Friday training

These videos were taken on Friday. I am working her on long lines using half of the indoor ring. This has helped her balance, rhythm and flexibility a lot. She is rhythmic at the walk and trot most of the time now. In the videos she is scooting a bit when the outside reins becomes active. I am pleased with her progress so far.



She gets her teeth done on August 1st. I hope to be backing her by mid-August.

She still does not like to get a bath- we are STILL working on standing in the wash stall while being hosed. She is doing well with her feet and got her second hoof trim. She had nice hoof growth. She has gained 150 pounds and is REALLY starting to look like a Quarter Horse.

Confidence

Last night Drifter went out with the pasture board horses to start integrating into the new herd. She was suitably nervous coming in this morning as she is very submissive and on the bottom of the new herd. She has no confidence and it really shows in situations like these. I was going to long line her, but with her already being on edge I felt she need to get away from me and move. So we lunged in the indoor. I was able to walk a big circle and use half of the indoor for her at the trot. This really helps to balance her and gets her moving out nicely. I think it was the right choice to lunge instead of long line this morning.

I also figured out that Drifter (called Mama Bird most of the time) has Sweet Itch. That means that she is allergic to gnats and mosquitoes and she breaks out in a itchy rash. The best way to control this is to avoid having her bitten. I am trying a fly sheet with hood, but I am not sure the barn staff will keep putting it on and I am not sure how "ok" she will be with them putting it on. Although, she was fine with me!

She also has a dentist APPOINTMENT now, August 1st.

Progress

Today we did some long lining at the trot. She was great! It is nice to see her improving at the trot and with several changes of direction she was become more supple. She is still more stiff to the right, but I know this will improve with more work. I should probably add in some massage and stretching.

She has been goon on the cross ties and with picking her feet.

On Tuesday I lunged her outside with side reins. I really don't have the right configuration for them, so I think I may delay using them much more. Plus, one got caught on the gate as we were leaving and she bent the snap trying to get away. She also bit my thumb when I was giving her a bath and trying to hold onto the treat to delay the reward. It really hurt and now it hurts to shake someone hand who squeezes hard! It was really my fault though! I think I have gotten comfortable in expecting that things will be "fine" with her and have overestimated her understanding and maturity in less then two months.

Sensitive mare

I learned an interesting lesson today. I brought my SO along to video us today and he was "bored" being there. This made me tense and feeling pressured to hurry. And not surprisingly, Drifter had an "off" day. She actually spooked twice today! We did get some video of her on the long lines, both in a ground driving situation and double lunging.

I would love to hear some comments.

July update

Yesterday she was wormed with the real thing- no real issue. She lifts her head up, but then tries to eat the wormed tube because it's usually filled with applesauce.

We groomed and tacked on the cross ties in preparation for pasture board next month. She was fine and was very good with her feet. I am now able to lift and pick out all four feet.

I "mico-teked" her mane to help deal with the itching.

She was lunged in side reins for the first time yesterday. We lunged outside and she was better then previously with maintaining a large circle. She was fine with the side reins and it helped to regulate her rhythm some as well. However, my surcingle rings are too high for her and putting the side reins on the billets ended up with her head nearly on the ground!

I also introduced her to the mounting block. I walked her by and stopped her and climbed up on the block. She looked tense for a moment, then I started to scratch her itchy mane! This really helped her relax so I could scratch her and pat her back from up high.

We ended the day with introducing to come when called- again in prep for pasture board. This involved standing in her stall with treats and whistling and calling to her; when she comes to me she gets the treat. She was slow to be motived for this game, but after watching me play it with Fritz (my gelding who she can see across the aisle) she was more motivated and seemed to understand the concept better.

It's nice to see continued progress and I am hoping to get her to take a full bath in the coming weeks.