The Amish Blacksmith by Mindy Starns Clark

Author:Mindy Starns Clark
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736957373
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.

EIGHTEEN

It seemed best to let January have some time to recover from her trip from Chester County, so I didn’t attempt to work with her after Natasha and the girls left. The horse seemed a bit uneasy when I brought in her feed and tack, and she kept an ear trained toward the open barn door as though she expected something or someone to come running through it. I distracted her by offering her a few carrots, and then I took Patch out to the round pen for what I hoped would be my final session with him.

This time instead of hats on stakes, I held one in my hand, waited for Patch to stretch out his neck to smell it, and then touched Patch lightly with its brim. I started with his neck, then moved down to his midsection, touching and releasing and waiting for Patch to stand perfectly still as I moved about him with the hat. When my hat-touching elicited a calm response, I rewarded him with a carrot chunk. When he startled, I waited and tried again. After an hour of this, he was allowing me to touch my hat to his face and neck with only a slight swish of his tail—a huge improvement and proof to me he was ready to go home. It would be easy to show Trudy how to do the same pressure-and-release technique with her father’s hat so that Patch’s “trust conditioning” could continue.

I was getting set to lead him out of the round pen when Roseanna showed up at the rail. Judging by the basket of carrots on her arm, she’d been pulling up the vegetable component for tonight’s supper and had decided to check on our progress on her way back to the kitchen.

“Looks like you won’t need another bucket of goodies for that horse,” she said, smiling at me.

“You were watching, eh?”

“It’s pretty amazing how you did that. I once saw Mahlon try to calm a horse spooked by its own blanket—but with completely different results.” Roseanna laughed. “He was running around behind that mare, trying to get close enough for her to see it was nothing to be afraid of. The horse wanted nothing to do with that blanket. It was pretty funny to watch.”

I laughed too as I walked Patch toward the pen gate. “I can imagine. Guess Mahlon didn’t know that horses are more inclined to go toward something that’s moving away from them rather than coming at them, especially something they would prefer to avoid.”

Roseanna swung the gate door open for me. “Funny what horses will fear, isn’t it? Like this horse here. Imagine an Amish driving horse being afraid of a hat.”

I patted Patch’s neck as we moved past Roseanna. I reached for my own hat waiting for me on the fence post and slowly put it on my head. Patch faltered for only a moment.

“Actually, it wasn’t about a hat. It was about what the hat represented. Same with the blanket and Mahlon’s horse, I’m thinking.

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