Bonita did very well at the SMR meeting and is now home with Chuck and Kay Day in Camas, Washington. I enjoyed working with her and thank Kay for letting me take her on as a my first outside training project.

During the week before the SMR meeting, I showed Kay the ground work that I had done with her. We went on a few rides through the woods on narrow, very new trails. Since we had just scoped these out and barely started to use them, there were a few iffy areas, which Bonita handled very well. She is quite happy to lead and went most anywhere I asked her to. She will follow too, but it is not her preference.

Our longest ride was four and a half hours. Much of that was stopping and cutting out downed trees and brush. I did some, but mostly it was Kay doing the hard work. Bonita stood well, but wasn’t too interested in being close to the other horses. She likes her space. There was some nice grass up there in the woods, so all three horses enjoyed the stops.

The one real obstacle for her was a narrow part of the trail next to the creek with water flowing over and through some larger rocks. She had just stepped into a soft spot before we got there and I think that she was none too sure of the footing. Eventually she did follow the others over. Going back, it was no problem at all.

Bonita is fun to ride with nice smooth gaits. We did mostly walk-trot, though I did try a short canter out on another Forest Service trail on Friday. That was her second canter under saddle, the first being a few strides in the meadow earlier. She came down from it nicely and it was no big deal.

Kay will continue to ride her, with the addition of maybe one 4-H’er. I believe that she is still for sale. Please contact Kay Day for more information.

Bonita’s time with me is coming to a close. Yesterday, I trailered her up to Tired Dog Ranch for a ride. I tried out their new round pen, made from found materials. It works well! When the grass inside is eaten down, it will be a good area to work loose in. We will take care of that the week before the SMR meeting.

Here are a few photos from yesterday. Amy Jo took the ones of me and Bonita and I took the rest. Go here to see larger images.

After trying out the round pen, I rode Bonita in the meadow and we had a first few canter strides under saddle. She is VERY smooth! I did get a few little rocking bucks at one point, but she gave it up quickly and never offered any of that again. I continued to ride her around the meadow with Amy Jo on Larry following along. I wasn’t too sure about going out on a trail ride, but after a little more riding, we decided to go for it.

We went through a gate and into the forest. Bonita didn’t like it when Larry got too close or when Bob (dog) was right behind her. Other than that, she was great. She led the entire way, stopping when we had to wait for Larry, responsive and happy to explore.

We looped through the woods, ending on the gravel road past their property. Then we went down the forest service road a ways. She was sound on the gravel. Bonita could have gone a lot farther. She didn’t even begin to sweat and we were out for about an hour. She was okay going around several turns of the road alone without Larry too. Someone needs to take this mare home from the meeting and keep working with her. She’ll be a great, willing partner for somebody.

Bonita did well enough with Five O’Clock Charlie and Wonderful, that I left her there for the week. I’ll be back on Saturday with Paisano and will stay though the SMR meeting June 19-21. I hope to get in more rides on Bonita with Kay, her owner along. After the meeting, Bonita goes home with Kay to Day’s End Ranch in Camas, WA.

I didn’t intend to ride tonight. I went to check on Bonita and clean her stall. We have been having huge thunder and lightning storms the last few days. Bonita was kept in for a couple of days this week. Not because of the storms. She had figured out the she could crawl under the field fence into the paddock next to hers. The grass is up to her eyeballs. Needless to say, what girl could resist the temptation? she ended up with a good scratch across her rump parallel to her dorsal stripe. I wanted it to stay clean, so she stayed in. She will only get turnout in the indoor arena until we go to Tired Dog Ranch. The cut has scabbed over nicely and is not in the saddle area. So I saddled up and we rode.

This was out fifteenth ride. We worked in the indoor for about fifteen minutes. Bonita is in season and showed me so by complaining a little bit at my leg on her asking her to trot. She balled up and got a tag ‘light in the front’ as they say. A good Eeehh, Ehhhh! and growl and she gave it up.

