School is Torture

I have been quiet recently because of school. I'm in Midterms and have a short term class final in a couple weeks. Because of that this is copied from my training journal on the AND forum.

Things have been great with us! Starting Wednesday I had three really good days with Sora. I didn't write earlier because school is nuts right now. In the span of two weeks I have two accounting quizzes and a final and a public policy final. Today I finished one of the accounting tests and after Tuesday the public policy final will be done. Because of that its been tough to work with Sora.

Wednesday I took her out to our arena/pen to play a bit. I had forgotten that we have grass growing everywhere in that pen and Sora has never been able to ignore grass even for treats. I wanted so much to push her or chase her a bit but i didn't. I just walked around, not really ignoring her but not asking her to come either. I had almost given up when she came over to me for a treat. She stood nice and calm without mugging and got one but then walked off to graze again. Once again I let her go and after only a few more minutes she came to play! She was glued to me for the rest of the time I was in with her and we had FUN. She was rearing and spinning and "cutting" me as I played keep away but was extremely polite the entire time and only forgot herself and tried mugging once or twice

Then on Friday morning we tried Karen's idea of patrolling the fence line. It was windy and cool and although Sora was calm I decided I wanted to play a little. I found a tree to beat on (made Sora confused since that's not one of the "scary trees") but the best part was when I shied. We were waaaay up in the pasture away from her herd which makes her looky anyway and then I "shied" snorting away. She raced off but came right back to me! Trotting like she was floating over the ground and I could tell she was teasing me. Not scared at all just laughing that I'd shied. She always comes back but normally she stands and looks for a long time first. This time she just came straight back.

Then tonight I needed to work on her hooves. She's barefoot and with the guidance of an incredible barefoot trimmer I've been doing it myself now for about six months. The trimmer also happens to do Reiki(sp?) and is an animal communicator so I know who to go to if I ever have trouble

I normally cross tie her, which she's good for, and she gets tons of treats. This time though I'd read about someone on here who sits on a stool with the horse's foot in their lap and I realized that would really help me as I'm not that coordinated yet with the file so I decided to try it. I put down some hay to help her be calm this first time, didn't tie her or even have a lead rope on her halter, and then I carried a stool and tools over to her. As I was setting my stool down next to her she was already lifting her foot wonderful obliging girl that she is she held it up for me as I sat down. She was really good with every foot except the hind right which she is normally nervous about. She was actually better than normal with that one too.

I love doing anything with her feet because she was impossible with them at first. I had people suggest to tie them up but I could never do that. In the end I decided to just wait for her and one day she picked them up with just a touch Now she's so good that she actually waits to set the back ones down until I step away. Her own decision, not something I ever asked of her, so that she doesn't step on me i think

I'm trying to get some pictures but I don't have anyone here who's really willing to take them and when I try all I get is nose

So as you can see things are going GREAT! I also managed to sell both my saddles so as soon as my rebate check comes I'll be able to buy a saddle that will actually fit her!!! I'm SOOOOOO excited!

Now, back to stressful studying.

Thrilled

First, not too much that's really exciting is going on. Tonight I spent some time just getting the knots out of Sora's mane because I've been lazy this winter and they were pretty bad. She looks like someone cares again which is good =) I also got some rasping done on her hooves. They've also been let go a little. Most people would probably hardly be able to tell they're too long, but since all I can do is rasp it's imperative that they don't get too long or I'll be stuck and will have to call my trimmer.

Secondly I've been working on starting her with the Art of Natural Dressage stuff. It's amazing how all the trust I'd lost in her last fall has come back along with more. I'm remembering just what a great horse she really is and she's remembering that I'm fun sometimes. At this point we aren't doing anything really exciting. She's learned how to paw with each front leg on cue, how to back towards me, and most importantly that she can leave when she wants and the training gets to be too much for her. It was fun watching her the first couple of times with this because she expected me to chase after her. Last night we worked on reinforcing good treat taking/clicker skills and it went better than expected. Now I just have to remember the order of things and she'll remain polite =)

Finally, that saddle I bought last fall is going up for sale along with the Wintec dressage. I really don't know why I've held onto the Wintec so long as I know it will never fit her and I don't plan on getting a horse that it will fit. I like the Thornhill but while the Wintec fits her shoulders but is too narrow in the back the Thornhill is too wide wide in the shoulders but fits in the back. Sora is in that awkward back phase where almost nothing fits so I looked into options and as soon as my job picks up, and I get the other two saddles sold, I'm going to get one of these saddles on trial. I REALLY like the reviews and I think it looks cool too. Plus it's a price I can afford =)