Nancy, Sean and "Hyggelig"

"Hyggelig: (sort of pronounced hoogilee) is a wonderful Danish word that has echoes or warmth, comfort and happiness. A house can be "hyggelig" for example if it just exudes a warm friendly feeling and spirit.

Nancy is, of course, an exponent of hyggelig. Part of what she does whenever she is around Sean is to make a nice friendly environment for him. When he gets tucked up in bed at night she is careful to tuck his dyne (comforter) so he is wrapped and comfortable, kisses him on the ear, maybe a little tickle just to end the day on a laugh, make sure his night light is on and that a glass of Gatorade is on the dresser.

Nancy is all about hyggelig.

Heffalumps

Sean and I went on our usual weekend expotition this morning. (For anyone who does not know what an expotition is - you need to read "Winnie the Pooh"). At the weekends I like to take a fairly long walk with Sean. He needs to the exercise (well, so do I...) and gets him out of the house.

We walk around Horseshoe Drive. It's the road we live on and it is, indeed, shaped like a Horseshoe. It is a dirt road which does make it feel much more rural. It also has the advantage of being almost exactly one mile around so I keep a rough idea in my head of how far we walk. It's usually two or three miles.

Now Sean is not an enthusiastic walker, he prefers swimming, I think because when he is swimming he is totally supported and when walking he has to really concentrate on his balance. But we plod our way around and by the end of the walk he is usually much more relaxed.

It also helps me - I am in the middle of quitting smoking - its been 5 weeks since I stopped and I have (touch wood, cross fingers etc) found it pretty smooth sailing. I have smoked my entire adult life and I really enjoyed it but the time had come to wave goodbye to the habit. I got a prescription for Chantix, and if my little recommendation means anything - if you are going to quit, this could be the help you need. It has made it pretty smooth for me (and I have tried in the past).

Part of my plan on the quitting smoking front was also to make sure I didn't gain weight (I mean, you have seen the pictures you know the one thing I don't need is to gain even more weight!) and I started on that back in December, changing my habits, eating smaller portions, exercising a little more, nothing radical at all and nothing that I could not live with. It took some tweaking and juggling but eventually I started to lose weight - up to now I have lost 33 pounds . The last 3 pounds of that since I quit smoking.

So it looks like its working.

Which makes the walks, our expotitions, at the weekend something that helps us both out.

We have seen snakes, the odd fox, rabbits galore and the occasional hawk. But no heffalumps as yet.

Outside with the Animals

Mick and Sean watered the horses, played with the water (Sean loves being sprayed with the water!) and then they got some hefty walking in this weekend. I got to do more ground work with Moon, which isn't "work" at all!

How we enjoy being out in this fabulous weather, on the plains of Colorado!

Ah, Summer on the Plains!

Hot days, pleasant evenings! The grass is greener this year than in years past due to a higher rainfall and the horses are loving it. Sean goes out with me pretty often to help feed or water the horses. He also goes on walks with Mick around Horseshoe Drive, one full circle of which makes exactly a mile. Today, Sean got in a two-mile walk.

I like working with the horses in late afternoon and evening. Last Sunday and Monday evenings, I rode Rosa bareback and worked with her on only one thing: leg cues. I purposely did not put a bridle on her, only a string around her neck. If I needed to balance, I held her mane. She has always been very sensitive to leg cues but not in a good way. What I mean is that if the rider put any pressure at all with one leg or both legs on her, she would squirt out ahead at a fast gait and not pay attention to much else. She had trained me not to use leg pressure. She hasn't been very consistent about things, but then how could she? I haven't been consistent in what I have asked of her. She is a very good horse and deserves better from me.

I had those two evenings with her, just working with leg cues: riding bareback, I would touch her with my right leg to go left and then touch her with the other leg to turn her right. After the 2nd session I thought she was starting to get it while at the same time she was not too worried about my leg pressure anymore. That was a good place to quit.

It had been 5 days since our last session. Yesterday we tried it again. Only a string around Rosa's neck, riding bareback, and again, I applied pressure only a little with one leg to go one way, and the other leg to turn the other way. Actually, it wasn't just pressure. I tried more to release her to go in one direction by opening my toe in that direction while applying the slightest amount of pressure from the other leg. At first, she didn't seem to get this at all.

Realizing that she was still thinking this through, and that she had old old patterns of behavior clouding her mind a bit, I changed my approach. I just asked her to go forward (not touching the string to do this) and each time she turned one way, I opened my toe on that side of her while applying the slightest pressure with my other leg. I just went with her, applying the appropriate opening of my toe and slight pressure with the opposite leg, as she turned. When she went straight, there was no leg contact at all and I looked up straight ahead and followed her focus straight ahead.

Suddenly after only a few minutes of my following her in this way, she seemed to get what it was I was after. We stopped, took a break and then started again. This time, I asked her to turn with my toe and leg and presto! She turned on a dime. I tried as quickly as possible to release all contact. We went straight for a few steps and I asked her to turn the other way, again, only with that toe opening to the direction, and a tad of the opposite leg. She turned INSTANTLY and I released just as fast. We then zig-zagged all over the place and each time, she GOT it. There was no mistaking it. It wasn't chance. It was total understanding. We had fun for a few minutes doing this and then I got off her and rubbed her a lot with tons of praise for a job well done. She got to graze a few minutes on her own while I went to get Bailey's feed for him before putting them all into their 2-acre paddock for the night. I was jazzed!

Well, this little essay wasn't at all what I sat down here to write. I'll put in some pictures here of Sean, Mick and the horses because Mick and Sean had some quality time with the horses this weekend too!! I'd better head off to bed before I write another long-winded composition about the horse time I am having!
Nancy

Of Picnics and Green Grass

Saturday, June 2nd, was the annual Denver Options picnic. Denver Options (see the link) is a fabulous organization that works with those families who have a disabled son, daughter, or other relative. Denver Options has helped us more than we can say, and it was fun to take Sean to the annual picnic yesterday. Of course Sean's focus was the FOOD. He downed 2 gigantic hot dogs and a cheeseburger with systematic vigor. Then he put away a couple of over-sized cookies while waiting for me to return with 2 more hot dogs for him.

Our trusty care-giver, Doc, was there with several of his other clients, whom we met. And Dodie, his lovely wife, was there too. It was such a pleasure to meet her! We also met up with old friends who have worked with Sean over the years and hopefully they will come out and visit us at the Wenlock Menagerie one of these days!

The entertainment was varied and of excellent quality. We heard a good jazz band and there was a troupe of Hawaiian singers and dancers that taught people words and movements to the music and got a whole lot of people up to join in! It was great to see so many people having such a wonderful time.

There were lots of booths with games, raffles and other activities going on. But since Sean is not one for such things, we didn't hang around too much longer. We had enough time to chat with old buddies and catch up a bit so after Sean had polished off his modest lunch (!) we headed back home.

If anyone from Denver Options is reading this: please come out and visit us! And if any of your clients would like to come out and SEE horse, or BRUSH a horse or SIT ON a horse (with proper supervision and safety factors of course!) then please call us and let's arrange it. I know how much a horse can mean to a person!!!

And speaking of the horses, we have been letting them out recently on our GREEN pasture. We have had a good amount of rain and the field isn't the usual Colorado brown. It saves money to let them out rather than have to feed them expensive hay.