Settling In

Things are going well at Lone Star Equestrian Center with Whisper. As we get closer to marking our first full month here, it's also the hectic Christmas season with short days and more to do than there is light to do it.

Whisper doesn't seem to mind because it also means peppermints are everywhere and that's her most favorite thing in the world. She's made some new horse friends but her position in the herd isn't quite solidified yet. One day she discovered the area where bur bushes reside and Chris and I spent the better part of 30 min that evening getting her bur dreads out of her forelock and ears.

The space has been lovely, room to learn how to be a horse, interact with a herd, and build up those back muscles. Her stifles are stiff at times and I am hoping that the muscle tone she's adding will help before we begin joint supplements. She overall seems very mentally content, so much so that she has no trouble coming across the acreage to my car when we pull up to bring her in at night and feed.

This past weekend, the whole family came out to the farm before we went to pick out our tree. My husband, Chris, had his first riding lesson on Amy's horse, Arizona, as a birthday gift. He has ridden a trail horse with me years ago, that's about the extent of his riding experience. His time growing up as the son of a large animal vet served him well as he has a wonderful way with the horses. Confident, calm, sensible, and open to listening to them, he's a natural.

The kids made a decent sized cheering section for good ole' Dad.

While we were all at the farm with the sun shining, I hopped on Whisper for a little bareback ride. Okay, I didn't exactly hop. She's really tall and my bareback pad is just that, a little pad to keep her spine from making bruises in unkind areas, but I digress. It took a small step ladder and a few passes to get Whisper to stand so I could launch up there, but eventually we got it.

It was one of her good days.

She is trying a little harder to move my way and I'm trying a little harder to meet her half way. Being out in the open space has helped by giving her daily exercise to take the edge off. It also calms her nerves when I train, I took her in the new ring a week ago and she full spooked (with me on the ground) about a dozen times. Her muscles trembled, she snorted and blew, and jigged that bouncy sort of nervous trot. Daylight isn't in our favor right now so I hope to take her up to the ring a few times a week, when it's not in use, feed her a peppermint and walk her right back out again. Just slowly start to change her hard wiring that something awful will occur in there.

Meanwhile, I'll take these moments when she gives them.

Right, Right, to the Right!

The weather here in the foothills of Georgia's mountains gave us a nice glimpse of fall as October began. The first crisp day of the season was a nice setting for working Whisper together with my good friend, Jennifer. Jen is in off-track Greyhounds now, but has a lot of horse history, specifically with Thoroughbreds. Her dog training style, interests, and technique are very similar to mine, add in that she also runs an "off breed", and a great friendship has been forged.

Whisper was enjoying the snappy gusts of wind, all of them were actually, many of the horses in the pasture were breaking into spontaneous runs. I started with our warm-up of driving her using the long lines. It has really helped her through the last week, dropping her head, coming onto the bit, understanding pressure. Jennifer pointed out that we were turning left a lot more often than right. The way her body arcs and bends at odd angles, it feels easiest to balance her out by using that left bend. I hadn't realized it had become so much of a habit though.

I got bored after about 20 minutes and my second lap of serpentines so I added in a little obstacle course.

After that it was time to get on. She was very relaxed and supple from the ground, but she had energy reserves for when I was in the saddle. We had a few moments of disagreeing over what pace we should be going before just sitting a little while and collecting ourselves. Jen suggested some circles, to the right, and some turns on the forehand. The turns settled her and gave her a suppleness we'd been missing. That "off" feeling that turning into her shoulder that she fell through was exactly the right thing (haha) to do, at some points she even rounded her back and engaged her muscles more effectively.

2 hours into our work, a few strides of a western pleasure horse emerged. Okay, maybe not, but a loose relaxed neck much better than we've had.

Jennifer also got on her for some circles encouraging her not to fall through that inside shoulder. Whisper was really relaxed by then and made it hard to put her up so a lesson could use the ring. I know you're supposed to leave the horse wanting more, what about the rider?

This evening I read an e-mail from Trish, Whisper's breeder, and she told me about how I might look at Whisper's first 30 minutes as time chalked-up to unlearning for awhile. Racehorses go out with little warm-up before going into their gallop. Within 30 minutes, they are done and back in the shed row. She also described the unlearning process as more complex than just "turning them out to unwind as some trainers do". Whisper has to learn that her job has changed, then she must learn my cues are the right thing to do, and finally understand them.

