Days 23&24: Running On A String

Title courtesy of my husband who recently stated with all seriousness that Sophie is getting pretty good at "running on a string" :) I love him, and let's be real, his terminology probably makes more sense than "longeing" to anyone non horsey.

Sophie got back down to the arena x2. Once to practice longeing/running on a string, once to go back through the parts of the trail course from the weekend that we left out.

We're both making equal mare faces, lol

I did the longeing last night. She's getting pretty good, but I do need to keep focused as she's not all that brave in some parts of the arena and would really rather not trot around out there all by herself....it's much more fun and safe feeling to be closer to me, don't you know. The forward button remains a little stickier than I'd like, but it's improving each time - we're getting closer to her offering  a consistent tempo more often than not and sharper "up" transitions are coming. She's not at all fussed by the longe whip and honestly a bit wanting to hang back if you let her so it's tempting to nag at her. I need to resist that temptation and enforce that go means go NOW until I say stop, because I do want her to be sharp under saddle!

I meant to focus on the horse...but I kind of like it anyway

Today, we revisited some of the trail challenge obstacles. I practiced sending her over and through things I know she's fine with (poles, a bridge) and surprisingly, she wasn't that confident. That actually makes sense, since I wasn't there beside her leading her, rather she was on the end of a line and "all by herself". She quickly gained confidence though and aced it.

Throwback to Bridget showing us the car wash of doom.

 I did have to get a bit more assertive when it came to the car wash, and a longer discussion was had about going forward where I ask, but it was the right call - she eventually just sighed and walked right on through and wasn't really worried about it. She just would have preferred to say no and not try it, I think. I had her hang out under the tarp while I scratched her and told her she was the best and bravest pony and pretended she hadn't just been testing boundaries. That made her quite happy and proud of herself and she stepped up after that and was a total star. I'm appreciative she's so interested in making me happy, it really does help make things easy!

That 80's rocker hair, tho :/

I'm away for work for a couple of days again, unfortunately. I'm absolutely loving having a youngster again so along with me liking to say hi to Bridget every day, my enthusiasm for barn time is pretty high right now! It's a small bit of torture to not be able to go to the barn every day. I'm considering a pay cut/career change so I can work locally and be home all week, but we'll see. That's a big decision best thought out thoroughly.