TRIMMING

Well yesterday was eventful! I got stepped on my toe (read: STOOD ON), by Calypso. She was afraid of the bag on the lawn mower.... I had thought she's of moved, but she just stood there until I smacked her.

Oi, let's just say that I need to get to the barn earlier for trimming appointments so I can longe her, and pick her feet out and Onyx's feet out. @____@ Dawn thinks Onyx will be sound for light work in a few weeks! YAY! Also, they may be 24/7 pastured now, including rain. Monica isn't very fond of the idea, but I think Debbie is coming around. I just hope Monica won't feel resentful or ursurped by Dawn or anyone. o.o ANYWHO, I found out they were fine out there. They would take shelter when they felt like it, and get wet when they felt like it. Monica did bring them in at 1 PM to relieve them a bit, but apparently Onyx spent most of the time kicking at his stall door so he and Calypso went back out at 5 PM. I don't think Calypso cares either way, she just wants to be with Onyx. =3 Even a bit of play between Calypso and Daphne the Belgian occured, though they were smart enough to keep things to a walk.

Working On: Transitions as per usual, leg aids, focal ques.

Progress: We had trouble on the longe for one particular side. There were more than a few riders in the ring, which is new, and this is her "bad side" to begind with. Every other second it was "may I come in now?" "I want to come in now!" "How about now?" "NOW??" and each time it was NO GO AWAY. Geez, that was annoying. Eventually I got sick of it and so to finish on a "positive" note we switched to her better side and ended at that. Then we spent the rest of the day in the arena with others just "chilling" after I got her used to the longe whip (she suddenly developed a phobia! I think it may have been the excitement of the day, she hasn't been afraid of the whip in months! Just the other day she had walked and trotted over it no problem... maybe it was because it wasn't "my" whip, but another? Oh well, tough cookies). So we hung out watching the lessons. I made sure she was standing by the mounting block (her other little "phobia") while I just sat there. I had planned for that day to just be a day without riding. I had already baby dolled her mane and partially her tail, but you know, watching everyone ride and us just sit there got boring for the both of us. So boring in fact that we passed the time chewing on a crop and I was teaching her to wave it around (we had to stop though, she kept trying to swallow it xD).

One GREAT thing though, was that a repeat incident happened. The same rider on the same horse fell off after a jump and the horse spooked and took off. We just watched quite placidly as if it happened every day. She made no hesitation, didn't even pay any mind. She didn't even move until I got up to walk up the the prancy horse who was trotting about. I think it helped I had Calypso with me, as he wanted to flirt with her. The rider was for the most part okay, luckily, and they continued their lesson.

Eventually I got on her with the rope halter and got no head tossing. I planned to get her a different bit (I have one in mind), but now I'll be getting one sooner than later.

Next time: I'd like to work on extending that walk a bit more, but I believe I need to refound the moving off of pressure exercises.

To Remember: When you AND the horse are bored, do something different.

As a note on the previous blog, I did add some poles to add variety and she did very nicely. She's also doing cone weaving on the ground and bareback.