Part 61 – Homecoming!

I was so excited to get home!  I just wanted to kiss the ground!!!  And the warmth!!! It was such a relief to be away from the European cold!!    I thought I would never complain about our summers again!  But I have!!

It was wonderful to see Doug and my family and of course the horses.  I slept quite a bit the first few days – adjusting to the time difference.  And then it was time to visit my sister Sue with my Mum.  So at first I didn’t have much time to think about what I had experienced.

But when I came home from my trip to see my sister, I started to go through it all.

I was still feeling like The Ugly Duckling – or rather – the ugly, broken duckling!  I would sit and stare into space.  I felt so unconfident with the horses – in fact with many things in life!

I didn’t go into the details of what happened over there  with Doug – I was embarrassed and ashamed.  I had spent all that money!  How on earth did I get sucked in?

Also, Patty and I were giving a talk on our trip to the Nambucca Natural Horsemanship Group.  It was a day where we would go through body awareness exercises and I would talk about what we learnt.

As I prepared for this talk, I kept all my notes positive.  It was a struggle – but I needed to just focus on what was good.  In a way I felt like I had to ‘finish the job’ – then I could analyse it!

I felt like a real failure.  Here were my horses supposedly in dreadful condition.  Kert had told me to get them into stables and to get shoes on them. At that point, such was Kert’s influence on me, that I still believed much of what he had said.

I thought, how on earth can I tell Doug that I need four stables to keep the horses in the majority of the time???  Do they really need stables?  Aren’t they happier in the paddock?  According to Kert they aren’t!

In Australia, stables are only used in a small number of situations – most horses are in paddocks 24/7.  Our climate is not particularly cold – as long as they have shelter from the sun, wind and torrential rain, they are fine.

At that time – I had two stables which were used as part of the feeding routine.  I could put two horses in there – and the others were outside.  But as soon as they finished their feed – and I was finished tending to them, they were back down the hill.  They love their big ‘magic’ tree.  They much prefer to be together under the tree for rest or shelter.

I even read as many articles as I could on the pros and cons of stabling.  From what I read – pasture was the preferred option in most cases.

If I had just listened to the horses, rather than doubting myself  – and listening to Kert in my head – I would have heard them screaming at me to leave them just as they were!!!

But at that point, Kert still loomed large in my head…

COMING UP – DUCATI GETS A CHECK UP!

IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS STORY, PLEASE START AT THE BEGINNING HERE – Part 1 – An Introduction

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