Confounded Fourth Day

Whisper had her third session with trainer, Erin Beach. Her leg is still a little sore when handled (like a bruise) but the vet assured us she had no trouble working or carrying a rider at this stage.

There is a trainer of Spanish horses, Klaus Hempflig, who specifically cites the "confounded fourth day", or as he elaborates, "whatever day it is that the horse fails to progress, seems to fall completely backwards in training, and frustrates his trainer to no end".

It's common in working with dogs and other animals too, a sort of learning curve where progress is seen, then suddenly lost as the brain imprints it to come back again at a later time. Whisper found that day under saddle today. Nothing terrible, just no visible progress forward towards change. Completely normal, but also completely frustrating.

I did a little ground driving with her first to warm her up. I have never used ground driving before and I am hooked. I can feel her mouth and even her impulsion through my hands. Erin rode her with complete consistency and gave her chances to earn what she wanted. Whisper's head simply was not in the game today. Period. There was nothing to do to that would change her today.

It's interesting to watch someone else ride her, as a bystander it almost looks like the rider is all in Whisper's mouth, pulling, trying to turn. In reality, that's all Whisper. She does all the head throwing, cocking, craning, and jerking by herself. Maybe it's pure entertainment value to her, who knows.

Quote of the day: God made little girls so His ponies would be taken care of.

Careful, She's Fragile

Whisper's sessions with Trainer, Erin Beach, went well. She began by ground driving her, keeping her calmer than longeing while encouraging her to respond to the bit the way she should under saddle.

She also rode Whisper through 45 minutes of 4 steps walk, surge forward. 5 steps walk, surge again. By the end she was trotting her and bringing back to a walk that had some moments of loose rein.

I was excited to continue her ground driving when I walked into the barn Wednesday. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. I brought Whisper out of her stall and the 4 beats behind me on the barn aisle were completely off tempo. Lame on her right hind.

I found a knot on her cannon bone, just beneath her stifle, firm and warm to the touch, a quick call scheduled the vet for the morning. He came out to examine her, she was already moving a lot better than the night before after being turned out, and palpated the knot on her leg. He said she had a bone bruise that felt like a charlie horse to her, gave me some anti-inflammatories to put her on for a few days, and mentioned he expected improvement pretty quickly with lots of movement to help it along.

Leave it to my stall-kicker to find a way to weasel out of training a few days.

Chute

Jumping chutes can help a horse learn how to stride itself before a jump, gain confidence, and a whole bunch of other stuff they do better without a rider interfering. Tonight a jump chute was a great excuse not to climb on a horse who has fought me and won, running away with me a few times the last couple of nights.

Whisper was too smart for her own good. She figured out all sorts of ways to avoid the jump.

Looks like she is thinking about it, maybe... but no - she spun on her hind quarters and headed back out and around

Okay, so I can't clear a jump set to that height. Laugh if you want, but I will challenge you to a foot race with paddock boots on, in deep sand, with sweaty jeans stuck to you any day of the week. I turned her loose when I thought she had committed and she was out of there again.

I took Whisper back out in the dusky light that was left and set the bar at about one foot of the ground and we ran it together 4 times, we may be destined for a non-jumper after all.

Whisper Can Fly!

Whisper bolted with me enough times that I had to regroup. One night she ran and I steered her into a fence, she broke the fence before stopping. After multiple sessions of rein pressure work on the ground, I started riding again.

It hasn't been flawless, she has spooked a lot and she tried to run with me once. Somehow I found a zen place to stay calm in those moments,even the ground poles were conquered, at a walk at least, tonight.

While riding a friend asked if Whisper would do okay if she brought her pony in to ride for a little while, I got off Whisper to work her from the ground in case it went badly.

On the first full lap with the pony in the ring, Whisper was a mess. Surging, pulling me like I wasn't there, and vocalizing this seriously screwed up half whinny half whine I've never heard before. She kept trying to call to the pony and was oblivious to me. Then she took a leap before she hit the end of the reins, once she did she reared. Only that wasn't enough of a tension release so when she went into the rear she also started to buck, then couldn't extend her back legs to kick. The result was all 4 feet off the ground at the exact same time while her topline was completely straight and parallel to the ground.

If it wasn't as a result of bad behavior, I would have applauded. Seriously. It took all I had not to high-five the pony's rider and say "cool!" a lot.

