Going their own way

This past week found me moving my group of ewes from a pasture to the barn. There were several reasons for the move, some of them being that I wanted them to be more accessible for a visitor that was coming and I thought it might help start the process of being ready for their upcoming shearing day. When I was first starting out with sheep and I needed to move them around, I found that if I would take a bucket with grain and shake it and take off running at the front of the group, the sheep would follow me quite nicely. For some reason, the running seemed to work better than simply walking! There was something so wildly exhilarating about running at the front of a group of sheep and seeing them follow behind you and watching them literally kick up their heels. I would find myself laughing out of sheer delight, an honest-to-goodness, genuine laugh that was somehow different from a regular laugh. Perhaps it was so wildly exhilarating because I was used to moving goats and that never seemed to go smoothly. It often ended up with goats scattered and being individually dragged to where I wanted them to go, all the while they would be crying like I meant to do them serious harm rather than simply lead them to a spot with better food. I digress though. So I moved the ewes to the barn last week, only I walked this time instead of ran since the ground was wet. All goes smoothly with most of the sheep. I have thirteen that stayed right with me and went into the barn like champs. I had to go back to the pasture for two because one ewe is a bit older and slower and she is always at the back of the pack and they followed me along with no problem. Then there was the last ewe. She came with the flock but when she got to the gate, she went to the side of it instead of through it. Intentional? Maybe. Maybe not. All the rest of the sheep are inside the barn, eating their hay and grain. Here's this one Romney girl that stayed on the outside of the fence. She walked alongside the fence for a bit and I think she was debating if it was worth her while to go in or if she was going to stick with what she knew (the pasture where she came from). Well, she decided it wasn't worth it to try the new place. She took herself through the fence to get back into the old pasture. All of her buddies were happily eating fresh, dry hay under shelter. All of her buddies were out of the mud of the rain/snow soaked pasture. All of her buddies were happy to be in a new place and have a new adventure. But not this girl. She wasn't willing to try the new place or the new adventure. She was too timid to venture through the gate that would take her to a larger shelter. So she stuck with what she knew and by doing so, missed out on some good things. That got me thinking... Are there new adventures that I have been too timid to try? Am I sticking with what I know when maybe it is time to walk into a new or different space? Am I being stubborn about something that maybe I shouldn't be holding onto so tightly? Am I missing out on some good and better things because I am sticking with the old patterns? What about you? Do any of these questions resonate with you too? Here's to learning lessons from sheep! (The lone Romney ewe is back together with her flock, in case you were wondering!)