I’ve been practicing making right angle turns across the arena and after a bit of that, I got off. Then it was outside to the front of the barn. I haven’t ridden her out there yet. I mounted up in the parking area and we rode into the grass outdoor arena. It has been mowed recently. Part is still tall grass, most is in rows with areas of grass sticking up like a punk rocker’s spiked mohawk. And a small area is mown evenly. We walked around both ways for a while. Bonita was alert, but didn’t spook. She just watched very carefully. Cars went by. Birds moved in the hedge and she was fine.

I went on to trotting, practicing spiralling circles and lots of transitions. Trot six strides or so, walk, whoa, walk six strides, trot, walk, trot and on. She has a nice little trot that’s easy to sit when she relaxes. I also let her move out to see what her bigger trot is like. It’s really quite nice! I love that she moves out with just a small squeeze or vibration of my calf. No hesitation, she happily moves out and happily comes back down to walk and whoa.

I also continued with turns on the forehand. We are up to about a quarter turn, then she goes into sidepass. She is a bit stiffer from the right leg, but improving. When we were all done, she enjoyed some grazing on that grass that is so green from the recent rains.

The rain has been invigorating. It is a bit cooler, yet humid as well. It’s not our normal weather. We are usually going into straight, sunny weeks by now. I feel for anyone who has hay cut or baled out in the field. A lot of the uncut grass is laying over flat from the downpours. I do hope that it lets up in a couple of weeks for the SMR meeting.

For a day when I didn’t plan to ride, it certainly turned out well.

This week I didn’t ride so much, but went back to work on a hole in her training that I knew was there. When I first brought out a bottle of fly spray, Bonita got all white eyed and backed into the corner of her stall, entirely freaked. I had left that all alone, while working on other things, figuring that I would return to work on it later. Now that flies (and more common at this barn, mosquitos) are here, that time has come.

I’ve never been much of a fly spray gal. None of my horses cared too much the few times that I did spray them, so I didn’t have much experience in training a horse to tolerate this. I brought out a spray bottle filled with water, haltered Bonita and worked the stall. My first goal was to spray her until she stopped moving, then praise her. After the first couple of spritzes, she decided that she had had enough and reverted to pushing her shoulder into me and trying to pin my against the wall. This is what she used to do when anything scared her. I went back to what I used to deal with this before.

I hold the cheekpiece of her halter, bring her head towards me and down a bit. Then I ask her to step her shoulder away from me. This worked and calmed her somewhat. I then continued on with spraying her. I kept ahold of her halter and moved with her as she turned circles in the stall. I did not try to stop her and just kept spraying her. If her feet stopped, I stoppeds spraying immediately, praised and stroked her.

By the end of the first session, she had done a number of circles in the stall, but would stop after just a couple of sprays. The second session was much shorter and she calmed down and stood much more quickly. Now I can spray her in the barn ailse. She does back away from me a few steps, but will then stand. She’s not yet totally okay with it. I will continue until she is. My goal is for her to stand ground tied while being sprayed.

Saturday night, I added a ride … after the fly spray. I did two turns each way on the lunge first to test the waters. Then rode two reined for a while. I unclipped the cavesson reins and we finished our ride on the snaffle only. We rode into the evening under lights. She did well, even in the dark, spooky corners, just looking a little more carefully.

I rode again Sunday morning. I didn’t bother to lunge this time, instead doing a short bit of in hand work to focus her. We had a good ride in the arena working on transitions. I also started working on large, loose serpentines at the walk, getting her used to the idea of bending and turning off the outside leg and supporting outside rein. I rode through the pattern for the Intro A test a couple of times too.

I also took my jacket off while mounted and rode over to the fence with it over her withers. She was just fine with that and didn’t even jump when I tossed it on the ground. After that, I opened the gate and we had our first ride out of the arena. We went down the path to the turnouts and rode around the last one, repeating our practice of serpentines and bending. She was more looky, but didn’t spook or have any issues going out alone. What a good girl!

