakota, then I do it. I've been making some headway with it, but really, it hadn't yet really 'clicked.' I was doing a little bit of what I was seeing, but not really getting it, not really getting to the level of real communication with Dakota. And not really understanding the basic principles of the communication.

Well, today something clicked. I watched and watched videos of him doing demos with different horses. How he moves, how he communicates with the horses. I started to feel a shift in my understanding of it. Not in my head, but deeper. I went in today realizing that I was doing some things that could create long term problems. More force related, getting her to do things with more force than I wanted. Parelli is such a master at knowing how to work with the horse with a great deal of compassion, and to teach the horse in a very interactive, patient, yet highly effective way that happens very quickly!

I'm just scratching the surface, I know, but today things were very different. I had an absolute blast, and I think Dakota did too! She is a LBI for sure, and it's been hard to get her to move her feet, get motivated, all the usual stuff. Today she was interested, curious, moving, and very willing. I did not use any force at all. Encouragement, firmness, but no force. And we did way more than we usually do. I realized from reading some Q&A online as well as watching Pat that I was being way to cautious with her. I could feel she was ready for much more.

So today we tried all kinds of things. She has the basics of the first five games down, especially the first two. Driving game is coming along really well, and I'm taking my time with it. But she's definitely getting it. I had just started the yo-yo and circling games with her at the end of last week, but today, we really went for it. I released the second she moved in the right way, and then repeated and really got her moving. This was the first day she trotted a full circle without me really have to apply more pressure than I wanted to! And we did driving game around the arena at a fun walk, did circling through ever smaller slits through barrels on their sides. I let her take her time, use her innate intelligence and curiosity, and we both had a great time!

I definitely use treats with her as occasional rewards, which really helps keep her interested and having fun with it. But mostly it's just making things fun and interesting. I realize too that she learns things so quickly, I need to keep being inventive about how to teach her while we do it in different ways. Like doing driving game with all kinds of obstacles and mixing it up each day. Same with circling. Then I can do some regular circles in between, practice yo-yo games, the others. In the midst of things that are not the same every day.

Tomorrow I'm doing to do yo-yo between barrels. I need to buy a tarp and work with that. Use poles. The whole world is opening up and I'm so excited!! And it was thrilling to see her today, also excited. Happy. Having fun. Getting lots of scratches and praise and treats. I could see her really feeling some pride, if that is the right word. She gets it when I let her know she did really well and is happy. The greatest thrill was in the yo-yo and circling games, when I bend down and welcome her in and she turns and comes up to me with her ears forward, excited and happy.

I know tomorrow may be totally different, that there will be many ups and downs. I've worked with horses my whole life and know how it goes. But today, I'm basking in the joy and happiness I feel with the level of communication and fun Dakota and I had together. I love that horse so deeply, and it's so good to feel confident that I am learning, and because I'm learning she is able to learn too.

Another gorgeous day

Just got back from a women's retreat in beautiful Buckhorn Springs. This picture was taken Friday, before the retreat, when John, Mila, Dakota, the barn dog Buddy, and myself all took a nice long walk. Dakota of course had a great time eating grass and I actually use grass as a training aid, which works great for her! I didn't see her, or John, or Mila for two days, which was hard, but the retreat was really good. But today, I couldn't wait to get out to see Dakota! I didn't spend as much time with her, just enough for a bit of training. It is really windy and quite brisk, but omg, it was so beautiful. There were intermittent clouds, dramatic and beautiful, mist in the mountains, oranges and rust colors everywhere, and it was dusk by the time I drove away from the barn and then took Mila for a long walk. It is breathtakingly beautiful here at times. I'm so grateful to be here, and know how lucky I am! John semi-retires and will be here full time by the end of the year--just 1.5 months away, and then it will be complete! One thing I realized at the retreat this weekend. I really LOVE my life. We will have to deal with some issues concerning making enough income et al when John is down here for good, but I welcome the challenge and love that we will be building our life down here in earnest! Until then, I walk alone with Dakota and Mila and on Fridays and weekends, John joins me. And Buddy of course, who joins us whenever he is around and sees us heading out. He is a wonderful, calm, gentle soul who is very good for Mila to hang around. And Dakota too. A gentle teacher for them both and a good friend to me...

Day in the life of a horse...

Today we took a very long walk. Might be the last day we can do so for a while. It's definitely becoming winter down here in Ashland. We're in for rain and cold days and nights for a while. It will be hard to find ways to keep Dakota engaged and enjoying our time, being stuck indoors. We are fortunate to have a nice big indoor arena, but it gets boring for her and for me to be in it too long. There is much to learn for us both, so I'll do my best to keep in interesting.

