Friday 19 August 2011

Today just to be different I went to Julie first. I talked to her and petted her and rubbed her forehead a bit then lead her over to the panel to get the halter. She was calm and relaxed the whole time and didn't fuss when it came time to put the halter on. She backed up nicely when asked. Since she wanted to act silly with the flag last time I decided to get it out and shake it at her for a bit. I ran it all over her, down her face and everything with no reaction, not even a flinch. Just as I was about to quit and was shaking the flag in the air for the last time I saw the head starting up and the ears picking up. A few more shakes and rattling and we had lift off. Julie had to dance a round and act like she was scared to death. Eventually she must have ran out of fuel because she calmed down and accepted me shaking, rattling, running the flag over her. I don't understand why the "horse eating flag" doesn't bother her if it touches her but she boogers when it is just rattling in the air. Once we had the excitement out of the way we worked on the leading by exercises and she did well, she was soft and rounded as she worked. The we went for the bridle and she took it with no fuss and very little effort getting the bit in her mouth. After working on her seeking release from pressure I decided to ground drive her a bit. She does very well turning and responding to the reins except for the times I asked her to stop or back up. She is still learning about bit pressure. We had one little episode when asked her to back up that was not too good but otherwise she did very well.

I then walke dup to Sweetie and we discussed the world problems for a bit then we walked over to the side panel and got the halter. Once again there was no problem with the haltering. We worked on leading and backing which were good. Sweetie doesn't see much sense in the leading by exercise and is not as soft and rounded as Julie in this exercise. She will do it but just not as well as I would like. Sweetie took the bridle and the bit with no fuss what ever. We tried ground driving and she was a little confused at first but is getting it figured out. She stops and backs pretty well considering everything. She did well.

I then spent some time with the two other girls. Both are improving and accepting me more and more. I am now able to rub their throats and polls which is an improvement over when we first started and they hadn't been handled. They are coming around and should be ready for a halter in a session or two down the road.