Motoring along on a loose rein

On Saturday, Amy Jo came down to help me feed and turn in. Then she met Bonita and took some photos while we rode outside for the second time. I replace the regular cavesson with one with side rings. I wanted to ride two reined, one on the snaffle and the other on the cavesson. The last time I rode her with just the snaffle, she pulled and started to get hard in the mouth. I want her to stay light, while she is learning how to respond. This works quite well for that, as it is a slow transition from what she knows (cavesson/sidepull) to what is new (snaffle).

This shows the two rein setup

Nice relaxed walk

So today was a little bit of a challenge, but a very good under saddle session. She does fall in on her shoulder going to the right, so that’s something to work on. I started asking her to yield her hind end from leg cues. She got a step on each side, so that’s a beginning. I also spent some time riding on the buckle and on a loose rein at the trot. She is nicely forward in both gaits, which is very refreshing. And she still stops dead on a breath out or Whoa. Not a bad eleventh ride!

Thank you, Amy Jo, for taking such nice photos.

I just counted and I have done seven rides on Bonita as of Monday. I’ve seen a huge improvement from the first to the last. More than I would have thought. If I have as much progress this week, it will be just grand! I’m going to start making more regular posts now that things are moving along. I was keeping my journal during the week and posting on Sunday, but I just don’t like waiting any more. So here are rides eight and nine… I’ll continue to post, as I write.

Isn't that a kissable pink nose?

I took her inside, hopped on and we had some good walking out. There were a few times that she stopped and I had to resort to tapping her with the whip. She didn’t look pleased, but also didn’t overreact or get mad. She just walked on. She stops on a breath cue. To the point that I have to careful not to sigh loudly. I focused more today on keeping her forward and walking out. I also did things like rustled my jacket, took out my cell phone, both while she stood and also walked. She flicked her ears and tensed up, but didn’t spook or jump.

As I’ve been asking her to walk out, I’ve also been thinking of trot and today I got a few trot steps. Her head came up and she was obviously a little unsure of the feeling. I asked again and got a few more strides. I was happy with that. A little more walk work and some whoa and we were done. I hopped off, loosened her girth an hung out a bit. So two firsts today, first trotting and her first ride only in a snaffle, no side pull.

I tried a running braid on her and she looked quite spiffy! She stood totally still for it, with her eyes half closed. She liked it! The evening ended with some hand grazing. Bonita has turned out to be a soft, sweet little mare.

Posing

Ooh, where to start?

She's always alert and wanting to know what's up.

Wednesday – Tonight we rode outside. There was another horse lunging in the outdoor. I was glad for us both to have the company. I lunged Bonita a few rounds each way, then got on. Steering was just okay. Whoas were perfect. Bonita wanted to stay close to the other horse, but we went around the arena instead. When they went back into the barn, Bonita fussed some, tossing her head and not wanting to go past the gate, but it was really pretty minor. I rode her in the pattern of Intro test A, at a walk. At one point, I was thinking, “We will be trotting here.” and she offered a couple of trot strides! After the halt salute, I called it quits. It was short, but still a good ride.

Monday – Lots going on at work and elsewhere and I was a bit down today. I knew that I need some time at the barn. That time did not fail me! Bonita and I had a very good day.

I started out grooming her and checking the trim that I did last weekend. She let me clean around her udder. Before she has been really touchy there, so this was progress. I also dewormed her. She took the tube just fine and got a bit of alfalfa mash for a reward. Her reaction to the smell was a lot of lip curling … quite cute.

So out in the arena, I asked for a couple of hind end yields. All good. Then the tarp over her back and neck. She was alert, but didn’t move. Next was something new … hobbles. She had given me a bit of hassle with her feet when I trimmed her, so I wanted to work on giving her feet. I put the hobble cuffs on her front feet without tying them together and let her walk and trot on the lunge to get used to the feel. She stepped higher and was really thinking about it. I stopped her and clipped my lead to the right hobble and proceeded to get her leading by the foot. It took her a few minutes and a number of steps where I pulled her foot forward with the lead and also asked her to come with the lunge line (still attached to her halter). Once she came forward and to the side from her leg, I switched to the left side. She picked up on it much more quickly this side.

