Darling Indy...

*This actually happened on Tuesday, but I have been remiss in posting!*

It finally stopped raining long enough for me to be able to play on Tuesday, so you can bet I booked it out to the barn.

My original intent had been to play with Mo to be honest. I got there, I whistled for her - which ironically, is the same whistle for all three horses - but instead of Mo running over, INDY ran over! She was so happy and excited, neighing to me and trotting over! Well!! If you can resist such a sweet blatant invitation, you are a stronger person than me!

I got Indy's halter and 22' line, and put the saddle and hackamore on the fence. Indy caught me like a pro and was all set to play. She tested me a bit in the beginning - "Are you REALLY sure you want me to move away?" and one or two quick phase fours and I had a phase one-two horse the rest of the day! It was SO nice to be able to be light with her!!! AND! Total credit to Indy, on the phase fours she didnt go RBE OMG, she went LBE "Oh you DO mean go!" It was really nice to not have her fly off the handle!

We played around on the ground, Indy offered me some of the softest sideways without a fence she ahs ever done! It was beautiful! We played with Falling leaf, to help her pick up her front end and move it over, and that was GREAT phase one stuff only! We played with squeeze game over a line of barrels, which coincidently was a threshold for her! So I took some time, let her play with them, and think her way over. I want to set up a "course" for her to do, preferably in a round corral, with two lines of barrels so she can get into the jump-and-keep-going mentality, because right now she goes over and as soon as her hind feet touch the ground she comes to a dead halt... and its just not pretty ! Mo needs this to, shes is SO not a jumper!

Indy and I had a fantastic time. Attempting to sideways over a barrel one time her confidence just all of a sudden flew out the door and she got a little bit RBE, but only a little. I just smiled and relaxed and helped her reapproach it. What made me sad was that one of the boarders saw it and sort of laughingly said "Oh, is she misbehaving? Is she being bad?" I just sort of sighed inwardly and said no and went back to rebuilding Indy's confidence. When she finally took just ONE step across the barrel I relaxed and Indy licked a million times. Her brain was going a mile a minute. I was so proud of her. I offered her phase one across the rest of the barrel and she went and we walked away from the barrel. It was spectacular.

At this point I hadnt seen Ivy for some time and when I looked for her I found her over by my saddle... chewing on my girth *sigh* So I went to chase her away and ended up saddling Indy while I was there. BIG 'how interesting' moment for Indy then! This was the first time she actually emphatically sniffled the saddle pad AND licked and chewed afterwards! Saddling was great. I changed to the hackamore, reminding Indy to yeild her head over when we do this. And off we went again!

We played a few more ground games to check the girth and things and then I mounted... FROM THE GROUND! May sound silly, but A) Indy is 16h and I am 5'2, so BIG deal! and B) This was the first time I mounted her from the ground and she stood stock still, so I am uber proud of her.

Walking off I rearranged my savvy string onto my wrist. My mild LBE on the ground goes mild LBI undersaddle, so a little persistance and belief that I will be able to up my phases is my new tactic. Not squeezing harder, or kicking her, just making 'noise' with the savvy string. We went off to play follow the rail.... and what a sad example of that game it was! I had to laugh as she weaved in and out of the path I picked. I could tell that if I picked up two reins I could keep her on the rail, but that isnt the point, is it? I wanted her to step up to her own responsibility. Eventually she did, and I was really happy with her.

When we moved up into a trot I had to up my phases. I got to taping her flanks lightly before she moved off. Not that she took off at the speed of light, she more or less ambled at a slow trot. Oh well, it WAS faster than a walk! I will get particular later... We continued our follow the rail game, now instigating transitions often. Walk, trot, stop back up. Our backup is her most difficult thing, whichis interesting, but by the end of the session it was one hundred times lighter! As was her forward momentum, I only needed to energy up and squeeze at the end!

It was really just a short session, but it was SO productive and I was so proud of Indy! She was amazing. I cant wait to see where our journey together goes.

Mo, on the other hand, was JEALOUS! Halfway through our ground play she came up to the fence and started watching and looking forlorn that I hadnt picked her. The the next day and yesterday she came running when I called her. I didnt play with her, just haltered her and took her to the yard to graze while I worked with Ivy. I thought it was most amusing though that she WANTS to be caught now that she missed her chance that day!

:-)
S