Mustang Saga

This evening I went out and played with Bella a bit. Well, she wouldn't have called it play, she had a little bit of a hard time... We got a little stuck with her trying to walk to far ahead of me, but when we finished that was all worked out and she stayed put right where she was supposed to, except sometimes when turning with her on the inside of the turn. Before that we disengaged hindquarters then practiced Chris Cox's "direct and drive" which is like lunging except you only move them in a half circle. Backed up with a meaningful look and finger shake at the point of her shoulder. Practiced walking over poles. THAT was not an easy one. But we got to where she'd do it pretty well. In one direction she tended to bowl into me with her shoulder. On the last couple trips across she slowed down and walked nicely. By then it was dark. I let her go (oh, by the way, she was totally easy to catch, walked right up to me) and then she waited at the gate to be let back into her small pen so I could feed her. Gave her a little alfalfa, I'd really like to get that worked back into her diet, but the darn horse doesn't like it! She wouldn't eat pellets this morning either. Too weird. She loves her Calf Manna and Black Oil Sunflower Seeds though! Thank goodness I finally found something she's eager to eat. I'd really like to get the added calcium and protein of alfalfa into her though in case she's carrying a baby. I'll figure something out eventually...

I leave you with a photo of our culinarily disabled horse refusing an apple slice. (Tonka really enjoyed eating her share too though!)