Friday, April 24, 2009

Escape to the Barn

On Wednesday evening I managed to escape to the barn for a little bit.  It felt like I was out past my bedtime on a school night or something.  I don't usually go the barn in the evening but with the extended daylight this time of year I made a mad dash for the door.  

Rosie and I had a pretty productive evening all in all.  While I was grooming her I noticed she had a small cut on her right hind leg and it appeared a little swollen but didn't seem to be bothering her so I decided to just keep an eye on it.  After grooming I got her all rigged up in her surcingle so we could do some ground driving.  Last time I attempted this I couldn't figure out how to make her go forward so we just worked on flexing and getting used to the idea that I didn't have to be at her head the whole time.  I talked to a couple of friends who have waaaaay more experience working young horses than I do and they gave me a couple of pointers on how to get her moving.  So, I got her all ready to go and then moved into a position that was more like a lunging position than a driving position.  I also used the lunge whip to encourage her forward as I would when lunging her.  It worked!  We achieved forward movement!  I just kind of putzed around the round pen with her and we even worked up to a trot before just working on some flexing and calling it a night.  We worked on flexing because she started to brace against the lines so we went back to what we knew.  

I'm hoping to get back out there and try it again this weekend but the weather isn't supposed to be all that spectacular.  Scattered thunderstorms are predicted for tomorrow and then just partly cloudy on Sunday.  I am no good in a thunderstorm.  I hate lightening, I just find somewhere to cower.  

Well, everybody have a great weekend!

1 comment:

~*~Lysh~*~ said...

Yay! Escaping to the barn is the best - I don't do it enough and the barn's in my front yard!! It sounds like you had a good session with Rosie and your method of ground driving sounds much safer than mine was when I taught Maverick!! :) I hope you have a good weekend!