The arena had been used all day, jumped in, cantered on, etc. You can see what usual heavy horse traffic does looking across. These four pits are what happened when Whisper's four feet regained contact with Earth.

Whisper collected easy enough after that, within ten minutes being nonchalant about following the pony or when the pony was cantering. Whatever she did released the pent-up stuff and she was fine.

When the pony left the ring, I rode another 20 minutes to be sure that we were still good. She took off once more, not the super-cool-horse-leap, just a spook run, and I brought her back down. My comfort level was as high as it gets, still being aware of who she is and what she needs right now. It was hard not to ask for more and just end it there.

Time

I've been working and riding Whisper 5 days giving her 2 consecutive days off since we started work back. The early training issue glaring at me is regression from the horse that calmed and collected on longe and then under saddle 7 days ago, to a horse that is having trouble standing in cross ties just to be tacked, resorting to weaving and pawing.

Each day I work her, the horse coming into the ring is a little higher. Yesterday it took what felt like an hour to work her down on longe before getting on and then when I did it was clear that she was not touching the ground.

Her adrenaline seems to be increasing over our sessions instead of ebbing. Overall, Whisper has moments of greatness and connection, that flow into complete disconnect, then back again. She feels like she panics and wants to run off the fear and in those moments she is not thinking or aware of the anything.

With time, just doing it over and over again, those moments of good will hopefully last longer.

In the meantime, I will deal with my fear of her bolting with no regard towards her rider. If I can deal with that, I can push through these stages and see what is on the other side.

Riding!

The only small hitch happened when I was done. I couldn't get a flat halt out of her for anything. She would stop walking forward and immediately engage her rear and move backwards. All 4 legs would not work together to be still at any one time.

Getting Back To Work

I had to look back to see when the last time was that I rode Whisper. I knew it was before Pirate was born and herd structure did a number on her, followed by lameness and abscesses. I've had Whisper for 4 and a half months and it's been 3 months since I've ridden her. With feet that are no longer painful it's time to start a workload more than just learning cross ties and working on ground manners. She's physically ready for light riding and I'm ready to start moving in that direction.

She and I started in the ring on a longe line and by the end of the session she was giving me focus and attention, her responses were fairly soft.

Next time the main ring was in use, so we walked through the woods to the second ring. This ring spooked her a little more than the other, surrounded by woods, situated away from all of the other horses and the barn. A few times she stopped dead, called to the horses at the barn, then would try and bolt away. I was able to correct this and keep her with me, in the future I'll probably use a chain when working her in that location to keep us both safe.

The last sessions of the week, I added in the bridle. I have 2 bridles, one plain noseband that I've worked/ridden her in before. And another that includes a flash, a second noseband that goes in front of the bit to help keep the horse from being able to open their mouth. She works her mouth enough that I wanted to try the flash on her this time around and keep that tongue under the bit. In three months I forgot that she likes to bite once bridled, she got me once while I was opening a gate.

I thought I'd go ahead and throw in mounting block practices while we were at it. I'd like her to begin an understanding of holding still during and after mounting until asked to move forward.My confidence increases with every challenge she throws me that I am able to counter. Her confidence increases as I make her job description clear.

Fun With The Pirate

Pirate has changed so much in his few days of life. He is already pushed well beyond timid exploration right beside Promise, after having just positive interaction with him today, it's clear that he's ready to start some baby mule training. As tempting as it is to keep treating him like a really fun big dog, it's important to teach foals boundaries so they can be respectful as adults.

Promise had to keep up with him, Pirate is running right up to anyone who comes in to see him.

Whisper and I did a little groundwork and grooming with a stud chain in place and today she did well. I'm not sure if  it was the chain (familiar from the track) or if it was just one of her good days. Leaving at dusk, Pirate was feeling frisky. Every time I turned around he was running up behind me with Promise trying to keep up.

Rose Colored Glasses

Mid-week, I was able to get a little time to longe Whisper after the last round had gone badly. She walked both directions, full circles, no issues at all. So good that yesterday I sat daydreaming at the house wishing I could ride her in the beautiful weather. (taking care of the kids all day and I start acting like a kid stuck at school doodling my horse)

Finally loose outside with my horse, we were out for our walk when things began to crumble. She fully spooked, one minute she was walking on my loose rope and the next she had her nose thrown up to full height, she leaped back then began to run backwards, rearing twice, popping my shoulder.

