Some pictures

So I went to the barn yesterday all ready to play with Duck and she wasn't in her stall or paddock. So I went to the main barn to see where she was. I found her standing in a stall. It was her turn next for the vet. Time for shots and to have her teeth checked. When she saw me she started nickering and looked a bit nervous. Like "Where have you been? I've been sitting here at the MAIN barn all alone!" She only had to have one shot and I had dewormer for her. By the time the vet was done I didn't have enough time to do too much so I turned her loose in the round corral to get some pictures!

Duck enjoying a good roll. This is the first time I have seen her roll when turned loose in an arena at this barn. A good sign she is becoming more confident with her surroundings!
Trotting around. She was feeling frisky and kicked out at me as I tried to get her to trot.
Getting grass through the fence. Duck LOVES her grass!
Head shot. Doesn't she have such a cute face?
Standing there looking. She was a great poser yesterday! Followed by her vet appointment we came back at 4pm to have her feet done and get her new boots! They finally came in, yeah! I will post a pic of of them later!

Exuberance!

Wow! Today I was running tons of errands so I only ended up with a 1/2 hour to play with Duck. I was originally going to go down to the arena because when I play with her near the grass usually it becomes a grass war! But today was different. We are still playing with the circling game and gait purity. Today in the grass she trotted 4 circles without stopping once for grass (or any other reason)! Last time we played I just kept asking her politely to go when she would stop for grass but it didn't seem to successful at the time!

Then when I went to send her to the right I pointed my finger and she left, fast! At a canter and held the canter for 2 laps! I decided not to try and slow her down because she seemed happy! She bucked on the line and just had that early morning frisky horse thing going on. Was it the weather? I don't know but in the past when I have asked for a canter she'll do it but not without literally dragging me on the end of the 22ft line. Not today. There was just a bit of slack in the line and she wasn't pulling on me at all! A first for us. Now is that more confidence or just a fluke? Time will tell. Of course right now everything else we've done is broken but our circle is decent now. Now if I can just add in the transitions. Talk about time pressure. 2 tasks and basically 2 months. That shouldn't be that big of a deal but it still feels like a mountain to cross. Here's to trying but if it doesn't happen we won't be any worse off we'll just learn even more hopefully by submitting the new way come January. It is my own ego I think. I just want to pass level 2 because everyone else has! :)

My Behind Almost Hit the Ground!!!

Yep that's right. I ALMOST fell off, big time! Rewind here a minute and I will tell the whole story. So I went to the barn Wednesday to ride and since I still haven't oiled my saddle (it's sitting at home waiting patiently :) ) I put my bareback pad on to ride. In the mornings at the barn there is generally not too much going on rider wise. The kids are in school, most the adults are working. Just the staff is usually there feeding etc. So I went to ride in the practice arena. If you look at my previous post about riding in there and mirroring the far end of the arena is Duck's most unconfident place. Ok having said that we played on the ground for awhile mostly fun stuff like practicing leading from the mane etc. This day when I got up on the fence I didn't even ask her over yet and she lined up sideways perfectly for me to get on. I still need help getting on, I can't do it anymore from the ground but that is another story. So we went riding off and mind you the last time I rode her in this arena was when we did the mirroring. Well I felt like I was on a DIFFERENT horse. I mean seriously. She was calm, her whole body was relaxed and I felt more in tune with her than almost any other time. 

Then this!!! We are riding around in the bareback pad, in our halter with the savvy string for a rein having a dandy time just walking. So another boarder that I talk to comes up with another guy. He is coming to look at this truck parked next to the "scary" end of the arena. I am chatting away and he starts the truck. Duck is totally fine. No tension, nothing in fact she's just trying to get nibs of grass. And then suddenly the guy completely floors the gas pedal for this already loud Diesel engine (which Duck is still fine) and then in a split second the engine sputters out and then WHAM! It ROARS back to life and Duck totally spooks! She took off so fast I was almost off her the first stride. I'm not sure if she was hopping but I remember looking down to my left (the side I would have fallen off of) just ready to let go and fall when she suddenly stopped. If she had gone one more step I'd of been off! I quickly righted myself and of course NOW she is tense. So we spent the next few minutes walking within her comfort zone of this engine (which instead of 3 feet is now 12 feet). UGH! 

I guess I was just stupid for having her that close to it in the first place. The guy obviously knew NOTHING about horses and apologized as did the boarder. 

See with Kira I would have never been that close to an engine, period. She was scared to death of them. Sure she got used to most but as loud as that engine was I don't think she'd of gone near it in the first place!

So then our confidence is shattered, again.. I decided not to ride her back to her barn. Good thing too. She was still on some adrenaline because barn staff sent her flying again when he came ripping around a corner from the hayshed at full tilt. Good thing I was on the ground. And hopefully this isn't going to be a new hurdle with now "scary" engine noises or even just that end of the arena, again! I will soon find out when I ride again!

Into the woods, again...

On Tuesday I took Tarzan (our dog) to the barn with me. Beings how he is not the sharpest tool in the shed I decided just to hang out near the little barn where Duck lives. This is also near the hayfield. So we were playing in the hayfield with Tarzan tagging along. We did some more mini circles, bigger circles and now I have a new problem. She always thinks I am sending her on the circle so her confidence in just backing up is not there! So we played with that awhile! Then we went towards the woods with me driving in Zone 3. Duck has become much more confident around the property. I decided to see if she would go back into the "dark and scary" woods again. If you read some of my previous posts we have played towards going in there before. Well she didn't seem very bothered by it this time and was quite confident so we headed into the woods driving (as much as possible on a narrow trail with lots of trees) from zone 3. Then we got to a little ditch and I decided to send her across it. It is more like a ditch with a little water in it and has kind of short but steep sides. Got her going pretty well doing that and it crossed my mind it would be really easy to jump up on her while she was in that ditch! So I got her standing confidently in the ditch and then jumped on! We were headed out of the woods anyway and she did really great! She didn't seem spooked at all and it was a drastic change from the last time we were in the woods! We moseyed our way through the hayfield, bareback with the halter and one rein all the way back to the barn! Very fun! And either the exercises we did building her confidence near that area have paid off or the fun trail rides have. Or maybe a combination of the two. I am just happy that she was more confident about it. We were alone (minus the dog) and it was a huge accomplishment for us!