Monday, 21 April 2014

Catching/Leading
Friday saw an almost 10/10 for both catching and leading. The herd was up near the top gate, she walked away on my first approach, then stood perfectly still when I followed and put the head collar on. She walked away from the herd immediately on asking, first time that's happened I think, and walked over to the gate with no fuss. One tiny plant on the drive was the only blot. Good girl.

Saturday was a bit of a challenge, as we brought her and Eddy in together and rather than encourage each other, they seem to make each other worse in not wanting to leave etch herd behind. Sunday she came in at the same time as Dexter and was as good as gold - I was even able to put her head collar on from the other side of the fence.

Mounting
Decided to invest in a mounting block to overcome our new found issues. With a moveable mounting block I can position it so that she is between the block and a solid wall and she can't swing her hindquarters out. On Saturday, the first time she walked through the gap as she didn't understand that I wanted her to stop, I re-presented her and the second time she stood still perfectly. Sunday she stood first time, today she walked through again but then stood. Won't go to the main mounting block just yet but I think we've now hopefully resolved the issue. 

Riding
Have had a couple of tense rides on her. Saturday we went out on a walk around the block with Eddy and Heidi. The homing pigeons on the corner were being fed, and the flapping and flying around of hundreds of birds made Q genuinely scared. She felt like she would run off at any moment, yet was listening to me and accepting my reassurances that it was ok. However it meant she was very tense and on her toes for the rest of the ride, and put in a couple of spooks, which she's not done with me before. Was very glad to get back to the yard, which is a shame as I usually enjoy riding her.

Sunday was an unplanned walk around the vineyard with Dexter and Bronwyn. Nice company, easy laid back ride, yet both Q and I were tense, so it wasn't that enjoyable, probably still both thinking of the spooky ride the night before. For the second ride in a row, we just walked, though she was again quite fresh and joggy coming out of the yard.

Today, I got on, she stayed still. I asked her to move off, and she didn't run away from my leg (which she can do at the beginning of rides). She stayed nicely relaxed for pretty much all of the ride. Did the cows loop again, but we were with Tilda, who is a saint of a bombproof horse, and though we had Tilda half a length ahead of Q, she wasn't at all bothered by the cows this time. I think I'll try it another couple of times in company, then take her there on our own. I really enjoyed todays's ride. There was none of the constant tenseness that we had over the last couple of rides, and I just got to remember why I'm persevering with her - she can be a dream to ride, and will became my dream horse, in time.

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