Doing the Work

I'm not sure why I can't sit down and write to you about the deep happenings between Halla and I. It's too complicated. It's too simple. It's too visual. I really just don't want to take the time to type it out, especially not knowing if my audience is even interested.

Luckily this one is interested.

We are back to zero. Oh, but it's so fun to work on circles and say, "But can you go this slow?" and have her dial it down to turtle pace from the slightest request, then pick it back up again like she's reading my mind. Those things are fun.

Working on standing at the mounting block, stepping up on the mounting block, basically doing step aerobics on the mounting block while she's frozen in "I'm gonna die" land - that isn't fun. But when she then steps up and then over to me, drops her head, licks and chews, and says, "I'm ready." Oh wow! Of course, next time, she couldn't get out of "I'm gonna die" land and I got lots of exercise.

Increasing speed at liberty, a butt scoot, upright head, stiff ears, no breath, wrong lead, but only sometimes. We need to work on transitions.

I need to put my rein hand down when I'm done with it. She needs to be touched with the flag, meaningless and with meaning. Still so hard for her to give me her right side. So hard for me to use my left. None of us are perfect, eh?

Boring? Maybe, on the outside. But really quite absorbing from the middle of it.