In the meantime, it was a beautiful day today. I love being with my little Dakota (all 775 lbs of her!) and we took a very long walk in the sun, discovering the edges of the area we walk in. There are fences, with locked gates, on the other side of a very large field which took us over an hour to get to. It is too bad, since on the other side of the locked gates is open country, and it would be great fun to be able to just keep going. Eventually I'll need to get a truck and trailer to haul us both to mountain country. For now, the fields will do. There is a lot we have yet to discover there and we can walk for hours...

Btw, the vet promises she will lose that hay belly she's cultivating, and her withers are already starting to catch up with her back end...

Weather turning

The weather is definitely cooling here in Ashland. We have some lovely days, but also some cold, wet ones. Not wet like in Portland, though. Hardly any steady rain, but intermittent stuff. One day rained all day and really made things nice and muddy. The dirt at the stables clings to our feet (and hooves) creating huge balls of mud. Not fun to walk on. We walk slowly along the pathways through the paddocks, it's so slippery.

Dakota is definitely losing weight. She's getting extra hay and I'm starting her on some feed and vitamin supplements to help. Alan the stable owner recommends rice bran, which I may also start her on if she doesn't pick up weight soon. It's the cooling weather for sure, and also her change of diet (from non-stop grass to hay) as well as her growth spurts. She has had a really good start, a good foundation, now it's up to me to keep it going. I still feel bad that she is no longer with her herd, in the idyllic setting she grew up in. But it's the life of a domesticated horse. Someone was going to buy her. I feel good it was me. She'll have a good life with me.

But the main thing now is consistency and training. My two weeks (almost) off having the flu set her back a bit. She's gotten a bit bratty again. So back to daily Parelli work and then our walks. We both have a LOT to learn!

Cold, wet, and beautiful!

Today was an interesting day. It's the third day that I feel 'over the hump' with that wicked flu I had. I've been able to take Dakota for a walk yesterday and today we played a bit. I think I confused her a bit with trying to get her to move around the pen. But I think I figured out a way to be unconfusing in my messsages! We both continue to learn, me as much as her! Then we spent about a half hour in her run in waiting for the hay truck to arrive. She is soooo darned sweet. I stand with her and scratch her and she gets closer and closer. She is extremely affectionate with me at such times. We get more and more familiar with each other, and easy in the relationship.

This ground time with her, man, I can't even imagine not having this as a foundation. We are getting to know each other on rather profound levels. More than with any other horse I've ever had, trained, or ridden, save for perhaps my experience with Grey, the horse I rode on my vision quest. I could have had this kind of connection with him. Both Quarter Horses. I started with QHs when I started to get really serious with horses at 13 yrs., then it was all Thoroughbreds and Warmblood mixes. Now, I'm so grateful to be getting to know Quarter Horses again. They are smart as hell, solid-feeling, athletic. I don't really know how Dakota will turn out physically. I think she'll be a big, athletic girl like her dad. But I am getting to know her personality, and I love it and I LOVE her!! Okay, enough prattle. It was another good day with Dakota. I daydream (and night dream) about what she will be like when she's all grown up and what it will be like to ride her in the mountains. Until then, we get to know each other and play and take long walks...

Poor Dakota

She has been abandoned by her human mom, ME! I've had a really bad flu for almost two weeks and have hardly been able to see her. She definitely seems to miss me and the attention (and the grass) I give her. Today I'm starting to feel more like I'm getting well, so I hope to take her for a short walk and play with her a bit more than I've been able to. We had a nice rhythm going, training and walks in the morning, grooming, handling of feet, then just hanging out, eating grass, spending time together in the evenings. I hope I can get back to that. Harder too now that the weather is cooling rapidly. There is snow in the mountains around Ashland and it's been cold in the mornings and evenings. Dakota has her woolly winter coat, which is good.

Post rattlesnake...

After our rattler encounter, we decided to play it a little safer for a few days. So we hiked around a canal and turned off to find lush grass and this pond, where we stopped and played a bit. Mila had a great time splashing in the water and Dakota greatly appreciated the tall green grass. Still on the lookout for rattlers, though...







In this photo, you can see how 'downhill' Dakota is! She's on a slant which makes it look worse, but still... This is very typical of youngsters her age and, judging by the height and legginess of her hind end, she's going to be a big girl!! She already is, topping out at over 750 pounds! Of course some of that is due to that grass/hay belly of hers and a year of lounging around on pasture made up of the most excellent quality grass!

