Joyfully Reaquainted with Sienna

Since moving into my friends place, I am also now living with my brumby mare Sienna again. I have been spending time reaquainting myself with her. She just blows my mind every minute I spend with her. I have not really had much at all to do with her over the past 6 months. She has been running in a 40 acre paddock with her favourite gelding. They have a true love affair going on - it is very sweet to see them together.

I decided it was about time to give Sienna a bath, dematt her mane and trim her feet. I put her in the roundyard and decided to see where our relationship was at. She has never been thrilled about me touching and pulling at her lovely mane and who could blame her. I hated it when I was a child too! So I was prepared to have to put some of the foundations back in place. I took her halter off and started by asking her to follow up which she did beautifully. Everything I do with her is so incredibly subtle as she is one of the most hyper-sensitive horses I have ever had the pleasure of working with. I started pulling, cutting, untwisting and brushing out her very long mane. A couple of times she flinched slightly but never tried to leave me. Then it was time for a wash with some water and apple cider vinegar (she had developed a bit of Queensland itch and this seems to help soothe it a little). This was her first ever wash and she was a unsure about it. She left me once and did half a lap around the yard before facing up and bringing herself straight back to me. The rest of the bath went without a hitch.

Now it was time for a good hoof trim. She has always been ok to trim but does overreact when her hoof is on the stand and has on a few occassions reefed it off sending the stand flying and further frightening herself. Today I trimmed her at liberty and she was better than ever before. I only have to look at the foot I want her to pick up and she will hover it in the air for me. She pulled a little when I started trimming the first hoof and I quietly asked her to leave. She did a lap of the round yard and then trotted back in positioning herself right near the stand. The rest of the trimming was a breeze.

She actually seemed grateful for the attention again. I decided it was time to take her out again. My friend rode bareback on Arnie the gelding and I walked Sienna along with her. We walked down to the trails with no icident. When we got to the creek, I decided to jump on Sienna as it was to deep to cross without getting very wet boots. I hopped on her and she stood still until I asked her to walk on with a forward tilt of my pelvis. I usually hop off once we have crossed the creek however today I felt so connected with Sienna that I decided to see how we went. Well she was amazing. She was listening to all that I asked of her and was not even feeling the need to stay at the speed Arnie was going. I forgot that she has been taught to stop when you place a hand on her neck and each time I put my hand on her mane to steady myself she would stop dead. What a gem! I quickly got used to her stride and narrow body and was able to find my balance centre and keep my hands off her body. That was the longest ride we had ever done together.

I got off and walked the last couple of kilometres home with her. My friend took Arnie for a canter up the driveway when we got home. I waited till she was well out of sight and then hopped back on Sienna and she happily trotted up the drive at exactly the speed asked of her. I am very conscious of how she will react to me after I have ridden her or any horse for that matter. It always feels like the greatest privelege to have such a noble creature allow me on their back that I want to make certain I am not overstepping any boundaries. Sienna has been more affectionate than ever this afternoon so I feel that perhaps we have renewed our connection stronger than ever before. This is not to say that I intend to ride her again, if the moment arises I may well do so however it is up to her in the end.

I feel so blessed to be able to spend time with these marvellous animals. Right now I feel like I may explode with the happiness I am feeling. I have a renewed and much stronger connection with Sienna, I am incredibly lucky to be able to spend time twice a day getting to know Scout who is turning out to be a deep and incredible horse and yesterday I found out that my beautiful arab mare Jade who is living with a friend of mine will be coming home in the next few months or so. My heart will be singing to see all my girls running together by the end of this year.