Ok. I have been reading on the forum for a few months now. I have been actively learning the AND style for a few weeks now. I have watched Freckles follow Glen around or come to her when she calls him
These past few days I have had similar experiences and I am blown away. It is one thing for me to watch Freckles respond to Glen and another for me to have my own experiences with him and Laska.
I should start from yesterday. I had gone to get the jars we put the tea for their meals in. The horses were standing under one of the sheds just napping. I was maybe 20 feet away from them. I looked at Laska and motioned with my head and said "Come here." He Made the same motion to me with his head. I repeated it. Again he mimicked me. After the third time and him not coming to me I went over to him. I asked him if he wanted a scratch and started scratching his shoulder, Apparently he did not want his should scratched but his bum!
He swung hes rear end towards me and I stepped away cause he can be a bit unpredictable if he is uncomfortable. He clearly had an itch he needed help getting to and I obliged him. I must have hit the right spot since his leg started buckling under him
He has been choosing to interact with me and I am thrilled.
This morning, however I had a mind boggling experience. I had cleaned the yard and it was time to move the horses from the big pasture to the backyard where there is still better grazing. The horses were in the middle of the pasture. Now I have never had to halter them to move them. This isn't the way Glen moves Freckles and I wont move them that way unless it is absolutely needed. Usually though, by this time of the morning(about 9 AM) they are at the top gate asking to go the the yard. I walked over to Freckles and stopped about 6 feet away. I said, "Hey Freckles, You ready to go into the backyard?" He came over to me so I started walking towards the gate. He followed!
Laska followed him. I opened both gates for the horses and as usual Laska was the first one through after sniffing me to make sure I didn't have any yummies for him. I pointed and told him it was ok, there was good grass back there. He walked through and I repeated the same process with Freckles as he also needed to make sure I didn't have anything for him to munch on.
Back in my teenage years when I worked at the local stable, they had a small outdoor turnout area for the horses. Even in that small ring I had to bribe the horses to come over to go back inside, But here with the horses having all this space and freedom of choice they
choose to follow me. They want to be with me. I dont think they understand all the words I speak but they seem to know what I want. Sometimes I see that they are a bit confused or they dont want to interact or they want to do something else and that is fine with me. I am just stupefied with this morning with Freckles following me as if there were an invisible rope I was holding. I see the bond he has with Glen. I watch it grow more every day. I so want that with a horse. And when I find the right horse I know it is going to be a bond that nothing else will compare to.