Rattlesnake excitement!!

We walk often in the foothills around Ashland for long periods of time. One day, my dog, Mila, stumbled over a snake. I turned to see it kind of jump and then turn and coil as it started to rattle! I said "Mila, COME!!" and, fortunately for us all, she did immediately. John was trailing behind and shot this photo, just as I turned to see the snake and Mila stopped to look at it. The next moment would have looked quite different than this as Mila, Dakota and I sped up the hill, away from the pissed-off snake!! A close call to be sure!! I'm presently researching all I can about rattlesnakes and rattlesnake bites!!

Where we walk

Some photos of the foothills and mountains around the stables and around Ashland where we walk:

Had a visit with a trainer

Her name is Della and she was so helpful!! I'm very psyched about connecting with the Parelli community in Ashland! Parelli, for those that don't know, is a method of natural horsemanship that teaches both human and horse how to build a cooperative relationship, a partnership really. It requires that the human partner learn to speak 'horse,' not verbally of course. What is interesting about speaking horse is that it is mostly body language that is involved! And connecting with the horse through the body, hers and mine. The training aids merely help us connect up in a way that the communication can happen. Such interesting stuff! I joined what is called the Savvy Club and there is a great local community in the area Della invited me to be part of. Can it get any better than this??

Dakota is definitely showing her age. I mean her young age! She can be pretty bratty at times, but she is also sweet and confident and very smart, which I love! The Parelli work really suits her and she is responding to it well.

At the farm

Here is a photo of John and I when we visited Dakota in the evening. Mila joined us as well.

Success!!

One of my biggest problems with Dakota has been to get her to eat her vitamins!! Having been on green grass pasture for the past year and much of her young life, she had never seen an apple or a carrot, nor had she been fed grain. Her vitamins are pellets, which she looked at with utter disinterest. I did buy some molasses and oat cookies that she nibbled a couple of times (including during her lessons today, as pictured on the left--that's her munching a cookie), so I thought I'd keep trying things with molasses in it. I made a concoction of molasses and her vitamins and some of those cookies all ground up and mixed together. And today, SUCCESS! She didn't eat it all and she played with it a lot, but she DID eat some (pic on right)! You don't know! I was worried about this, since she needs her vitamins. She is a growing girl, after all!!

She's also doing really well with her lessons. Today I sent her away, which is the precursor and foundation of all future round pen and longeline work. She follows me everywhere, so it was hard to send her away and it confused her a bit. But before long I could see the gears moving and something clicked and she moved forward for a time without my urging. I then invited her back in and she came right up. This horse learns quickly and easily. My only problem with her will be keeping her interested and from getting bored. I understand, since I also bore easily!

Dakota at dusk in her pen. You can see the smokey haze left over from our two fires.














In her run-in. I often visit her in the late afternoons or evenings and we stand together in her run-in, very relaxed, just hanging out. It's been good bonding. She steps in closer and closer as we stand, eventually resting her nose on my arm. She loves being close and I think gets lonely without her herd. She has made friends with the large black horse next to her named Shadow. How appropriate...

She's doing great!

Dakota is a great horse! Let me just say that once and for all. Today was a good day. She stood quietly for grooming and let me pick up all her feet, including her right hind leg which for some reason she really does NOT want to lift! We ran together in the big arena and she followed me around like a puppy. I'm trying to get her to move away from me and work in the round pen, but I'll have to read more about how to do that. She is stuck to me like glue. She learned some new things, like the command 'back' along with different hand signals. We are starting to learn the 'yo-yo' game (Google Parelli games). She doesn't get it yet, but I can see her trying to figure it out. She seems to really like to learn and learns fast! She remembers almost everything I teach her the first time. Not used to that! I used to work with horses that were much more 'hot' and tense and harder to teach. I've decided Dakota is a 'left-brained introvert' in Parelli horsenality language. She could be a LB extrovert, but I don't think that is her tendency. She is confident and strong-willed, but not overly so. She learns very quickly but I need to balance her by teaching her to be more sensitive and move forward. I think this will be her 'learning curve,' though getting her as a youngster makes all the difference! Whatever tendencies she has can be balanced so much more easily in a young horse than an older horse.

Here is something I wrote on facebook yesterday:

My horse got her feet trimmed today. Saw the vet on Thursday. She is so sweet and lovely...when she's not being a bratty teenage yearling! Her face was too big for the fly mask my friend Trish gave me. She's going to be a big girl!!! I stood with her for an hour in her run-in and she snuggled against my arm and whinnied when I left...I love her...