As this happened I did what I have always done and stayed with her, moving with her and staying silent until she calmed. I didn't allow slack in the rope until she chose to create it. We went back and forth between her listening, responding, to me and high-head blowing with rigid muscles.

I have every ounce of faith that, with help, this will change. Maybe one day we'll have access to a ring and when she chooses to break off of me, she will also be making a choice that forces her to run and keep running until she hooks-on with me again.

The rose colored glasses are off to see my troubled mount for where she is in her training and it's nowhere close to where she was "advertised" to be, a soft and willing trail horse prospect she was definitely not. Off to ice the shoulder!

*Promise Update : Still pregnant, miserable, and very very very tired. The last few times I've been with her, including today, she has been ridiculously sweet. Promise is a lovable spirit, but she is also independent. Lately she is happy to be close, glad to be touched, and even spent some of the morning with her head completely inside the open window hatch of my truck watching a Disney movie with the kids. She fell asleep during the good part.

Riding Without A Rope

My Father-in-Law, who lives on property with my horses, had knee surgery is beginning recovery. In the meantime, Chris and I are driving 40 minutes each eay twice a day to feed the horses. The extra time with them is wonderful it's just unfortunate that it also comes at a time when gas prices are higher than I have ever seen. I've already told Promise that now would be an awfully convenient time to go ahead and foal so I could be there checking-in on the two of them.

Whisper hasn't been worked this week at all. The down pours saturated the ground so much that footing was not conducive to training. I hadn't been up on her back in 2 weeks and it was killing me. Chris was with me and after we groomed both mares, he held Whisper and I tacked up.

We walked up and back a few times before I had Chris turn her loose. We rode down to the telephone pole and back about ten times while Chris stood on the hill. She did okay, only she seemed nervous not having an anchor on the ground. Last time I rode her solo it was a simple circle and Chris was near.

It occurred to me that there may not be much history in her training of actually riding alone. A groom may escort to the track, a lead pony would pick-up from there, then she's in the gate among other horses. Even during warm-ups, it would be rare if at all that she would be ridden solo away from other riders, horses, or handlers.

Whisper and Chris get along really well while Promise is still okay to simply tolerate him. I'm thankful to have his extra set of hands tacking up and handling these girls while we are out in the open without use of a stall.

Spring is slowly showing itself and purple flowers have carpeted the front yard outside the pasture.

It wasn't as difficult as I expected to handle her out of the pasture, save for the woodpecker that kept getting her attention anytime it made a noise.

OTTB Yin Yang

Welcome to the Yin Yang life of an OTTB owner.

My good friend Erin came out to the pasture with us this morning. She brought along her two sons who are close in age to my Hunter & Sage. They wanted to feed some carrots to the horses and see them for a bit during a time when Chris and I would already be out there to work with Whisper and groom Promise.

I tied Whisper and started to shed out Promise. Whisper was acting really strange from the moment we got there. She was acting like she did when she first came off of the trailer. It could have been the boys, it could have been the feed bag laying near my car, it could have been the strangely humid breeze blowing... who knows.

I should have taken that as a warning sign, as I was shedding out my red pony on the other side of the hitch Whisper fought the tie once. She calmed back down and I stayed very near her. Not even a full 2 minutes later she did the same thing and did not release tension at any point. If you aren't familiar with horses fighting the tie, picture what a horse (who's head is about 8 feet high) would look like if a bee stung it's face while it was restrained an unable to free itself.

Straight back, full force. My arm moved for the rope calmly to release her but I wasn't fast enough. The break away halter did exactly what it was designed to do. The leather crown-piece snapped.

The sudden release of that tremendous tension caused Whisper to sit full back on her haunches in the dirt and in her next forward movement, bolted to the side. She stopped mid-pasture by Beauty and began to graze.

I went back to focusing on Promise. Let Whisper calm down, let me calm down.

Promise was a good pony, tolerated the shedding blade and the anti-fungal spray (she's showing alopecia in areas and I'm using a broad-spectrum anti-fungal to cover the bases). She also took carrots from the boys. I was impressed with her manners though they did not attempt to pet her beyond her nose pats while munching carrots.

About 15 minutes had passed and I needed to see what could be salvaged on Whisper today. Walking across the pasture I was racking my brain with what mistakes I made. What made her so spooky to start with? Why did I choose to tie her while she was acting worried? Why was her neck rigid and her personality gone today? and my personal favorite : How the hell am I going to catch her now?

