For Pete's Sake!

Pete left yesterday morning with a friend who is taking him for the summer to put miles on him. Not only did he load like a champ after a session with him the day before, but she put a long ride on him yesterday. She said he was, "awesome". Willing, forward thinking, didn't care about the rought terrain, traffic, water, etc. So this is good news for Pete as I'm hoping this friend will decide he'll be a perfect addition to her family.

Pete and Summer must have been talking over the fence because she had a breakthrough yesterday as well. No more 4 hour trailer loading issues. Within 10 minutes Summer was self-loading. I can sit on the fender of the trailer with a 22' rope and send her in. Even at a trot! She's hard to keep out of the trailer now!!!!

The issue hasn't been with the trailer itself as I may have mentioned in an earlier blog post. This issue was her lack of respect and a lack of confidence. All of her same tricks of resistance were seen with many of the new obstacles or idea I presented to her. The barging, pushing her shoulder into you, looking away, not watching where she put her feet, all signs that point in the same direction. Summer now has accepted some leadership from me so we are making progress more quickly now. She put her feet on the pedestal yesterday, too which was a big deal for her. It's not about the pedestal either. It's not about anything except respect, trust and leadership. Once those things are in place, they'll try to please you.

Shy loves the pedestal! She feels very glamorous up there. Shy has let me pick up her hind feet. I laid over her back yesterday. My intention is not to ride her soon, but only help her have a positive reaction to pressure. Pressure comes in all forms. While standing next to her I wrapped my arms around her neck and hugged her tightly, then released, hugged, held, released, hugged, released. It took a few minutes for her to relax into it. I wrapped my arms around her back and did the same thing. She thought that was odd but softened and relaxed into that as well. She can be jumpy about things around her rear end and hind legs so we continue with success to work back there. I saw the other day that stick had gotten caught in her tail while she was in the pasture. She was frightened as it dragged behind her. It finally let go and she looked relieved.

I love my facility because I can use the natural environment to help the horses. I walked her through a field of saplings and tall grass which helped her get used to things on her belly, in her tail, and between her hind legs. I think she's over self about that now!