Lesson #1

Halla and I had a great lesson the other day. It was extremely helpful. I came home with lots of notes like, be a better leader at all times - she wants to be told exactly what to do, get through scary spaces efficiently, use my imaginary direct rein while at liberty,  watch my body position, she is super sensitive.  While on the line we are to practice moving the flag with no intent toward her while she is in motion (she was a bit explosive the first time but quickly got better) and using it with intent, making clear the difference. Dropping her head to bring her out of her flight mode and bring her back up. A few simple bodywork things. Lateral flexion with my hand on her face but without clamping down (she isn't fond of hands on the front of her face).

She made huge strides the first day, then I took a day off to get this:

I've wanted a canopy for the truck for years! I'm so excited I finally found one. We're going to try using it for camping this summer. Imagine crawling into a real bed, already set up. Next best thing to a living quarters trailer, which is a heck of a lot more expensive. We got this thing dirt cheap.

Yesterday Halla and I did some homework and she did well at first, but without really relaxing. The relaxing is the key, not the rote doing of the task. Then she surprised me by throwing fits repeatedly and eventually breaking away and running back to the barn. I calmly went and retrieved her and started over, first at the barn, then back at the trouble spot. She almost immediately calmed down, relaxed, and walked a nice circle with her entire body relaxed while the flag was active in the air with no intent toward her. Okeedokee. I guess she just needed to get some feelings out.

Oh, another thing we talked about at my lesson was horses' weak right hind, which apparently comes about because almost all horses are left handed. I knew that, but I never really thought about how it would make their bodies assymetrical just like ours. The conversation came about because I mentioned none of my horses back a straight line so I must be doing something wrong. She watched me and said I wasn't doing anything wrong, she just wasn't reaching as far with her right hind. She recommended backing her with a fence on her right to encourage her to back straight and reach out more with that leg. Also backing up hills is always good.

I'll report back in as we progress.