Red Mare Walking

I had another beautiful evening with my girl. She was perfect coming in from the pasture, which was a relief. On Sunday, she balked on the way in a couple of times. Only for a few seconds each time, but I let it hurt my feelings even if it didn't effect our time together. Today she came right in and was perfect once again in the cross ties.

I didn't have much time since it was a weeknight, so I concentrated on getting her clean  enough to tack up, then put her in the round pen and put the saddle on her. I showed her the pad and saddle first, but she wasn't even interested. This was only the fourth time I've put the saddle on her to ride since she pulled back like a crazy woman in August, and now she's acting like she can't even be bothered to pay attention.

My girl engaged in her favorite activity

All I wanted was a repeat performance of Saturday, ending with a nice quiet walk around the round pen.  I had walk a few circuits in each direction, then had her do a couple of walk to trot transitions on the line, and she was just perfect. She didn't stop as fast as I wanted her to yet, but I was much firmer and more clear with my intentions and I did get better results even if they weren't the ones I wanted. I called her in to me and loved on her, but her attention was elsewhere.

In the pasture behind the round pen, one of the barn members was trying to get Black, a gorgeous Friesian/Tennessee Walker gelding, to go through an obstacle that looked like a white shower curtain that had been run through a paper shredder. He was having none of it, but Skye was very curious. She looked at it, ears pricked, so I walked her to the end of the ring for her to eyeball it. She looked at intently for about 30 seconds, then looked right at me to see if I was scared. I shook my head. "I ain't afraid of that thing, are you?" She let out a long sigh, then tried to graze. A few minutes later it fell down for some reason, and her muscles twitched, but she didn't seem that concerned. I was pleased that her first reaction was to want to look at it, and she was happy to let me lead her closer to it.

Under saddle, she was just as good as gold.  I stayed on about 20-25 minutes as it was quite dark by this time, but it was beautiful, and she was so relaxed. I think she felt relieved to be able to walk quietly and not worry about having to be cowboyed around. And I'm so proud that it was my own idea that led to the breakthrough.

This weekend I will do it again, but with more groundwork to improve her listening and more riding to work on her giving nicely to the bit and backing up. I think I will move to the big ring as well, walking her around in there and then lunging at a walk as well.

It seems like a small thing just getting her to walk in the ring, but it's a big accomplishment because it's what I wanted. More importantly, it taught me that if I try, I can sometimes get into her head.