It Was A Good Start

It's been a while since my last blog. Christmas was crazy busy. All the kids were home for the Holidays for the first time in 5 years. It was wonderfully hectic and busy, and over too quick. On the way home from the airport after dropping the last kid off, I thought about how quiet the house would seem, and it dawned on me that, hey, I can go and play with my horses. I decided to take Sassy out and play with her. Since one of the goals in my lessons with Sandi is for me to have the confidence to ride a horse other than JJ. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to, maybe do at home what I'm paying a trainer for. It was a great lesson for us both. She's a lot more sensitive than JJ, and way more energetic. While I have a hard time getting the J-man to move his feet, Sassy's feet are in constant motion. Just the walk from the barn to the round pen was a big change for me. On our way down, we stopped at the gate, and the game was, she had to keep her feet still while I opened the gate, and to then wait for my direction indicating she could walk through the gate opening. We also played the "yo-yo' game with her standing on one side of the open gate and me on the other side. I drew her to me then backed her up through the gate opening several times. She did really well. She's a dancer, and this was really good practice for her. She learned to keep her feet still, and her focus on me. WOW! It took me months to understand this concept with JJ. (Poor guy). Once at the round pen we played a lot of friendly game. She really responds well to kind words. She likes it when she's told she's a good girl. She really reacts well to, and seems to really like praise. She's starting to come out of her shell. She's starting to bond with us, and to trust us. It's so amazing to see her let her guard down and to give us a glimpse of her "real" self. She's such a sweet, smart, willing horse. And to see her play drive start to emerge is so great. When we first got her, I would hold the hoof pick up so she could see it and maybe get an idea of what it was I was going to do. She wouldn't even look at it. Now she's looking at, and smelling the things I hold up to her. She's just barely beginning to actually nudge or mouth the object I'm holding up for her. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but it's a really big step for her. I also rode her, and that was a really big step for me, but she made it easy. And, OMG she is a wonderful horse to ride. At first, she was anticipating my wants and it was kind of like riding a bike for the first time. Remember when your dad finally took the training wheels off of your 2 wheeler and you wobbled down the street. That's what she was like. Left,right,left,right,left,right...you get the picture. Finally, I took a deep breath and let it out just to quite my mind and she kinda took the hint. She settled down, waited for me and we practiced the exaggerate turns I learned from Sandi. It was a good start.