First day

If there is a heaven on earth, I surely was there this morning. I went out to see Dakota for our first day together in her new home. Surrounded by mountains, lying in a valley, the stables itself is a place to visit! What a beautiful, peaceful setting. Allen, the stable owner, is funny, kind and very laid back. And he takes excellent care of the horses et al. It seems like a really nice, unpretentious group out there! My kind of folk!

Dakota was eating peacefully, though apparently there was a bit of whinnying for her herd last night. The rest of the stables responded, so I'm sure she felt welcomed and comforted by that! It must have made a bit of a din at the time, but she seems to have accepted things very well. We went for a long walk around her new home, walking down the aisles of other outdoor pens, getting to know the other horses a bit. We went into the barn, spent some time in each arena. She sniffed and explored many things. Even manure tubs are new and surprising to her! And the sound poop makes when I dump it into a bucket (have to clean up after my horse, after all!). I let her off her lead in the arenas, but she stuck to my side like she was glued there. Or attached by a long rubber band. She'd go towards something to look at it, then immediately come back to my side. In her pen, if I even go to momentarily check something out she follows. I feel like a horse whisperer, because it is just like that. She follows every move I make. So interesting how that behavior is imprinted in horses!

We did some foot lifting. Definitely have to keep working that one, but she learns quickly and we made progress. I can touch and scratch her everywhere. I threw my jacket on her back, rubbed her with it, tossed it around on her head (doesn't make a very good hat), did all kinds of crazy things with it and she didn't budge. So I guess she trusts me! We are doing some yielding work as well. She's doing great with that though she definitely has a 'piggy' side. Her left side moves away quickly and she will yield her left legs to me no problem. Right side, a bit more stubborn!! So that is her piggy side, the one she'll be pushier with. Harder to get her to yield, to pick up those feet, especially her right back foot. She also has a bump on her pastern, so it may be a little painful too.

But she's learning and I'm amazed and happy at her progress. She's a smart horse with tons of common sense, which will come in very handy on our adventures to come! Yay, Dakota!!!!!

All moved in!

Yesterday we moved Dakota from the place where she was born and lived her whole life up till now. She'd been handled as a weanling then turned out with the herd of brood mares and babies, where she'd lived for the past year. A good life for a horse to lead! A beautiful pasture and great socialization while living a more natural life. But she hasn't been handled much, so it was a huge deal to bring her in from the herd and start to work with her. She did really great. Not a big fuss when we brought her in, and she learned things very quickly. She went from not letting anyone touch her past the neck to letting me touch every inch of her body in about five minutes! Gotta love those natural horsemanship techniques! Then I started teaching her a little about how to yield to my touch. She picked that up very quickly. And we did lots of walking around with the halter and lead. She showed herself to be a very quick learner, confident and calm.

But I was VERY nervous about moving her. She'd had about four days of handling and not as much of it as she should have had for such a big event. It was hard to get out to her since she was about 40 minutes away. She did not load immediately as I hoped she would, but got up to the ramp then stopped. While John chronicled the whole thing (link to photos), I led her in, or tried to, and Allen, the owner of the new stable we were bringing her to, and Robert, the ranch hand at the old stable, both worked to put more pressure on her to get into the trailer. It took about 15 minutes or so, but at one point, she finally decided to go in and once in, she stayed in! I did what I had thought about doing all along, which is to ride with her in the trailer! I think Allen thought I was kind of nuts, but it seemed the right thing to do. I'm really glad I did. She of course was pretty surprised when the earth, i.e., the trailer, started to move! It was a bumpy beginning, since the road we were on was gravel. She pulled a bit, tossed her head a bit, stomped loudly and snorted a bit. But that didn't last long and she settled down nicely. I believe it was very helpful that I was with her. I wanted her first trailer experience to be as non-traumatic as possible, and without the presence of an older horse to guide her, she had me! We did a good deal of bonding in that situation, and I got to see what a horse goes through while being trailered. It's a lot of work for them to compensate for all the moving! It's also very noisy and there are lots of sudden jolts and bumps.

All-in-all, I think Dakota did really well. She was so calm by the time we got there that she backed out very easily and slowly. She was very curious about her new environment, but the only time she seemed a little wary was when she saw dogs for the first time. Understandable, since they are a predator species! Mostly she was very alert and curious, and when we got to her pen, she went right in and started sniffing the place out. She nibbled some weeds and a bit of her hay, and followed me around wherever I went. Allen stayed out with me for a bit, then John and I spent a bit of time with her. I had planned to take John home then come back, but it was late and I was tired and she needed to settle in. So I said my goodbyes and John and I went home. Dakota watched me as I left.

