Bonita update - Week 3

After our video session on Sunday, I gave her a couple of days off.

Wednesday – Into the crossties for a thorough shedding and grooming session was followed by tacking up in surcingle and cavesson. Pam loaned me a sheepskin roll for the noseband, which was a good addition. I took her to the outdoor with long lines, lunge line and lunge whip. After a couple of rounds on the lunge with her nose to the sky, I decided to go back for my side reins. I let her off the lunge while I went in the barn to fetch them. On my return, she wasn’t interested in being caught. I’m not sure if it was the addition of the sheepskin roll or not, but I saw the first hints of bucks and jumps as she evaded me. They were more like crowhops and just sproinging in place followed by galloping around, no heels in the air.

After about 5 minutes, she walked up and let me catch her. Back on the longe, it was obvious that she was not understanding whoa or half halts to slow down. She tried to jerk her head away and run off a few times, tearing the velcro release on the side reins. This was alternated with running way too close into my space and staying in a fast trot most of the time. I had to back her some to reinforce that she had to give me SPACE. She has tons of energy and was sweaty at the end, but hardly blowing at all. We did end on a positive note, though I had to look for it. It was also starting to get dark and raining, so I called it quits.

A note: the side reins are on the loosest setting and there only to suggest that she lower her head.

Since she needed to dry off and cool out a bit, I took her to the indoor and we played loose with free leading and the tarp on the ground. I curried the sweaty spots and made friends with her again. By the end, she was standing still, as I touched her neck, sides and withers with the tarp. The whole session was almost two hours. I think that we worked through some things. The next time will tell.

Friday – This morning, I put Bonita in the crossties, groomed her and then gathered my Wintec and other gear by the outside arena. She wasn’t too keen on the idea of getting saddled in the barn aisle, so outside it was. No other horses were turned out yet, so she was on uber-alert! Still, she stood pretty well for the two pads, saddle, girthing up, side reins added, etc. This was the first time I tried lunging her in saddle and side reins. Off the girth, they are lower than on the surcingle and I think that was an improvement.

We had a couple of instances of her stopping and deciding that she was finished going in that direction. This isn’t fear, just pure insolence, her checking to see if she can be in charge. Her attempts were much more toned down compare to the last session. She also wasn’t interested in walking much. She did settle much more quickly than before. After just 15 minutes and a nice trot-walk transition and a whoa, I quit. I was happy to see her starting to lower her head to level and listen to me. I like good, short sessions like this. It was a big improvement over Wednesday!

Tomorrow the vet comes to do her teeth. I’ll see if I can get another lunge session in before that. Today was such an improvement, that I figured I would post it before Sunday.

If you are on Twitter and you found value in this post, please retweet. Thanks!