Another new thing I introduced today was a lariat neck rope. I had fun this weekend riding Lily with it and playing with Vinnie, so figured why not Bonita? She didn’t like it going over her head at first. She doesn’t like things around her ears too much. After a few times, she settled and accepted it. So I removed her halter and tossed it to the side of the arena. By the way, every time I left her to get something, she stood ground tied like a champ. I was really proud of her!

So on to the neck rope… she got turning really well, crossing over in front nicely. Stops worked well too. So I got my cavasson with side rings and took her to the mounting block. She scooted a little when I rested my leg over her back, so I jumped on a bit faster than I meant to. No issues there. I got off again and remounted a few more times with her standing well.

She walked off okay and we had a few balky moments. She didn’t really like me asking her forward by bumping her gently with my heels. After some experimenting with drawing her to the side to get movement, I found that she really got the forward cue of squeezing my thighs. We rode for another twenty minutes. By the end, she moved off in a nice forward walk at the first squeeze, turned well, even starting to get the idea of neck reining from the lariat rope and stopped okay. That needs the most work. She stops perfectly from the neck rope, but not everyone rides with one of those. I’ll continue to ride with it, but transfer the stop cue to the reins.

We did some nice figures, down the center line and B to E in figure eights turning both directions. I also had her on the rail pretty well. Even though I’ve been on her twice before, I would call this our first real ride! I feel that we are on our way!

And generally her demeanor was calmer, more head level time, less giraffe impersonations and eye white showing, more chewing and snorting. She has a really nice walk when she moves out too. I found that when I used a more active seat. She did quite well with seat and thigh cues. I look forward to exploring what else she does well with.

Tuesday – I had an errand to do out of town before the barn, so I thought I wouldn’t get any work done with Bonita. Guru Amar came along, so we decided to play with Bonita a bit. Guru Amar is a good rider, though it’s been a while for her. I offer for her to get on Bonita and she took me up on it. So Bonita has now had a second rider. I also had Guru Amar practice leading her with the neck rope.

Wednesday – A quick groom in the cross ties, saddled and into the arena today. I did a little ground work and free lunged a couple of rounds, then got on. Today Bonita shows me her sullen side. I was figuring that this would show sometime soon. I think that it’s time for a rider and ground person working her at the same time. That way the ground person (likely me) can get her moving, while the rider can cue her and give her the feeling of moving under a rider.

Thursday – We are on a roll… Today I tried my Stonewall saddle on Bonita again, this time with a western felt pad. I lunged her and it was a little loose behind, but with some adjustment of the pad, it was acceptable. So of course, I had to try sitting in it. She moved out better than she had with the Wintec. Yeah! Then Sarah asked is it was okay to bring her horse Pete in. I dismounted while they came in and let Bonita have a look. She stood great for me to mount again. She is coming into heat and would have preferred to visit with him, but instead we walked on the rail. It was a really good experience for her to have another horse there. She was calm and forward, moving off from my cues. I had to tap her with my whip a couple of times, but she wasn’t balking like last night. And her whoas were better too. It was a late night, but quite productive.

Saturday – It was warm and I was feeling lazy. I feed and brought all the horses in and sat for a while. Then decided to go for it. Bonita is not too crazy about the idea of being saddled from the near side. I worked with her loose in her stall on this. She was fine with me tossing the pad on her from the offside, but I had to work for a few minutes until she would stand still on the near side.

I bridled her with the snaffle over the cavesson I’ve been riding in. This way, there was a little effect on the bit when I used the reins. She chewed on the bit but was okay with it, so half way through the ride, I clipped reins right on the bit alone. She was more calm with her mouth this way. She was just fine with turns and stops off the bit, light in fact.

I also got on and off her a number of times. She stood for all of it. She also let me rub her ears today, inside and out and found out that it’s actually pretty nice. She really ended up enjoying it … almost as much as Lily does.

