Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Update day four and five

Day four was a bit of a disappointment. She hadn't been turned out at all. We did try lunging in the indoor area and she was good. She didn't look twice at the mirrors or being in the indoor. She lunged better without the distractions from the barn. She was responsive at walk and trot. I then tried to give her a bath which I feel went poorly. The washstall at the barn is small and dark, but she followed me right in. She was less enthusiastic about STANDING in the wash stall. This was even worse when I was spraying water on her. She tried to stand and be good, but she was just really unhappy about the whole thing. Now, the other issue involved here is that I do not know if she ties or not and did not think that tying her in the wash stall (concrete floor) was the wisest place to learn. So, she got her shoulder washed, but the rest of her remains dirty.

Day five was an improvement with minimal turnout time while I rode my other horse. She wasn't very happy being out alone, but nibbled some grass and pawed by the fence. We then did some lunging in the outdoor ring again -focusing on voice commands for walk, trot and whoa. She is learning these very quickly and her leading skills are greatly improving. She is stiffer to the right on the lunge, but looks pretty balanced to the left. We finished with working on picking up her feet. She hasn't been taught how to do this, so I am working on the command lift and having her lift and allow her hoof to be held. She is okay with the fronts, once you get them off the ground and she is overlifting the hinds- but not trying to kick. I did some TTouch moves around her mouth as was able to touch her lips and muzzle. She is very fond of people now and comes to the gate when I go to get her.

I am hoping that things will progress nicely, but for me things are changing, which may mean changes for her (again) too. My landlord is selling our house and I am not sure if I will be able to afford two horses now that we have to move....

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