Something that we've come to love as a family is working with our horses. For Brandt especially, they have a calming effect that is amazing. He has a close and trusting relationship with his horse, Grizz, who is a gentle giant. Brandt loves spending time out in the field with him, talking to him, leading him around (without a lead rope-Grizz just puts his nose on buddy's shoulder and follows him wherever he goes), and loving on him. When it comes to riding him, buddy gets a lot more nervous. I decided to try something with him recently and it worked like magic. Before we put Brandt up on him, he spends some time with him-usually nose to nose-just talking to him and calming down. Then he moves to his neck and on toward his saddle, talking to him and petting him the whole time, telling him that he's going to be riding him and saying something like "Grizz, I'm going to be getting on you now. I know that you'll take care of me and give me a good ride and I promise to take good care of you, too." Then we put him in the saddle and lead him around for a bit. When he's done riding, he loves on Grizz some more and tells him thank you for the ride. It's been such a HUGE step for Brandt to do this because he's been so terrified of riding. Tonight he let us let go of the lead rope and he took the reigns himself for the first time! He was so proud of himself! I'm thankful for such a good horse-I don't think it was by accident that we ended up with him.
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