Two Days for the Price of One!

aka, Jackie is lazy and hasn't updated in two days, and now must put both days in one post! Haha!

Tuesday:
After what happened on Monday, insofar as Gwen's RBI moments, I was really curious how Tuesday would turn out. First of all, her leg is doing SO MUCH BETTER! The swelling is gone and though she still has a wound, it's not bleeding. I'm keeping a close eye on it, making sure it stays clean and that I keep Swat on it to make sure the flies don't bother her. Otherwise, she's right as rain :)

No more swelling!

 There were kids in the ring, so I couldn't play in there. But rather than use the round pen, I decided to work in the big open space between the Jump ring (aka the boys turnout) and the barn. I was pretty proud of myself because even though I'm usually shy about playing with Parelli when others can see me, I got out there and played in full view of everyone and it didn't bother me at all!! I was so confident in what I was doing that I wasn't the least bit concerned about criticism or observation. I was pretty pleased with myself. I don't think I'll have any problems playing around other people from now on, but more on that later.

We played with all our games except squeeze and sideways, mostly because there was no fence. After musing about how we both behave when working on her "off" side, and listening to some pretty good advice, I've decided to really try to nip it in the bud, and focused heavily on right-side activities. I'd never paid much attention to it before, but Gwen really goes to great lengths to keep me in her left eye. To the point that if I'm standing slightly to her off-side, she'll tip her neck around to have her left eye toward me. I always thought she was looking into the distance or something, but now I can really see that she does NOT like me on her right.


We did lots of circling-game with her going clockwise, and then lots and lots of driving-game with me on her right. She didn't care for that; lots of halting, freezing, head-in-the-air uncomfortable looks, (she's a wiz at the driving game when I'm on her left). But I tried to make it easy for us both, and we played the 'driving game on the right' towards a patch of grass, and her reward for getting there with me was a nice relaxing break, where she could pick at the grass while I rested. Very low-key.

Resting

Yummy!

 We rested for about a minute or two, and then went back to driving-game. I used a conveniently located trailer (not the ones in the pictures, but another one closer to the barn) to play touch-it with. She wasn't really keen on that, but I think she was a tad confused as to what I wanted her to touch. She kept going for a rubber bin that was on the ground, then looking at me like 'That was it, right? No? Are you sure?'.

After touch-it we played with yo-yo. She is getting so good at it! We had two 'backing' at phase one! Yay! Each time we play, she's getting better and better. Soon, I'll really start working on a snappy response and more than two steps at a time. Right now it's 'finger-wiggle, step, step, stop, phase-two, step step, stop, etc, and I have to keep asking. But she's getting better).

Wednesday:
Got super lucky on Wednesday; though there were people in the ring, there were only three so I took the opportunity to stake out a corner to work with Gwen. Everyone ended up leaving about five minutes after, just because it was getting late in the day, so I ended up having the place to myself! We did all the same things as Tuesday, but also some sideways and squeeze. And we played touch-it with a wooden bridge that one of the other riders had left out. Her yo-yo was awesome too! I'm consistently getting more and more backing off of phase one alone.

Things were going well enough that I decided to hop on bareback. She was OK with me riding her, but her attitude definitely changes. It's like... on the ground she's responsive and listening, but once I'm on her back, she reverts to her old ways, and I really don't want to get into a situation where we're both unhappy with the other one. After a trip or two around the arena, I called it quits on riding and went back to on-line stuff. Then, since we were alone, I turned her loose in the arena to see what she did. I thought she might wander off and roll, or go get a drink, but she stuck with me the whole time. If I sat on the mounting block, she'd only come within five feet of me, but if I got off and walked around, she'd follow me so close that either her nose would be at my shoulder, or her cheek would be. It was flattering, and very rewarding since we'd had a not-so-great experience with me on her back so recently.

Loose in the arena! Happy Gwen :)

Her mane is getting so long!

Clearly not thrilled with the hat-idea ;)

Since today was a day off work, I also made it a day off from the barn to recharge my batteries. Might go down tomorrow, otherwise I'll definitely be there Saturday!

J