Apple cookies in hand, leadrope hidden behind my back, I went for it. She was taking treats, but not relaxing. Finally I was finally able to just slip the rope around her neck and keep her calm enough with treats to prevent another round of mud skiing.

Working with animals timing is everything. You have to be quick, aware, and always on your game or the training efforts are pointless. Working with large cats and my breed, Siberians, you also have to do it in a relatively short time span or you lose interest and attention. Once lost it can be almost impossible to get back. Horses are a whole other animal. Horses are the Masters of Time. The longer you take, often the better the outcome. Get a horse bored with a situation and you'll overcome it.

It worked. Whisper got bored. Bridle went on. No one was traumatized. She was beginning to settle.

We walked, her head dropped. We stood by the hitch post, she dropped her head and relaxed again. We walked over to the boys at the fence who she happily nuzzled and took carrots from.

I decided to ride for one lap up and back and then we would stop for the day. I took Whisper over towards my truck and she began to get rigid and blow. She's seen the truck every time I've come, she knows it's full of squealy happy kids and apple cookies. The truck itself sports smears all across the windows courtesy of Whisper and Promise together. Today, it made her spook. We walked off, we walked back. We walked off, we walked back. She got close enough for me to get my saddle pad.

She didn't fully spook at the saddle pad but she did jump. Her muscles trembling. 2 minutes later I produced a saddle and she was back to herself again. Totally fine. Like any other ordinary day she stood perfectly for saddling, protesting only slightly when I adjusted the girth.

Chris brought over my milk crate/mounting block and I was up. She waited until I was seated to move and Chris held her on his line while she walked off and I found my stirrups.

Whisper was completely relaxed. The stretched-to-the-point-of-breaking rubberband feel was gone. She felt like any other schooled mount. She kept contact with the bit but didn't lean on it. She didn't flinch and dance when my leg was against her. She was perfect.

Chris unsnapped his lead.

We walked around him, and for the first time it was just Whisper and I together. I asked her to move in a full circle around Chris and asked her to halt. There. That's the end of the day for her. THAT is perfection and there's no way I'd ask for more.... though I desperately wanted to. I was enjoying riding her and it was highly tempting to stretch that moment out as long as possible. This is my favorite picture of her and I to date, what a moment!

If I had learned anything today it was that in a 5 minute time span Whisper could change, dramatically, how she perceived the world around her. There was no reason to chance that my 5 minutes of perfection with her could be up soon and change again.

Before we left I watched Beauty come up to where Whisper stood, moving at a canter. A completely adorable pony canter. All of her little legs stayed right under her in short strides of her three-beat gait. What a darling little one she is. Couldn't catch her if we wanted to, and the boys did want to give her her share of carrots, but adorable none-the-less.

Easy Sunday Morning

Whisper was a gem, as perfect as she could be, setting the stage for a wonderful Sunday morning with the horses. Maybe leaving the break-away halters on, skipping our awkward horse catching dance made the difference. Maybe she was mellow sensing some weather more to her liking on the way. Maybe she was just worked down from being handled so much yesterday, who knows.

She played with me (with manners) during grooming. She kept all ugly faces to herself during girthing. And on our warm-up walk she was glued to me like a sweet puppy dog often relaxing her neck.

Each of us feeling comfortable with the other, all systems were go for riding. I used the milk crate to mount with no issue, though the padding I worked a few hours to perfect fell off as I moved the crate *sigh*. She moved away once my butt was firmly planted into saddle leather, something time training will help, but Whisper was steady for mounting.

Her stride was lively and Chris, holding my safety back-up leadline, had a hard time at points keeping up on the hilly terrain. Whisper got spooky twice and her back hollowed while her feet danced, but she was still easy to keep a seat on, at least while I had a ground handler. I gripped mostly with my knees as I kept the lower leg off of her and used my voice to ask for forward motion. This felt the most natural with her body type and motion of gait.

We had a small milestone when I asked her to remain still for a few minutes on my own control while Chris was cleaning up the treats that Promise stealthily opened and was helping herself to. (Add opening ziploc topped treat bags to the list of "Things Promise Can Do On Her Own") Granted it was near the hitching post where she is used to standing still for me, still I'm marking it a successful practice. The ride was wonderful but short lived. Tristan was not content this morning watching Mom ride and his displeasure was causing ours.

