Spirit Horses Read Online Free PDF Page A

paddock to the other while turning her
hindquarters to him at each stop. At this point, she would let out a quiet
snort, settle only for a second, then continue her worried walking from corner
to corner. He was very careful not to look her directly in the eye. He had a
small amount of grain in his closed hand, but he made sure not to show it to
her. This food was not a bribe to get her to come to him, but he would use it
as a reward if and when she did make up her mind to come in close. Like any
creature with hooves, a horse is an animal that is preyed upon in the wild.
Their basic instincts for survival are similar to that of a deer, which would
naturally flee from any potential carnivore. Shane knew that once the wild-bred
mustang realized he wasn’t after her for his evening meal, she would change her
fearful attitude. This would take some understanding on his part to change how
she perceived him.
    Shane noticed right off that the louder his voice
was the more bothered she became, so he began using it to his advantage.
Whenever the mare was moving away from him he would consistently raise his
voice, saying things like, “Hey, where are you going? You’re gonna hurt my
feelings if you keep walking away.”
    As soon as she looked in his direction, he would
soften and lower his voice. “You know you want to be friends. You just have to
trust me first, don’t you?”
    She quickly learned that when she faced him, the
bothersome loud talking would stop and immediately soften into a much more
tolerable, pleasant sound. Timing and consistency were imperative in order to
make this work. For now the sound of Shane’s voice was all the pressure she
could handle, and he was using it to draw her attention and mind into him. In
no time at all, the mare made her decision to stop trying to ignore him.
Instead she began standing calmly and watching Shane with curious interest.
    “Atta Girl, see I’m not so bad, am I?” Shane
continued softening his tone, still kneeling down on one knee as he rested his
arms on top of the other. Finally, the response he was looking for happened.
The young horse lowered her head, let out a soft snort, and took a timid step
toward him. To someone without Shane’s experience this wouldn’t seem like a big
deal, but Shane knew it was a nice breakthrough. He smiled as he figured, This is probably the first time she’s
ever thought about approaching a human .
    Most people would now stand and move toward the horse,
maybe even try to touch her. But he knew this would only scare her. Instead, as
the mare stepped in his direction. he maintained his low profile slowly moving
back away from her. This really got her attention, causing her ears to perk up
with curiosity as she moved toward him a few more hesitant steps. Now he was
drawing in her body as well as her mind. Every time he moved back a little, the
mare would take a couple of steps closer. Soon she was close enough for him to
open his hand and let her take the small amount of grain that he’d been holding
for just such a moment. “There you go, that’s what I was hoping for.”
    This was the perfect time to end this session on a
good note. Still staying low to the ground, he smoothly moved about twenty feet
away from her. He then stood slowly, careful not to startle her, and walked to
the gate. Shane smiled again as he turned to see the lonely little mare still
standing calmly in the field where he had left her, as if she didn’t want him
to leave. This was a nice change in her behavior, and he felt confident he
would have no problem building on this. The session went well, and Jacob had
watched his dad intensely with all the wonder of an eight-year-old boy with a
bad case of hero worship.
    Before Shane turned away from the mustang, he said
quietly in her direction, “You sure are lucky you showed up when you did.” He
and Jen had been looking for a horse he could start training for the kids.
Although she wasn’t exactly what he had pictured,