Australian Brumby Challenge 2022 : Sally Adsett-Brown

04/11/2022

04/11/2022

Day 100 - Spice has been on holidays for the past couple of weeks due to the mega amounts of rain we’ve had 😢
The most exciting thing that’s happened is Spice escaped from her paddock (just slipped out as it’s not electric 🤷‍♀️) and has been living in the laneway 🤦‍♀️
While she is excellently dog proof .. she’s still very suspicious of buckets, even though they come with food 🤣

04/11/2022

Day 90 - late update … lead practise again, Spice is getting better with keeping moving - not so much stopping 👍 Still the Queen of the unimpressed face 🤣🤣
Her summer coat is coming through is an amazing colour, so dark it’s almost mulberry 🥰

19/10/2022

Day 86 - Out in the big paddock again! We didn’t get far … lots of stopping and thinking 🤔 When Spice stops, I haven’t been pulling her of holding big pressure on the rope - I’ve just kept a soft feel on the rope and tried to invite her forward with some soft fluffy kitten energy 😸
She does come forward each time once she’s finished processing and starts to lick and chew.
I’m interested to see if letting her do this will help with our leading… we’ll see if there’s any improvement over the next week or if I’ve inadvertently taught her to just stop 🤷‍♀️

17/10/2022

Getting a hurry up for dinner 🤣🤣

17/10/2022

Someone was not happy as she wasn’t fed first 🤣🤣

17/10/2022

Day 85 - played catch the brumby with the gate open today 😃 Spice was quite happy to hang with me (as I came with snacks 🤣) and I just practised putting the halter on and off as she’s still just a little wary of dropping her nose into the ‘nose hole’ 😊
Am loving this sunshine ☀️ ☺️

16/10/2022

Day 76 - just hanging out stuffing her face 🤣🤣💕

16/10/2022

Blinky twitchiness 🥰

16/10/2022

Day 84 - Finally got some Spice time in when it wasn’t raining or under water 😃 I’ve been doing the connection work in dribs and drabs over the past few weeks but that’s about it … but today we went back to haltering and some leading and headed out to the ‘arena’.
We didn’t go far in terms of steps, but I think we made some more progress as Spice seemed to spend most of her time processing. After every few steps, we’d stop and she’d get all droopy, do big slow squishy blinks and look like she was falling asleep. Then she’d either come to with a lick and chew, or something would distract her and she’d wake up.
Spice has been showing much more curiosity, especially lots of sniffy whatever stinky clothes I’m in 🤣🤣🤣

07/10/2022

Ugh… seriously 😒 🌧🌧🌧🌧

26/09/2022

Day 63 - so stinkin’ cute 🥰🥰🥰🥰

26/09/2022

Day 63 - the impressively crinkly nostrils 😐

26/09/2022

Day 63 - We’re back!!! I’ve spent the last week just hanging out with Spice and slowly working back up to haltering. Today the sun was out and it was a fab day to get back to some leading … Spice is super light on the lead rope and is mostly happy to follow me around. But … super light doesn’t mean mean soft, as she is still holding a lot of anxiety.
Interestingly, today is the first time that Spice has shown any releases. Some deep breaths and huffing out, lots of crinkly nostrils before some licking and chewing. There was also some substantial head twitching going on … I thought it was the halter knot touching Spice under her chin giving her a fright so I thought I’d leave the halter on while she ate her breakfast so she could get familiar with the feel of it.
But … I took the halter off and just spent some time standing with her in the sun, and she was still doing these big twitches 😳 So now I’m thinking it’s some kind of release/nervous system reset or reaction??? Interesting 🤔🤔🤔

22/09/2022

WARNING … Gratitude Post …. To everyone last week who posted a comment of support, shared their knowledge, made a suggestion or sent me a message …. THANK YOU 🙏 🥰🥰🥰 I can’t even really put into words how much it meant to me, and totally helped me to refocus on ‘how can I make this situation better’ rather than wallowing in frustration and disappointment! Onwards 💪💪💪🤩🤩

💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

22/09/2022

Day 60 - it’s been a big couple of weeks 😬😬 I’ve thought long and hard about what happened last week, and know exactly what caused it and can see in my mind, the absolute second it all turned to crap (pity I didn’t realise at the time and stop right there 🙄).
It still took quite a few days to pull myself back from going on auto-pilot into old behaviours and thought patterns. Was very interesting (in retrospect) to realise how easily I reverted back to previous horsemanship beliefs/strategies that I thought I’d moved on from when things stopped going to plan 🤷‍♀️
The universe has been working overtime to hit me over the head to get a clue 🪐✨ A WS podcast I put on was all about training mustangs using the woo, I spent all of last weekend at a clinic that I thought was going to be biomechanics and bodywork but turned out to be all about energy & vibrations & body intelligence/polyvagal theory 🤯🤯 AND all the suggestions and comments made by friends here have been invaluable in gaining more understanding and perspective, and formulating a plan 🙃

So baaaaack to the start we’ve gone, just sharing space and being super aware of the energy I’m bringing to the party - stillness and calmness being the key! Today was the first day in over a week that we’ve revisited playing with the rope and halter. Spice was much more relaxed and happy to stick with me.
It’s been a really hard couple of weeks, but I’m feeling hopeful again that we can move forward 💕💕