The next step will be trotting. And I think I’ll need some ground help for that. Another thing that I would like to move to in the next week is riding outside.

Well we have crossed over our halfway point on Bonita’s time with me. It started with twelve weeks.

Monday – We had lunge session in the indoor carrying the bit. It was blowing and rainy, with the horses coming in at the end, so quite a bit of distraction. Bonita was very alert, but behaved and listened well. I used a surcingle and clipped side reins to the bit at the end. They were quite loose, just to give her an idea of it.

Tuesday – Another lunge session, this time with saddle and side reins on the snaffle. I also did some in hand work off the snaffle, starting to ask her to step under with her inside hind leg. She got it, with large steps on the left and less so on the right. At the end I put weight in the stirrup on both sides and lay over the saddle. She stood well for this, not moving off, just shifting to balance. That was a good note to end on. Bonita has also gotten good about lowering her head on a head down cue. She will stay there for as long as I ask. In fact, I usually have to ask her to bring her head up. This helps to calm and focus her. To end, I stood in the stirrup a few times from both sides and lay over the saddle. Bonita stood without moving for all of it.

Wednesday – We started with ground work and a little lunging with side reins, then and some in hand work off the cavesson. I wanted to start her learning to move laterally from pressure. She is better on the near side. Her right side is generally stiffer and her shoulder falls in when lunging, so I wasn’t surprised that there was more resistance to moving over from this side.

Then I repeated standing in the stirrup. She did walk off once with me laying over the saddle. I just stayed there and asked her to whoa. Next time, I got brave and followed through with swinging a leg over. She wasn’t into walking on, so I practiced getting on and off a few times. Mostly we stood, while she balanced. She did walk off a couple of times from squeezes. I pretty much let her wander where she wanted to, with a turn here and there. I planned a whoa and she complied very nicely. That was it for the evening. So we had our second ride, the first one with a saddle.

That was it for this week, other than trimming her feet on Saturday. I had other things to do, which I’ll cover in another post…

Monday – I worked late, so we had a short ground work session in a simple web halter and long lead. I worked again on backing and coming forward, yielding the hind end. She started to anticipate the yielding, so I asked her to wait at times for my cue. Backing was calmer and lighter, so improvement there as well.

I also lay over her back quite a bit. This was the first time without a saddle and she was pretty calm about the whole thing. A couple of times she walked off. I had her turn to me when I slid off.

Asking her forward

Sunday – It’s been raining quite a lot, so there was no chance to work in the outdoor ring. And the indoor was set up for a dance this weekend. I also had to take time dealing with some fencing issues, as Bonita found a way to get through one of the cross fences. What I’m trying to say, is that today is the first work session I’ve been able to have with her since our short ride on Wednesday. I did get a proper lunge cavasson yesterday and it fits! So I tried her in that and she went well. At first though, I think that the extra brass rings on the noseband startled her. She had a few plunging bucks that I pushed her out of. Once I had the long lines on her, she settled down well. I did see improvement in her overall carriage using the new cavesson. She got softer, rounder and stretched more often. We even had a few full circles of walk and started yielding her hind end in and varying the speed of her walk.

It was a very good week for Bonita. I just wish that I had had more time to work her.

Happy Girls

Walking on...

On other fronts, I won’t be off on Fridays anymore. That was short-lived. Instead, I have a few more responsibilities at work to take up that time. On the plus side, I will be able to practice some of the project management skills I just finished learning in my PMI study group and build up more hours towards applying for PMP certification. While I’ll have less horse time, I will also be working towards what interests me in my job. I am grateful for that too.

Take a few minutes today to create your own Thankful Thursday.

How:

Monday – Today was a simple, boring lunge session as planned.

