I am not a professional horse person. I am not a specialist. I am an amateur in the truest sense of the word. I do this because I love it.

That is part of why the relationship I have with Joey feels so honest.

We have not rushed anything. There has been no timetable to impress, no standard to meet, no need to prove that he or I are anything other than what we are right now. What we have done instead is negotiate. We have had conversations, sometimes quiet, sometimes clumsy. I have asked. He has answered. I have listened.

Taking it slowly has not held us back. It has built something solid.

Backing a young horse this way teaches humility. You cannot bluff your way through it. You cannot fake calm or confidence. Horses notice what is real and what is borrowed. Joey has taught me that listening is not passive. It is active, deliberate work.

Today, the first of January, that work showed itself in a way I will not forget. Cattle had broken into our paddock, and we needed to move them out. I was aboard, not watching from the fence. We moved together. There was no forcing and no hesitation. He read the situation, I felt the shift beneath me, and for those moments the conversation disappeared into something quieter. Horse and rider, doing the same job with the same intent.

It was not about control. It was about trust.

This journey has reminded me that progress does not have to be loud to be real. Going slowly is not the same as standing still. Sometimes it is the fastest way to build something that lasts.

If this is the year of the horse, then I hope it is a year of listening more than pushing, of conversation rather than command. Horses give back what you bring to them. Patience, offered honestly, comes back multiplied.

Joey and I are still learning each other. That feels like exactly where we should be.