26/07/2022
Lara and I had a great training session today, with both the horses and camels.
Today everything felt possible and I’m excited about the future. On the weekend Brett and I did some training with the camels and I felt the opposite - I wanted to cry and wondered if I’d ever get there. That seems to be the nature of training tho, some days there’s progress and breakthroughs, and others there’s progress and doubt.
I love the breakthrough days!
Today we walked Sol behind Kyron with the use of a spider (a type of harness) and they both adapted really well. Eventually this will allow me to walk Kyron as the lead camel and have Sol tied to him, following along. At this stage I have Sol’s rope loose so if he pulls away and spooks (which he did at one moment today) Kyron won’t get pulled around too much and the rope can slip free. Given Kyron has a back leg injury, I have to factor in his safety to ensure I don’t do more damage.
After training the camels we took the horses walking. We were only going to take Leo, but Missy made it clear she wanted to come too. And what a difference it makes when she offers instead of being made to walk because I’ve decided she will. She was perky, instead of dragging her feet, and Leo has sooo much more confidence when she’s around. We even finished by meeting the horses across the road, up close and personal over the fence. This is a big deal for Leo and I was so impressed with how relaxed he was. It was a breakthrough moment that left me feeling so proud.
Lara is the perfect person to help all of us build our confidence and move forward and we couldn’t be more grateful. She’s such a natural with animals and so relaxed.
Next goal is to hook up a Gro Pro camera to capture more of the experience in a safe manner that still allows for full focus on the animals and training 🙌🏼
One step at a time we’re getting there… ❤️
