Team Building

 Last weekend Carmen and I went on a little getaway to visit Karen and Stacie. Karen and I were itching to have a horse weekend, we just had to wait for the weather to cooperate. This is becoming a tradition- I did the same thing last year.  

This was our weather the Monday/Tuesday before we left. 

Fortunately, after the crap weather on Monday things got better. Albeit muddier. 

Carmen was fully embracing her inner pig

There used to be a time that Carmen rarely was muddy. As she becomes more relaxed she's much more likely to roll. Everything is a trade off I guess. 

Funny story about Carmen being more relaxed:  I was loading the trailer and Guinness was bugging me to throw his toy. I finally did but my throw went wild I watched helplessly as it sailed towards Carmen's butt in the field. 

uh oh I thought. 

However, it landed right beside her with a thump. She gave a big jump and, instead of taking off like I expected, she looked at the toy beside her and then looked around questioningly. Guinness and I adopted our most innocent expressions. She shrugged and went back to eating. 

Guinness looked at me 'I'm not going to get that'. 

So I walked in and got the toy. I also may have told Carmen that it was Guinness' fault.....

When it was time to load Carmen she was a bit wound up about it (I follow the same routine so she knew what was coming). But she loaded easily and we were off. When we arrived she was very calm and walked into her stall all relaxed. 

Stacie has a little cat colony (all fixed) and I am so jealous. They are all so cute. 

waiting for me to hitch up the horses

I was going for a fun weekend but I also had a goal in mind. I am good at taking Carmen places and making sure she feels okay. This time I wanted to take her somewhere with the idea that I didn't have to coddle her but instead we could work. And for me I didn't want to spiral or just be a passenger. 

After I settled her in and got organized I took her out and rode. It was a good ride. She challenged me a bit with one corner after a little while but I just rode through it and it became a non-issue. I feel that we are slowly peeling away the spooking habit. 

On Saturday I had booked a lesson with Jane at the stable. I figured she would definitely make us work in case I wanted to let things slide. We booked it for the afternoon which meant we were able to have a leisurely morning. 

My lesson did not disappoint. Carmen was probably better than she was at home in terms of behaviour (but not by a lot). Jane noted that I was doing better with my inside hand. At times I was giving it away too much. Carmen was also much more forward than in our first lesson, although that still took some work. 

Of course I overthought a lot of things which interfered with being effective with the aids.  It was a simple ride but it felt really good and I was very  happy with Carmen. Even at the end when she was getting tired she was trying to do it rather than trying to get out of work. 

I like how she's reaching for my contact and my arms are not tight

Our trot work is coming

Here are some brief videos of our work. While there is a lot to improve (when won't there be) I love how we're just working. Not trying to deal with behavior. 

I was so happy with our work. And so was Carmen. After she was quite happy to go outside and hang out in a paddock. 

I rode sunday morning but it was short and I really just focused on her stretching and relaxing. I was super happy with her all weekend. She stayed with me. I even played with some liberty work and she was right there. 

Coming home she loaded like a doll and travelled easily. 

All in all it was a wonderful weekend. Having my horses home is great but I don't get to ride and talk horses with others and I miss that. Jim made some wonderful meals and every night I went to bed tired and full. I love my conversations with Karen even though I often don't really remember them after. It's just the easy conversation of friends. I got to schmooze with Kalimo again and play with my fabulous god-horse Leza. 

this is so me

I know I say this every spring but she feels different this year.  I probably say it because it's true. Each year she gets a little better. This year she feels like a real partner. 

definitely want to make this an annual thing