Finding Balance

I love work. Especially when I am working on stuff I am passionate about! This may seem strange to people stuck in a job that they do not like, but when you are doing something you truly love, it doesn't feel like work.
When you are stuck in a job you do not enjoy, it seems that then you need distractions to 'get away from it all'. City folks need a boat and a camper or a cabin to get away to the lake to rejuvenate. My rejuvenation comes from spending time working with my animals, and working in my yard. But - one still needs balance.
The problem with ranching and working part-time is that there is always more work than time to do it in. Especially when like me, you are just starting up. There are fences to build, shelters to repair and build, corrals and pens to build, cleanup to be done, new animals that need to be tagged and vaccinated, the yard needs work, the vegetable garden needs work, the house needs work, and then there are the day-to-day mundane tasks like laundry, dishes, cleaning.... and pretty soon, there is no time for relaxing.

So every once in a while its time to ignore the pile of dishes and the grass that needs cutting, and go do something else. I went to a 2 day herding clinic with my dog Spice at Dog Tale Ranch. It took a bit of organization to get away for 2 days - someone needs to milk the milking goat 2x a day and care for her, animals and water system needs checking 1x a day, eggs need to be collected from the laying hens, and the dogs and cats need feeding. Its hard for both me and Larry to go away at the same time, so often I would stay home so he could attend a conference, and visa versa. In this case Larry opted to stay home and take care of things for me.

Training a herding dog is one of my goals. I searched long and hard to find a Belgian Shepherd with herding breeding. I wanted to Belgian because I love the breed, so along came Spice, or Elevation Spice it Up.
I had a great time camping with my dog, learning about pressure and release on dogs - which is a familiar concept to me with horses. One of the terms used in herding is 'finding balance' - where the dog learns to be opposite the handler, with the sheep between them. My dog is extremely talented and her instinct told her immediately where balance was. She found balance easily. Dogs live in the moment - if they feel like taking a nap, they do so. If they are thirsty, they have a drink. If they feel like playing, they do so.
We need to learn to live in the moment a bit more. Sometimes it is hard - things still need to get done, and we have such a short summer season to get it done in. It is easy for me to get lost in the work, but finding the balance between work and play - is something I have to work on.

Spice on the way to herding - are we there yet?

Spice camping

I look forward to having a few more fun days and going to Sheep Camp at Dog Tale Ranch in August.