It was a huge day for all of us, for me, John and Dakota! But now she is five minutes away in a lovely stables under the good care of Allen and surrounded by other horses and horse people. I feel we are both in very good hands! And I get to see her any time I want. I plan this morning to wait till she's eaten, then head out and take her all around the property to check out her new home. I have to start working with her in earnest now. Do a lot more of what we have started to do, learning trust and respect, working with her to pick up her feet, getting her used to being handled, then some round pen work to try more new techniques and learn more new things. I plan on many long, long walks with her, taking her to the places I'll eventually ride her through. We are off to quite an adventure. I felt like, riding with her in the trailer, she and I were crossing a threshold together into a whole new life. I'm so glad I shared that moment with her.

More to come...

She's a yearling

She's going to get taller and a good deal bigger. No riding for a while. No saddle until the spring when I'll introduce her to the saddle and slowly build on that. She's quite young and I have a lot of time to prepare for the bigger stuff! I love having a young one to train!

I have a horse!

On September 11, 2009, the anniversary of a profound and pivotal event in our collective consciousness, I have begun my own healing by inaugurating this day with something amazing and wonderful. I am the proud owner of a new horse! Her registered name is Peacocks Hottie, and I chose to not use that name! No offense to the wonderful breeder, Bill Warne, though I'm not sure who actually named her that. I don't go much in for registered names unless they happen to fit the horse. I believe each entity has its own name that represents its essential nature. The name that was coming to me for several months before I found this little filly was 'Cody.' I didn't feel much connection with it and find it to be an 'okay' name, but nothing special. After meeting my new best friend, I thought about it some more and thought that perhaps it was a nickname for something else. As soon as I had this thought, Dakota popped into my head! Dakota. A lovely name that means 'friend' or 'ally' in Lakota Sioux, according to online sources! Perfect. And what is the nickname for Dakota? Koti! So it wasn't Cody but Koti that I kept hearing. And this is her name. Dakota. Koti for short!

How I found her: I had heard from a friend about a fellow who needed to sell off some of his horses. I went out and found a collection of some of the most beautiful Quarter Horses I've seen in a very long while! All from ages 6 mos. to several years old. The horses he is selling are mostly young ones. He showed me 2 two-year-olds that were lovely. Then a group of yearlings (around 1.5 years old), two of whom I really liked. Liked, but didn't go 'yes, that's the one.' I stood there, unable to decide between them, liking qualities of both. Bill then said he had another yearling out with the 'wild ones,' meaning the herd that lived in a large pasture. They are not true wild horses, but they are largely left alone, which meant that, while she'd had some handling as a weanling, not much had been done with her. We went out for a long ride on his scooter and there she was, among a family of horses. She came right up, ate hay from my hand, and I watched her for a while. Then, I approached her and, while she was shy, she was very curious and willing. I was able to scratch her all around her head and neck and it was when she closed her eyes and leaned into my hand, which was scratching around her ears, that I felt the 'yes, this is the one!' She was so sweet and what I got from her was that she was totally ready to connect with a human, with me, but just needed the chance to do it.

I came back the next day and got a halter on her very easily, then we led her in. She did really great and went right into her pen. For the next three days, until today, I've been over working with her. She has come along so quickly I think it surprised everyone! She's beautiful and intelligent and curious. She learns very quickly and remembers everything I teach her. It sticks! Today I bought her and got her papers and she is all mine. With animals, I'm not sure what that means to say 'she is mine.' Nor with inanimate things. How can something that has its own integrity and, in her case, life be "mine." But still, she is mine to take, to play with, to love, to teach, to learn from. She has shown herself so far to be willing and highly interested in learning new things.

Tomorrow night is a huge test. I pack her up onto a trailer and move her to her new home, Ashland Hills Stables. It's about a half hour drive and will be traumatic for her in a way. So many new experiences for her. And a brand new place to be. The stables is five minutes from my house, so I'm ecstatic. Just have to get through the next 28 or so hours! She'll be moving Saturday evening, so by Sunday AM she'll be home.

I pause as I write this, absorbing the miracle of the past two months, being in Ashland, now owning this amazing horse. Dakota, friend, ally in the work, on my journey.

Here are a collection of pictures gleaned from the past four days of my encounter with Dakota and then my working with her. It's just the beginning of course of a hopefully very long and very amazing relationship.

Photos: http://gallery.me.com/pootiwriter#100099