Monday’s are not known for there stellar qualities as a rule. They tend to suffer from a certain lack of enthusiasm and generally rate fairly low on most people’s “Favorite Day of the Week’ List, so in light of that, felt that it was pretty much my duty to throw some excitement into the most humblest day of the week. Enter……( Ta-da-da da!)…….Espada!
Espada is my 7 yr. Andalusian/ Lusitano mare and to say I adore her would be a gross under-statement. Now just glancing at her portrait at the left to us, one could be deceived into thinking she was…..plain. She has been called a few less then glamorous names,but that is part of the beauty of the Lusitano. Just standin’ around in the field....well one COULD be forgiven to think they were plain, but under saddle? No- one in their right mind would 
think to call that fabulous bull-fighter, ‘Merlin’ plain! And so it goes with Espada. This is a great shot to see her name sake blaze….a perfect sword, and her battle mare heritage is not far from the surface, that’s for sure. Fierce, brave, crazy sensitive and expressive, she is pure undiluted Latin passion. Espada couldn’t play Poker to save her life (even if she 
had opossable thumbs)….EVERYTHING is written all over her entire body what she feels and thinks. Just climbing on her back immediately glues a Big Ole Happy grin on my mug….all the flash and dash and skirt-twirling and its like I have a mariachi band following us along.
Does this make her one of the COOLEST ever horses to be with? Well, for me…. Yeah! ‘Spady and me have shared a long, long journey together, and she is truly a gift for me. How she has changed my approach to horses and horsemanship is massive, and I credit her with softening
me, the value of non-resistance training…for the human, and of course feel, feel, feel…..sigh!
And today was just another chapter opening up, and I am playing with the incredibly sensitive tuning of our relationship and how vastly my body effects hers…I mean I always try to be aware of what I am doing up there, but this! This is a whole other level again! All we
were doing was loose reining it along the top property, and I was steering her with my weight and focus, but if I picked up a soft feel, and played around with the muscles in my back, and tiny hip rotations, shifts in weight…everything changed. Its like having a bio-feedback machine that talks to you about atoms….molecules of change and viola! Oh Boy..this is going to be some kind of learning curve again and ups the level of awareness, responsibility, response- ability, subtly, finesse and ohhhhhh yippe!
Part of me can’t wait for spring now to get going in the ring again, and faster work, but of course, everything happens in its perfect place and time and its winter. Ice and slippery ground forces me to stay slow, feel, absorb and integrate and build gradually, getting it right first, fast later. Oh, ok! It just never really ceases to amaze me who aware our horses are. How perceptive to their environment, what they are interacting with, and how they constantly adjust to every new situation. Their sensitivity is awe inspiring……and I have the nerve to believe it is me doing the training?????????????????
“Orville Wright didn’t have a pilot’s license.” Richard Tate