Maybe I should call this the once a year blog!  It is March 1, 2013.  A whole year plus since my last post.  What has changed?  A lot and not all good.

I didn't do any shows last summer which made the summer so much more relaxing and less pressure.  Kjarda and I just spent a lot of time working on  the Game of Collection, flying changes, refining bridleless, continuing to build on and develop our on-line and liberty savvys.  We had the pleasure of Meredith Reinhard and Mark McLean's company for two weeks.  Meredith challenged me to ride more bridleless out of the arena.  I certainly need to be more trusting of Kjarda.  She did really nicely going down the road and to the airstrip.  But I got nervous once we were out on the open at the airstrip, so I put her bridle back on and practiced changes of lead.  We spent over 100 hours working in all four savvys.  Amazing how much time something can take.  We had good summer.

However . . .

On the final cart ride of the season, October 8, I let a friend drive Kjarda and the cart.  She was a knowledgeable horsewoman, but had never driven.  We went into the large arena so I could show her some fun stuff like doing the weave with the cart.  There was one barrel lying on its side at one end of the weave and I knew when we first drove into the arena that I should pick it up, but I didn't.  I let my friend try the weave and Kjarda got into a very forward trot.  I saw us coming close to the barrel, but thought it would just spin around as we went by.  It didn't.  It worked its way under the axle of the cart in such a way that it actually leverage the cart and tipped it over as we started on the straightaway.  It happened so fast and I couldn't believe it was happening . . . I didn't say slow down or whoa or anything.  My brain froze!  The driver and I just rolled out of the cart and neither of us were hurt.  But with the cart tipped over, Kjarda panicked and took off.  She went halfway around the arena (amazingly stayed within the temporary tape fencing) then stopped and kicked herself free.  The harness was broken and the cart was bent; both of those are now fixed.  But Kjarda now has a trigger to bolt that I am challenged to eradicate.

It was not a fun way to end our season.  I spent the rest of the month working on bringing her back from that trauma, as well as continuing to ride her, which she was very happy and willing to do.  I had her pulling small logs in our corral at home.  She was tense, but did it.  I should have done it more often.  But I thought she could handle more and took her to the large riding arena where the accident happened.  This was October 23.  The dates are imprinted quite strongly . . . this for someone who cannot usually remember what they do the previous day.

I put on her harness . . . can't remember if I used the blinders or not.  I ground drove her around the arena for a little bit and made noises behind her, etc.  She seemed relaxed and was very obedient.  Finally, I hooked her up to one of the 14 foot logs I have there for jumping/trotting/side passing over.  I was ready for her to go to the right, but did not really have much tension on the line.  I cued her to move forward and boy, howdy, did she move!!  She took off like a race horse out of the gate as soon as she felt the pressure on her chest from the weight of the log.  Unfortunately, she took off to the left.  Guess what the log did?  It swiped me off my feet!  Okay, quite a surprise, so not so bad, really, right?  I got back up, brushed myself off and walked over to where Kjarda had come to a calm standstill on her own.  She had taken a couple of turns around the arena (with the log pulling up fence posts as it went!) and finally transitioned down to a trot and then a walk and finally calmly stopped perpendicular to a part of the fence still standing.  I calmly walked over to her like that was exactly what I wanted her to do, unhooked the lines (which were twisted around the log) and detached the log from the single tree, then walked her over to a tree so I could tie her up and go back and fix the mess she made of the fence.  After the arena was back in place and the lines were unwrapped from the log, I did some more ground driving until Kjarda relaxed and was calm with what I asked her to do, still in harness.  I unharnessed her, saddled her up and did some riding.  So, that was a second wreck in two weeks.  I had one more week to spend with her before she went downlake.  The weather did not cooperate very much, but I got two more good desensitizing, ground driving sessions done in spite of rain.  And then she was gone for the winter.

Through all this after the accident, I kept riding and doing the four savvys at different times.  Kjarda was so good with everything.  I noticed she was a lot more forward and seemed more free.  Almost like kicking herself out of the harness gave her a back realignment or something.  She just seemed to have more energy and moved out better.  I guess that was a nice side benefit.

The day I took Kjarda down on the barge, Monday, Oct 29, I got her to her winter home and settled her in.  I had to stay downlake for a couple of nights because of the boat schedule.  So on Tuesday, I went back up to Kjarda's winter home to see her and just hang out.  Barge day is always stressful for her and I had no intention of asking her to do anything.  She was happy and content hanging out with her winter buddies that she has been with for about five winters.  I met up with Donna and China, excellent teamsters who have done CDE's and driven dressage.  I told them about the wreck and they offered to help see if Kjarda could be recovered as a driving horse.  I didn't stay around long after that . . . my leg was hurting, but went into Chelan to do some apple picking and visiting with my friend, Bonnie, who I was staying with.

Did I mention that my leg had gotten extremely bruised in the week since the log wiped me off my feet?  Did I mention that the swelling was pretty impressive?  I was convinced it was just a very bad bruise considering how hard the leg was hit.  That Tuesday, while I was walking around Chelan, I experienced an increase in the pain, but brushed it off as just the nerves waking up as the swelling went down.  To make a long story short, a few days later back in Stehekin, I had a shock response to the whole thing and had to be boated out and taken to ER.  I had broken the leg.  Good grief!  Thankfully it was just the fibula . . . the small bone that is not a weight-bearing bone, which is why I could walk!  So, six weeks in a walking cast and at just the right  time of the year . . . no horse to take care of and before the snow came.

That is how my 2012 ended.  I finally was able to go visit my lovely mare on February 8 and 9.  She was fuzzy and happy and ambled over to see me when I got there.  She was happy to have treats and get brushed, and it felt so good to be with her.  I repeated the visit the following weekend.  Now I have to wait until the first week in April to get her home.

But then will begin some real lessons in patience and waiting as I restore her level of confidence in all circumstances.  I am hoping to bring her back to a place with more confidence than she had before the accidents.  I am hoping the Parelli plan can accomplish this.  I am praying.  Lord, help me!

I also still am aiming for Level 4 assessments this summer if I can find a videographer.  I'm pretty sure we will make it based on what I have to start with this spring.  I've been staring at pictures of Kjarda and I driving the cart.  She is a beautiful mare.  She drove for 9 years prior to all this happening.  I believe she can come back.