All Is Well

 

All is well that ends well. Turns out, it was a grass seed that embedded and irritated Tweed’s gums. They didn’t even charge me to remove it.

And he’s ready early for spring, with his teeth floated and vaccinations done. 

Day Before the Vet

Tomorrow is the day I take Tumbleweed into the vet to find out what is lodged under his upper lip. I’m a little nervous about it, not the hauling part, though we did have a “snow squall” last night. 

I tucked them all into stalls, and then woke up the next day to this. 

There is no more snow in the forecast, and it melted off today, so the roads should be fine. I just hate to think of it being anything bad. 

I didn’t do anything with them today except let them out and clean their stalls. 

The cats still entertain me in the Sanctuary.

Tuffy. Age 14 and 8 months.

(2/18/26)

(2/17/26)

Dan. Age 12.  (2/17/26)

And Grady. Age 12. (2/17/26)

The boys are all content to stay in the barn, even when given the choice to go out.  

I’ve spent the day taking care of my sick grandson and I seem to also be getting sick. I’m drinking lots of water and getting ready to make chicken noodle soup. I hope to throw it off before tomorrow. 

Oh, and I’m knitting a Seahawks blanket for him, which is almost a form of meditation. 

Wish us luck tomorrow that all goes well for Tweed. 

It’s All Coming Together

Miss Beautiful Girl with Leah and Tumbleweed. 

We got on it early today to get the arena smoothed out. 

Katie came out to put a ride on Tweed. He was 50% Mr Naughty and 50% Mr Nice. Eventually, he settled on Mr Nice. 

The horses think it’s spring, and since they’re shedding, they may be right. 

Life is good. 

Tweed is good bareback I am okay bareback at walk and trot on Tweed. My hope is to be cantering him bareback by summer. 

I looked through my old posts and found out I didn’t start him back to work in 2025 until March 26. This year, January 24th. (Thank you Mother Nature) 

We’re so far ahead, and getting our groove down, that I have high hopes for our 2026 trail riding season. 

The connection, or communion, the work ethic, fitness, feel—the pieces are all coming together, day by day. 

Happy first day of Year of the Fire Horse. 

Every Day Is A New Day For A Horse

 

I simply cannot stress it enough, the old cowboy wisdom I got many years ago is true to its core and it’s even reiterated in Sacred Spaces when she says that we need to let go of past stories about our horses. The old wisdom was this:

Never hold a grudge against a horse because every day is a completely new day for them. 

We humans are the exact opposite of that, so it’s hard advice to heed, but I swear it’s true because I’ve seen it again and again. 

Mr. Naughty yesterday was Mr. perfect today. 

From the moment I went to get him, he had that soft, sweet eye, and he came at a fast walk to greet me. 

Walk, trot to canter transitions were smooth, so we only did a few of them and then mounted up. 

I worked with Leah today, too. I want to help her move as much as possible this winter and spring. She used to be my sweet trail horse and still enjoys our communion. 

We also did Masterson Method bodywork, which she loves. 

Before I went out today, I chose to wear one of my dad’s favorite cowboy hats that passed to me after his death. 

And you can’t make this stuff up, I had a robin with me the entire time I was out at the arena. A robin. ❤️

I love getting out there and seeing what is in store everyday, because every day is, indeed, a new day, and full of surprises. 

Happy Valentine’s Day

 

Happy Valentine’s Day from Mr. Naughty. He didn’t get the memo that you’re supposed to be full of love on this special day. 

Come to think of it, it was more of a “screw you” valentine. 

Some days I question the wisdom of working in winter.  The cold nights and drastic temperature fluctuations do, indeed, make them crazy.

Oh, and I found out that there is such a thing as too much bodywork. Apparently, it can be hard on their nervous systems to overdo it and they’ll let you know. 

If you’re curious how my energy was before this session, it was GREAT. I was feeling the best ever, so it’s all on him today. 

He wanted to be with the herd at the round bale. It’s that simple. 

With horses, there are good and bad days, despite what we bring to it, and despite it being Valentine’s Day.

You just have to dig in, and let them work it out. 

TTouch Mouth Work & a Doc Appointment

 

I took more photos of Tumbleweed’s mouth yesterday, during bodywork, and sent them to my vet who floated his teeth last spring. They think it’s a foreign object that lodged itself, but we will find out next Thursday when I haul him into the clinic and have it removed and his teeth cleaned and floated again. 

As I said previously, the bodywork I use with Tweed is based upon the TTouch method, but I also use Masterson Method techniques. Whatever works best at the time and for the particular horse.

For example, Epona walked up to me in the turnout yesterday, and she was so sweet and relaxed that I took a moment to let her rest her head on my shoulder while I used MM on her upper neck and poll to get her to release. She loves that technique. 

Tweed, on the other hand, has a hard time relaxing when he’s with other horses at liberty. We do bodywork away from them.

The mouth work we do from TTouch is particularly good at triggering the parasympathetic nervous system / limbic system. Fast forward this video to 4:18 for an explanation of how it works. (The whole video is a very good primer.) They say it also helps with mouth aggressive horses. 

My TTouch practitioner had me keep a bottle of water nearby to wet my hands for the mouth work. 

The net result of the bodywork is a horse who comes to me in the turnout, even leaving off eating. Notice the hay dangling from his mane?

And he is so relaxed in the arena that day after day, even though his mood is different everyday and sometimes he starts out a little grumpier, he is relaxed by the time we get to the arena or go on a walk.

You may remember that when we first started back up, Tweed wanted to roll in the sand on the line. Stopping him caused quite a tantrum. Now, he shows the same signs of wanting to drop, but stops himself.

At the end of every session, I allow him to roll AFTER he is off the halter.

If you’re wondering what happened with Katie riding Tweed, that was put on hold after her first session because her ailment returned and she needs time to recover. She still had the cough when she came the one time. 

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I took a few steps back and concentrated on the emotional fitness of Tweed and the basics of our relationship. I think we’ve established a strong foundation with this new routine. 

Today, I’d like to do some riding to see how it translates in saddle. What I want to see is that he remains as calm being ridden as he has been on the ground. 

Here’s a little more information on TTouch “TRUST” work. 

I had the pleasure of interviewing Linda Tellington-Jones on my old podcast. I invited her on because I had already read her books and worked with a practitioner to integrate it into my routine. I was a fan. Unfortunately, I do not have links to that interview anymore. I think I have it saved on my old computer, so I might be able to retrieve it. 

Here’s a video of the TTouch mouth work. (She doesn’t seem to be using wet hands, which I highly recommend.) 

Here’s another basic primer. She demonstrates the basic circle, 6:00 to 9:00, and do not lift your hand off, but glide it along. The shape of the hand can be flat front or flat back or the claw she’s using. This is just one of many. I may do a video to show the work I do with Tweed. 

My practitioner also had me breathe in during the circle and breathe out, exhale, during a slow release of the hand, then glide and repeat. 

One thing becomes clear, bodywork, either this or Masterson Method, overlaps quite a bit with Sacred Spaces. You are getting with your horse as you do this work, bringing down your energy and theirs.