Preparation

I worked with Drifter on Friday and again today. Friday was all about being a good girl and getting over the whole long lining freak out about the lines again. I worked a lot on changes of direction where I was direction behind her and she was tense when she couldn't see me. However, with practice she was much improved. This was also the first time she cantered on the long lines. She was a good girl. Afterwards I hosed her off to work on standing in the wash stall and did great on the right side and okay hosing the left side. This was an improvement.

Today the barn was very busy. I began with focusing on standing by the mounting block while I leaned on her. She was good with this and overall we stood by three mounting blocks. I also began to "pretend" mount from the ground by putting weighting in the stirrup and pulling up. This made her a little nervous, but overall she was okay with it. She did the mounting block and stirrups from both left and right sides. I lunged her in the outdoor with good manners and attention and added asking her to lunge in the dressage ring today. She was good with this until a HUGE bomber landed on her- then she was a little more quick and distracted. We finished again in the wash stall and she was much better.

I had to go back to the fly sheet as she is getting some dry skin and scratchy parts. She is really getting a belly now. The dentist is coming on Friday. Then next week she will begin work in the bridle and hopefully I will be getting on her in two weeks. There isn't much more work I can do from the ground- improving her lunge and long lining work is always room for improvement, but I think she is really ready for mounted work.

I would like to incorporate some "extra curricular" work with her. I would like to add more interesting techniques and incorporate TTouch again. I guess time is always a factor.