Thursday 18 August 2011

Today was one of those days when I am not sure who needed the round pen worse, the girls or me. I found out this morning that my little tractor's engine needed a complete overhaul along with brakes, water pump, and assorted items too numerous to mention. Then as I was going after some lumber for a project the power steering went out of my truck so it will have to go back to the shop. I know I was ready to get in the round pen and think about things other than what had been going wrong around this place. That round pen is kind of a soothing place, at least for me.

I brought the horses into the round pen and sorted off everything but the four two year olds. Walked up to Sweetie and talked to her for a little bit then led her by her neck and mane over to the side panel where I had the halter hanging. She lowered her head into the halter and did very well. We then worked on our little exercise of seeking release first with just the halter. The I got the bridle and she took the bit without any fuss what so ever. We worked on seeking release with the bit and she picked that up very quickly. Since things were going so well I decided to introduce ground driving to her. We took a few laps around the pen in amongst the other three and did very well for her first time. She even backed a few times upon request. Sweetie is a very forgiving easy going young lady and is a lot of fun to work with.

As calm as Sweetie is, Julie can go the other way in a heart beat. She is more up headed, if you are not familiar with that term it is a polite way of saying she is more nervous. Julie see more things out there in the world that just might be horse eaters. I have learned to pick up on when Julie is getting nervous and getting ready to do something silly. This afternoon she was a little more difficult to catch than normal. She had a bit of an attitude about me touching her face so naturally I rubbed her face good for her. We had a little fuss and head raising and shaking when it came time to put the halter on but it went on. Decided to refresh her with the flag and see if she wanted to explode or what was going on in her goofy little mind. She started out very calm while I shook the flag and rattled it around her and rubbed her all over then she started getting nerved up. The head went up and she started dancing around. I keep the pressure on her and pretty soon we had lift off. The best part of the whole deal was getting it out of her system and the simple fact that she respected the lead rope and never fought me. After a short flight around me she calmed down. Not sure if it was my talking to her that calmed her or if she finally figured out it wasn't doing her any good to act that way. She has been flagged numerous times before and normally handles it well today was just the exception but we will keep doing this until she is calm about the whole thing. I then worked on seeking release and she got that down very quickly and a lot softer than she had it the past. Then we went for the bridle. Once again the difference between my two fillies became apparent. While Julie did not put up a lot of fuss about taking the bit she did take a little more persuading than I cared for but she is just a young two year old and this was only her third or fourth time taking a bit. We worked on seeking release from pressure with the bit and she got very soft doing this. Since we hadn't had a blow up for a bit I decided to introduce ground driving to her. Now that can be exciting. She did great at first then got frustrated and we had issues for a while. She calmed down and then worked great again. She will get better with practice. Julie seems to have to test things more than Sweetie and where Sweetie will think things through Julie gets nerved up. I really believe she is worth the effort though.  

Started in rubbing on Snippy again this afternoon. She is slowly accepting me or at least figuring out that I am going to be there no matter what she does so she might as well get over being so goosey. She is letting me rub her more before she gets nervous and walks off. Even got a few strokes in on her head. A few more sessions and she will be ready for the halter. I did noticed  she is pretty goosey in the cinch area. It must be inherited from her maternal grandsire. He was cinchy until we had a few sessions with my thumb jabbing him behind the elbow. I make sure to run my hand over that area on Snippy and she is starting to get over it too.

HB, Miss Attitude, would allow me to run my hand over her butt and seemed to enjoy it until she realized the hand was attached to me then she would take off. She gave me plenty of exercise following her around the round pen but she is slowly coming around. I explained to her that I had plenty of two year olds and she was free to find a new home anytime she wanted. She really didn't seem too concerned about that.