Saturday – My left knee has been bothering me today, so I wasn’t up for a full lunging session. Instead, I gave Bonita some time tied in the indoor. Then I worked on her standing while being saddled. This was followed by some simple ground work, yielding, ground tying, etc. I have a flag, about three foot square. I brought that out and worked on some desensitizing with clicker rewards. Bonita was wide eyed, but stood well after a few tries. I flapped the flag on her neck, over the saddle and her rump. I had her walk with it on her, letting it fall off a few times. She was fine with that. It is always the anticipation of being touched that bothered her the most. Once the flag was touching her, she didn’t think that it was too bad. I’ll continue this until she’s really okay with the whole thing.

No new photos this week, so this is from a few weeks ago.

Once saddled, we went to the indoor. I had watered it earlier, so the dust was somewhat controlled. I brought Vinnie in and tied him to give Bonita some companionship and reassurance. This was good for Vinnie too, as he took about 20 minutes before settling down to stand quietly. I’ll have to continue to include him in our sessions.

I worked with Bonita on backing in hand. She’s been pretty dull to my aids with this, so I wanted to clarify to her what I meant and sharpen her responses. We worked forward and back, until there was improvement and she consistently stayed out of my space. Then the flag/tarp came out with more repetition from yesterday, but no treats today. She was wide eyed again, but would lower her head when asked with some good sighs.

Next the cavesson with reins on the side rings went on. I practiced flexing her head to the side both ways with me standing on both sides. This has improved, with less foot movement. Then we moved on to the mounting block. I don’t want to get stuck on groundwork, so I’m starting to lay over the saddle. Today, she accepted my full weight from both sides. I pat her everywhere I can reach, focusing mostly on where my leg will fall. She only walked off a couple of times, but was fine with it the next time. I moved around and bounced a bit too, which she was fine with.

I’m going to hold off sitting on her, until I have a helper or two lined up. This was a good week for me, as I am resolved to continue to move forward with her. I guess I had a bit of a crisis of confidence last week. Riding Lily made me realize that I need to develop more of a bond with Bonita and win her trust. I had been holding back on that…

All dressed up in her lunging gear

The stage from the weekend dance party was still set up in the arena, along with half a dozen bales of hay in a line across the center. We lunged around these and walked behind the stage a few times. It felt tight to her, but she walked willingly, if somewhat cautiously though. Someone wanted to use the indoor, so we moved out to the grass arena. Well, that was a bit problematic, as allowing her to calm, slow and lower her head was just oh, so tempting! The footing wasn’t all that great either and she raced around at a big trot, so we had to take a step back. I walked her around to get back to the idea of slow… I was able to expand her circle just enough to get one round of nice walk and a couple of whoas. Then I called it quits.

There is a large mounting platform in front of the barn. I took her over, let her graze around it and leaned down on her back from both sides. She got some back massage too. Then I practiced walking her behind the mounting block. It is not too narrow, but enough to feel like a chute. I practiced controlling her movement step by step and matching her steps to mine. She did just great with that, with only light halter cues. I had done this last week in the 5′ aisle to the indoor. It is fun and hightens her awareness to where my body is and where her body is.

Wednesday – I saddled Bonita outside today, as the indoor was being used and the whole barn gets really dusty. It’s just too much for my asthma. At the outside hitch rail, we got to see the sun sink through the clouds as is made it’s way to the horizon. Bonita was distracted by someone with a .22 shooting at Nutria in the back pasture. She didn’t move a foot for saddling and we went on to have a very nice thirty minute lunge session. She carried the bit again quietly. I did lots of transitions and by the end she had some nice, soft walk-trot-walk-whoa-stand sequences. There were a few times where she took a full circle to come down from the trot, but overall, she improved a lot from the start of the session, and from last time. She seems much more comfortable in the dirt arena, rather than the grass arena with jumps. The footing is a bit better and it’s more enclosed. I think that we will stay working in there for a while.

Thursday – I worked late, so took Bonita out for a short walk and some simple grazing time in the grass outdoor arena. I led her up on top of the drop jump and let her graze for a while. Then I asked her to jump down. She did, after a brief bit of coaxing and got praise and pets. Then more grazing time. I did lunge her a little each way. This was in a loose, web halter, not the fitted cavesson I’ve been using. She was light and responsive, very nice! The lead draped and her downward transitions were on just voice and a light cue on the lead.