Whisper and I had some more bonding time as she sought out my hands. Not the pushy "you are my scratching post human" kind of way, but more the accepting that I was safe and touch was appreciated way. At least, that's how I'm choosing to take it. Starting with some good wither scratching that she responded to by stretching her neck to full length, no more than knee high, and yawning big donkey yawns. Moving up to the neck scritches along her mane and ending with a good solid head scratch.

Promise, the treat thieving pony, was not as well mannered this visit. She offered quite a few raised hind legs at any careful grooming beyond her second to last rib, but she was also fine with a head-on approach for head scratches a few times while Chris tried to entertain 3 small people who were not feeling the horse love today.

Test Ride, Take Two

This morning was as good as any to try out riding Whisper again. Our first experience wasn't really bad, but she was full of fire and the handler had a hard time holding on to her at times so I was a little nervous for this second try.

It's interesting the change that comes as you get older, you don't take the chances as light hearted as you did when you were young. I remember getting on just about any horse than came along as a teen, without much of a second thought. Falling then didn't usually result in injuries that took a long time to heal. Now healing time is slower, pain could keep me from my income and responsibility, and I've been badly hurt enough times now to know it can happen. I have a permanent back injury (fractured vertebra)  from my very worst fall and jaw surgery about 8 years ago to finish repair from another. I'd be lying if I said when I got on a horse I didn't remember all of this.

I'd spent enough time rolling it around in my mind and I thought Whisper had enough time under her belt to be reasonably comfortable with the pasture. I needed to do it before I built it up mentally bigger than it really was.

Chris and I haltered the girls and had a grooming session. I am so proud of Promise! I asked Chris to groom Promise at the same time I was grooming Whisper. Chris talked her through it and she allowed him to get the dirt out of her fuzzy winter coat. She still isn't allowing a lot of leg handling, but just the fact that he was actively touching her over her foal-stretched belly while she was dozing off was success for me.

I groomed Whisper and had some time to generally bond with her. Then tacked her up to see that we're still having bridle issues with her height and mine. It's a catch 22. I think she is most sensitive around her ears, but the way she tends to jerk and fly back often makes my outside hand or the bridle itself, bump her ears.I am praising when she drops her head on her own, but so far that's pretty random. She generally keeps that head cranked up as high as you see it in most photos. I praised her after bridling and she, of course, promptly dropped her head.

I snapped a longe line to Whisper for Chris to hold. The plan was this : Use the longe line attached to Chris as my safety net. Have all cues to move/stop come from me in the saddle unless I got in a bind and then we would use Chris on the ground. The plan seemed solid enough. At least until my newest read, Beyond the Track, arrives in the mail. I am hoping it has a lot of clear direction and tips, meantime I figured this wouldn't screw anything up.

Chris held her as I tried to mount. We don't have a mounting block built yet so I was doing it the old fashioned way. I was trying to toe into the stirrup and lightly swing myself over her back. What actually happened was my toe must have grazed her, we think, and she flew. I was already only on one leg so I was trying very hard to get my toe out of the stirrup while she was flying away from me. Chris tightened the line he was holding (burning his hand) and she began a circle around him as I got my foot out and balance back. Everyone just breathed for a minute.

We collected ourselves and Chris reminded me that we didn't have to do this today. I decided we did or I might not get back on again for a long long time. All of that time rolling over in my mind what happened wouldn't have done Whisper or me any favors. He held her again and this time I just grabbed the saddle front and back and pulled my body weight against her, she held place, blowing and rigid, but held. I slid right back off and did it again. This time I praised her while I was draped over the saddle. She seemed more sure.

Finally I stuck my foot in the stirrup and threw a leg over. She danced a little under me but settled pretty quickly. I focused as much as I could on sitting deep and back but it was surprising how much her build makes your body want to go forward to balance. I kept my leg off of her for the most part, just some steady pressure from my thighs to reassure her that I was seated and make it easier for me to try and balance with her.

Chris is able to leave the picture more and more as she steps lively but in the direction I agree with. She halts when I ask her. In some areas of the pasture taking a little more reminding than in other areas. Chris allows slack in the line and steps away. We're doing it! I hear Chris laugh and I look behind us. A fuzzy little redhead following our every move. Promise was not about to be left out of the action. She had more exercise walking around that whole pasture with us today than she's probably had in awhile.

We ended on a good note, both she and I seemed okay with the situation of riding together. I dismounted smoothly and she had no issue with it. We walked out together before heading back to the hitching post for her blanket. We did it!