Chipping away at it - and a woodpecker comes to mind

Today we went to Brandt's again, last time of police horse work before the winter break. Another great opportunity to chip away on our claustrophobia when it comes to being crowded by other horses. This mounted police unit uses Percherons, and those guys (the horses!) are quite 'substantial'.

Brandt had a client horse to take care of first and as the officers were already mounted I thought, what the heck, might as well get on with it. OK, in the interest of full disclosure ... I was a bit less gung ho about it when I rode down to the outdoor arena and joined in. Luckily I remembered what I learned from the cow working: Always keep the 'target' in front of you. Or as Buck Branamann puts it so aptly:

"Chase trouble before trouble chases you"

I love this saying and it has become one of my favorite mantras. Also, it does sound a bit classier than my usual "We can f...ing do this!" :-)

Remy handles the crowding much better. Brandt got on to ride him within the herd of about 10 horses and one very spunky pony, and it truly was the 'Herd of the Thundering Hooves'! They galloped all around him, Remy spun a bit when things got too tight, but then relaxed. He finished all relaxed and happy.

So, while it's still not perfect, we are chipping away at it, bit by bit. Somehow Woody Woodpecker* comes to mind...

*Woody Woodpecker is an anthropomorphic animated woodpecker, inspired by the acorn woodpecker and also resembling the pileated woodpecker,^[2] who appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz animation studio and distributed by Universal PicturesAccording to Walter Lantz's press agent, the idea for Woody came during the producer's honeymoon with his wife, Gracie, in Lake Sherwood, California. A noisy acorn woodpecker^[2] outside their cabin kept the couple awake at night, and when a heavy rain started, they learned that the bird had bored holes in their cabin's roof. As both Walter and Gracie told Dallas attorney Rod Phelps during a visit, Walter wanted to shoot the thing, but Gracie suggested that her husband make a cartoon about the bird, and thus Woody was born. [Wikipedia]