It is very easy for me to make body awareness type connections, even though I’m not now doing much of this kind of work. What I know is embedded in my long-term memory, so I am able to make tangential associations.

This morning, I did agility with Shadow, just a short session, the jumps in a circle, then in a straight line, the teeter at the end. I focused on my hands and use of body language. Shadow did amazingly well. I hope that someone who is super experienced steps forth, and that they work with her some. I’m just a rube, encouraging a dog to go over, under, and around obstacles.

Susan Harris instructing at Saddle Up Arena

This afternoon, Pete’s brother Pat and I did chi gong in the upper quadrant, this was before heading down to the barn, where I tacked up Raudi and then gave Pat a lesson. We were on the road. The road grader had come through one side of the road, leaving freshly mowed grass and vegetation. Raudi, of course, immediately decided that she didn’t want to work; rather, she wanted to eat.

So I talked with Pat about the four basics of Centered Riding and gave him some images to put to mind. He has had considerable martial arts training, so he did very well from the beginning. Raudi was soon listening to him, and at the same time doing her back stretches. She had not wanted to be listening – there was beforehand, considerable eye rolling and tail swishing.

I told Pat what Susan Harris had told me, that riders need to know that horse performance is 25 percent of the equation, and rider performance is 75 percent. I added that instructor performance is 75% of the equation and that horse and rider performance are 25 percent of the equation. He understood what I was getting at.

I felt good teaching again, and as importantly, drawing upon my body awareness training/background. I had been feeling like nothing had come of it. Well, I was able to do this.

Pat, Pete, and I have been talking about Pat’s putting up signage down in Ojai, where he lives, offering all comers an Alaskan destination vacation. They’d come here and kayak, bicycle, hike, and eat very local food. As we talked about this (tonight the conversation took place as we ate home-made pizza and salad) I thought (again) about what we do have here. It is pretty amazing – yes, that we could cobble a healthy existence on 2.5 acres, one that includes recreational activities.

Right now it seems more momentous than it might be because it’s late July and near everything is in bloom. We have more strawberries on hand than we can eat in a single day, and this morning, we ate the first of the raspberries.

We could show the denizens from Ojai a good time, for sure. Build it and they will come.

Next: 207. July 29, 2021: Poop