6-30-00 I broke down and roached Spirit's mane today. I've really been trying to get it all on one side and under control, but it just wasn't going to happen. She had rubbed out a couple spots by putting her head through the bars of her pen up in Fort Collins, and it was just hideous. <sigh> I know I'm going to hate myself for cutting it when it's six inches long and sticking straight up in the air....The good news is that she stood for my scissoring sans halter (I also took off all those little stray hairs under her jaw). She's figuring out that she has to stay put if I'm doing something to her. She was also easy to catch again today. I haven't had to spend more than 30 seconds walking after her before she just turns around and comes to me. Pictures soon of Spirit's new "do" ;-)
7-2-00 Worked on trotting in hand from the right today. I really hate how left sided Spirit is, so we're still working on that. She's really fabulous about being caught now. All I have to do is begin to walk towards her, and she'll come up to me. (I know I've written about this in the past three entries, but I think it's just amazing! ;-)
7-3-00 After I grained Spirit, I went in to groom her. She stood fine until I took off the long sleeve shirt I was wearing (It was hot!) She was a spooky freak about the shirt, so I sacked her out to it. This involved rubbing it on her, flapping it around her, drapping it over her head...trying all the time to not scare her to the point where she would move her feet, but just to reinforce that she can be scared and be still and she won't get hurt. (See Jorene's Sacking Out A Horse for more details) That spook in place is _real_ important, especially under saddle. I really don't want to deal with 1400+ pounds of scared, running horse. Best if it's 1400+ pound of scared, not-gonna-move horse...
7-4-00 Just grained everyone, threw hay and crossed my fingers no one would freak out at the fireworks. I thought about bringing them all into stalls, but Spirit would be nervous and tense just with the change of scenery. By adding flashes of light and big booms, she might just hurt herself. <sigh>
7-5-00 Looks like everyone got through the fourth just fine. Not a mark on anyone, and no one is sweaty from running. Today was vet day for Spirit and Shaman--they both got palpated to determine if they're pregnant. Thankfully, neither is! Spirit was good for the vet and his helpers, and is actually in heat right now. Sure can't tell...<sigh>. A free-bee Spirit baby would have been really neat, but it's better that she's open. I wouldn't have known who the sire was, and she probably would have dropped in January or some other horrible month :-P I have decided who I'm going to breed her to for next season. Pehrsson is a local stud, so I got to see him up close and personal. He is _gorgeous_. Very nice mover, lovely neck, and known for putting nice refined babies on the ground no matter what he's bred to. I'm really looking forward to breeding him to Spirit :-)
7-8-00 Just kind of screwed around with Spirit today. I brushed out her tail using that Cowboy Magic detangler stuff (it's awesome! I love it), put SWAT on her face and legs, and left Springer's fly mask on her for about 20 minutes while she was in the round pen. She was very well behaved--she didn't give me any problems at all handling her tail or anything else. She even let me SWAT her back legs...she was tense, but didn't move. I did have to desensitze her to the fly mask a little bit, but it took all of three or four minutes (if that) before I could put it on her. She was surprised by the velcro sound when I went to take the thing off, so we spent a couple minutes just working the velcro ;-)
7-13-00 Spirit was just awesome today. I haven't had the time to do more than go out and grain lately, so her great work session today was a pleasant surprise. I decided to longe her and maybe, depending on how she was, try some loose side reins on her. I put the surcincle on her, and put her bridle on. I bought a full cheek french snaffle for her that I hadn't gotten the chance to use yet, and that went in her mouth. I sent her out on the left rein on the longe line, and she was sooo good. More relaxed then I have _ever_ seen her in a work session. Listening to me--she picked up "trot" and "easy walk" right away, like she already knew them (I have *not* used verbal commands with her before!) She gave me the most wonderful walk I have *ever* seen out of her, nice and forward, overstepping the prints of her front feet. Before I even thought about the side reins, she was stretching down and out, relaxing her back and swinging with her hind legs. I just _love_ her trot! She was a bit more tense going to the right, but that resolved after a couple trot circles. I snapped the side reins on, loosly, just so she could get a feel for having something else attached to the bit. She was wonderful, there were no problems there _at all_. What an easy day with her. I also trimmed the feathers off her fetlocks, brushed out and banged her tail, and trimmed her forelock a little bit. Oh, and took scissors to all her muzzle wiskers. I just couldn't stand her looking so unkempt!! I'll take pictures tomorrow, hopefully will have them up here in a couple days. Spirit is getting her front feet trimmed tomorrow--cross your fingers!
7-14-00 Another great day with Spirit. She ended up not getting her front feet done though--the farriers truck broke down and she couldn't make it out. I worked Spirit on the longe line like yesterday, only adding a request for the canter in both directions. She's very reluctant to canter, and I think it's because she's so out of shape. She's also pretty big--might be difficult to move all that bulk around in a 20 meter circle ;-) No problems at all adding side reins either direction, and I'm still leaving them _loose_ for the time being. After our little longeing session, I took her for a walk out of her pasture. This is only the second time she's come out of her pasture, and I was (as always) a bit nervous. She, however, was quite relaxed. Once we got completly away from the pasture, she tensed up a bit, but nothing like she did the first time I took her out. She even dealt with running, barking dogs without moving a foot!! There are two dogs in a pen near the horses, and I wanted to get past them. I knew they would bark, so I led Spirit up and just waited. She saw them running before they started barking and sat w-a-y back on her haunches, but never moved a foot and did not pull on the lead rope at all!! Yeah!!! She responded to my "easy, it's okay" and walked past the damn dogs easily. I also led her up to the stall barn. It's a dark, scary looking place. The first time, I just asked her to put her front feet on the concrete outside the barn aisle. The second time, i asked her to walk in, turn around and walk out--she did it without a bobble!! We didn't go in very far--just so that her body would be in all the way. But I can remember a time when I would have just laughed had anyone suggest I try to lead her into a barn. (And it wasn't that long ago) I think Spirit has finally figured out how to _learn_ and I think that she just keeps trusting me more and more. All good things :-)
