horsegirlonajourney

I went out to Hacienda Becerra today and volunteered to play with a 10 year old Percheron mare named Savannah Havana. (The Hacienda is a rescue/volunteer organization mostly for off the track standardbreds (trotr.org) but they have all breeds, ages, and sizes out there; really nice folks too!) She has in recent months developed a behavior of bolting when she feels the line on her halter. I thought if I gave her 22 feet instead of 12, it might help. And that she needs more Friendly Game with the halter and line, and some Hide Your Hiney as bolting is an extreme way of turning her hindquarters at the human.

I made mistakes, learned a lot, and left things on a good note — for myself and for the horses. Continue reading →

Following the rail, learning to follow the patterns

Seeing as how Rocky’s feet are finally getting less sore, I decided to resume my Freestyle journey with our third Level 1 Follow the Rail session.

I tucked the patterns book into my pocket and then forgot to consult it the entire time.

It was going well in that I was settling into my seat and moving more fluidly and using my focus more focusedly, but I could tell he was not engaged. I decided to hop off and put out some obstacles, to give him a bit more challenge. Four poles, a cone, a huge ball.

Bad idea. Continue reading →