Indy's Brain Esplodes...

So today was Indy's offical first day of pen life and being my partner at the Centre. It went REALLY well!! I am super proud of her!

I led her up to the barn on the Secret Hill today, becuase I wasnt sure how she would be ridden, so walking was better. She did really well on the walk, got only a little giraffey, which was good for her! When I first got her I think she owuld have gone AHHHH and run a few circles around me. She had a few thresholds, so I just waited with her and when she relaxed we walked on. She was really good all the time that she was on a high tie so that is GREAT because thats one of the things I wasnt sure about, but she was a star.

When I finally got to play with her we went into one of those Parelli Play pens that has the short panels [round pen, but short panels] to move her feet a bit because I tried to groom her and she was just prancy. On into the round pen, we had to go past a scary trailer loading simulator, so we went in and out of that gate a few times until she settled and started thinking. Entre brain esplosions! Lots of sploding today.... She honestly licked her lips almost the entire time we played.. and it was like an hour and a half.

Once in the round pen I put her on a 22; line because I know she likes to jump things for kicks... well I found that out again. Trotting around in a happy circle, we were doing trot canter transitions and then on one time asking up for the canter, my send must have been off because she checked in, went "oky, yep" and then jumped out of the pen, turned faced and gave me this "Is that it??" look. *sigh* *headdesk* SERIOUSLY. In my head as she did it [it was totally calm and slow mo] I am thinking *shit*, because I figured she would jump then brace and run. But no, my awesome pony turns and faces, thinking I *sent* her on this squeeze game. Entre my hysterical laughter. I honestly broke down laughing for five minutes because it was so well placed, such a good try, so CUTE I just couldnt think of anything else to do! So we played with some more sends, but on the side of the circle that was backed up to a post and rail fence... and then we went into a pasture that has some huge log jumps in it and I let Indy jump until she was happy not to. She jumped some huge stuff!! HOLY CRAP! And Im going to ride this?? She does it so smooth though, not like klutzy Mo, so I am not even worried about it!

The best part was even yet to come. I took her to the water trough, but she hadnt figured out molasses water yet, so she spashed around but didnt really drink. My next project was to start playing with the water because Indy is afraid of it. I want to eventually be able to hose her down and give her baths and such. So over to the wash rack we go. Firstly, moving the hose hanger spooks her a little, but thats ok, because she keeps wanting to put feet up on the cement pad, which is great. I start with apporach and reatreat with just the water on and off pointing away from her, only turning it off when she relaxes or stops trying to back away.

We progress pretty quick [I think] to the point where I could spray the ground in front of her, and this is where it got hilarious! She start to get really CURIOUS about the water, and what it was doing and started snuffling the puddles it was making and found out "OH HEY this is WATER" and starts trying to drink the puddles. That went on for a while, and I would spray around in front of her until she started to figure out where the puddles were coming from and starts investigating the spray nozzle! At first she got a little offeded that it sprayed her face when she got closer to the stream but it was like two seconds before she was trying to drink out of the nozzle itself. SO CUTE!

She went from OMG WATER SPRAY to Oh Hey! Yummy! In under twenty minutes. The only downfall of the whole situation was that she would move her head to intercept the nozzle each time I tried to spray down her front legs and chest. I did eventually get them, and then let her play again. It was so cute - it didnt even matter that I was now drenched in water. That it was 83F today was a nice helper to :-)

Of course through the whole water fiasco I am still laughing hysterically. I am sure everyone at the barn thinks I am nuts, but it was worth it. I love when Indy gets confidence about things - she completely reverts to happy go lucky curious two year old instead of her "I have to be mature and uppity because I had babies" thing. She is much more fun when I can encourage her to remember she is only FIVE!

As a bonus, at the very end of the day, I took Indy to water and she chugged Molasses water. So YEY she figured it out!

Although she isnt the biggest fan of peanut hay yet, I am sure she will be soon, Mo got into the habit of never leaving a stray leaf around - very helpful for pen cleaning purposes!

:-)

Ps: T - I found out that the first wave of externs is *probably* finishing around april 11th, so my finish date is approx two weeks after that - but nothing is set in stone yet, so if I find out something more solid, Iwill let you know asap! [you know I have Goliath here and not my truck with a backseat right?]