14/09/2022

Day 51 - half / half with the red mare stink eye today … I think this is progress on yday 😬
I’m trying really hard to let go of my intentions and disappointment and see what happens.
Not much as it turns out 🤷‍♀️ but I’m struggling so I guess I’m still bringing some s**tty energy to the party 👎
Tomorrow is a new day 🤞🌤🌈

14/09/2022

Day 50 - So we’re back to square one, possibly even further than we started 😢 So it’s time to take stock, pull up those big girl pants and suck it up!
We’ve gone right back to just getting Spice comfortable staying with me and having the rope halter on her back and over her neck.
I’m struggling a bit with my disappointment in myself and have noticed I’ve reverted to thoughts of … maybe I should just get the halter on and move forward… she knows more than this, we need to push through …
This has not been my goal with Spice, so I’m doing my best to stick to my guns and refocus my thoughts back to the original plan 👊🫤

14/09/2022

Day 49 - Worst day so far (it’s taken me days to work out what to write) 😢 After accidentally pushing Spice over threshold with the boots, she was a bit reserved and wary when I came out to see her. It was really cold so I had in my head that I needed to get a rug on Spice.
In retrospect, I was also feeling a bit stressed about something else, so all of this icky energy and too much intention caused Spice to become even more unsure and I didn’t read the small signs that she wasn’t ok 😢
This compounded into a giant s**t show where Spice got more of a fright and really had to ‘yell’ at me that she was not cool 😞 and now we’re back to square one. She wasn’t aggressive or dangerous, but she left at pace and kept her distance.
I’ve been feeling pretty disappointed in myself for letting this happen, but am trying to focus on what I can learn from this … how was I feeling in myself when I stuffed this up, so if I can recognise that feeling again I’ll know to leave all ponies alone!! It’s been a hard few days - I have certainly realised that it’s easy to be positive and enthusiastic when things are going well 🤷‍♀️

11/09/2022

Haha!! Turns out it’s true 🤣🤣🤣

11/09/2022

Day 48 - More leading practise, tried another halter (better but still not great fit), tried on some boots … mental note, much more desensitising to Velcro ripping is needed 😬 Unfortunately poor Spice was was over threshold as I took them off 😞

10/09/2022

Day 47 - missed a couple of days due to work so thought we’d just check in and see how Spice was feeling. She was great, remembers everything and was even better with putting a rug on and off.
Even though it feels like the progress is slow when staying under threshold, but it seems that the learning ‘sticks’ 🥰🥰

07/09/2022

Day 45 - Tried a new halter on Spice today, I thought a cob size might fit her better but it turns out that her face is longer than it looks 🙄🤣 Not such a great fit …
We are still working towards wearing a rug. Spice yard is now set up where there’s no shelter and there’s a cold snap coming through next week so I’d like to be able to rug her if needed.
We’re also working on giving to the pressure of the lead rope connected to the halter. Spice really isn’t so sure about this, she’s not keen on the feel of the pressure coming from under her jaw. There was a lot of thinking face (medium stink-eye 🤣) today, but also some deep breaths and blowing out which is much more let-down reaction than what she’s shown to date 💕

06/09/2022

Day 44 - Another super day with Miss Spice 🌶 We practised more on the off-side, more leading and moving and started rug training and leg handling … and all went without a hitch (but not without some stink-eye 🙄)
I also accidentally dropped the rope when we were walking (just lost focus for a couple of seconds - this staying present thing is a challenge 🤦‍♀️) but Spice didn’t bat an eye! She just kept wandering along back to the snacks 😃💕💕💕💕

05/09/2022

Day 43 - Spice was awesome today, although she’s still a bit unsettled she let me put the halter and neck rope on - it took a little longer than it has been but that’s ok, any time spent waiting is time well spent 😊
We also went for a walk right around the yard - first time we’ve walked together continuously.. and she let me approach her on the offside and rub her on the shoulder for the first time.
I did have to use a little more drive than draw to get her back in her yard tonight, cheeky brat 🤣🤣🤣

04/09/2022

Day 42 - The last few days have been a bust as Spices’ yard has been so muddy. I keep thinking it will get better, but today it’s worse again and poor Spice was fetlock deep in mud 😞
So there was no option but to move her yard 😬 This involved some very high tech operations … building a dodgey tape runway into my overgrown arena and setting her free!!!
Spice was soooo good, just wandered down the little runway picking at the grass, then just tootled around the arena while I moved all the panels to re-build her yard.
Then, best of all, she let me ‘lead’ her into her new yard with just some lucerne 🥰🥰
She was a bit unsettled in the new yard so we didn’t do any actual training… will see how she feels tomorrow. I’m hoping to let her out for the days and only be yarded at night 🤞🤞

30/08/2022

Day 37 - After our success yesterday, we went back to playing with following a feel on the neck rope. Now that Spice can wear the halter, I don’t want to just pull her around with it!
She was much more confident to follow the direction of the feel today, combined with a bit of lucerne bribery 😃

29/08/2022

Love my super supportive friends for sending me encouragement 🤣🤣🤣

29/08/2022

Day 36 - PM : This is more how we roll …. bird p**p on face, lucerne stuck in the halter, ridiculous mini-me lurking … 🙄🙄🤦‍♀️

29/08/2022

Day 36 - AM : I finally captured my brumby 😃😃 She is still a bit unsure of the nose piece being below her nose, but was awesome about doing up/undoing to knot 🥰 Good lil Spice 🌶