Watching Inky or the 'racehorse' look.

What was new, you ask? I had found some poles at home and figured that it was time to introduce cavaletti. I walked her over them a couple of times, did some warm up lunging circles and asked her to trot over. No big deal, right? Well, Bonita thought it was! I got to see some pretty good bucks and rears! I think that she was more mad than confused or scared. She reverted to the behavior of a couple of weeks ago and worse; turning to face me and tearing around in the opposite direction when I asked for a down transition or halt and pretty much ignoring my cues to slow or stop. I might call her "Miss Freight Train" when she gets like that.

It didn't help that the other horses were turned out in the middle of our work session, including her pasture mate, Inky. Bonita's attention was definitely out there in the pasture more than on me. I ended up spending about 30 minutes getting her back to listening and some soft trot-walk-trot work. I was about to quit, but didn't want to leave with her thinking that the trot poles were evil. So I walked her back and forth and back and forth, until her head was down, she was snorting and relaxed. Then I put her on a small lunge circle at a walk. She stayed at the walk and went through the poles jumping the last one. Good Girl! We continued for a few minutes more with a few more circles at both walk and trot both ways over the poles.

She definitely showed me today that she needs new things introduced slowly. And that she needs time to think about them, before fully accepting them. She is still a young minded horse, even though she is five years old. It was definitely a week of mixed success. There were some wonderful moments and some challenging ones. I think the next week should be one of monotony and repetition for Bonita.

---

Bonita – Week 4 was first posted on April 19, 2009 at 5:03 pm.
©2011, Simrat Khalsa.

Feed enhanced by the Add To Feed Plugin by Ajay D'Souza
]]>

Saturday – The vet was coming at 9 AM. I arrived an hour early to have time to work Bonita. I spent some time with her loose in the stall, putting the saddle on and off from both sides. Still more work to do here. She would stand still working from the right side, but not from the left, and even on the right, she wasn’t entirely okay with the process.

Once tacked up, I took her to the outdoor and worked her both ways on the lunge for about 5 minutes. She was just as good as last time. Then… Sarah came in with her TB, Pete. Bonita’s mind was blown for a minute or so.. ANOTHER HORSE in the ARENA with HER! After she saw that Pete was fine with his ground work and it wasn’t going to be a battle for who was top horse, she settled just fine and went back to work.

I'm getting The Eye...

Sunday – Again, I was out early, this time to feed. It had rained and the outdoor arena was wet enough to have slick footing. I couldn’t work in the indoor, as there were still tables set up from an event last night. I figured that it was a good day to get her off the property.

We took a walk down the road toward Mt. Pisgah and trails. Every so often, when her head sunk to level and she sighed, I would stop and let her graze some. We passed driveways with piles of rocks and reflectors, orchards, farm stands, open fields, and went over a bridge. I walked in the middle, after checking that there were no cars coming in either direction. She was just fine with that. And she didn’t mind most of the traffic. She did look at it and tensed occasionally, but didn’t really spook once. Some people, very politely, slowed way down and pulled to the far side of the road, others sped right by at 45 mph. She only was concerned, if we were right by the road when cars went right by us.

I didn’t go all the way to Pisgah. We turned back after a mile or so. Towards the end, she started to whinny. I think that she was getting a little uncomfortable being that far out of range of other horses. She did get an answering whinny from a horse a few fields away. She stood up really tall and whinnied again, like… “Over here! Where are you?!” I looped the lead over her rump and had her yield to me a couple of times to reassert that I was to be the focus, not some random equine.

From then on, I asked her to back whenever she whinnied, as her attention would draw away from me. I want her to learn to look to me for reassurance, not call out to the world looking for other horses to reassure her. This also helped her travel more slowly on the way home.

It was good to get her out and see how she is on her own and in new situations. Tomorrow we will be back to work… and eventually we should be riding down this road to trails!

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.