A Few Short Snippets

I took Daisy out on a-what turned out to be- short ride yesterday between rain showers. Daisy is part thoroughbred, and so she loves, loves, loves to canter. I get easily irritated because she doesn't like to stop on my terms, which are a) now. and b) when I ask, not seven strides later. I try half-halt slowing her down to stop, remembering to exhale, sitting deep in the seat, saying whoa, slowing the motion of my body, and then I resort to one-rein circle stops, or 'pulley reining' (emergency stop). So yesterday on our ride Daisy again didn't want to stop, and so I threw in the towel after so long and after asking nicely, I pulled hard on the reins. I felt bad, but somehow, she got the message. She FINALLY stopped, and the canter-->stop transitions after that were much better. All along, here I am trying to be just, and I finally give up and I get results? Oh mare.

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I took Daisy driving with my mom this week. Our last lesson, Daisy was great and didn't need anyone to get out and guide our (rather tight) turns on the driveway. For some reason, with my mom, she would refuse to move in the middle of a turn and she'd need assistance. Today I took her out with my cousin, and after two times turning with help I insisted she do it on her own. I growled at her and hey! she CAN do it! She's a little actress ;)

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This is a video Jean put together of our group of 4H kids at the trail rally two weeks ago (which I haven't posted about. ..). Daisy and I didn't place this year. We couldn't do the noodle-curtain obstacle, although the people there were incredibly nice about letting me have time to try schooling it and ultimately get off and walk her under it for the experience. I also practiced on a tarp all week long and yet when we got to the tarp obstacle, I was told to move on after a very short time-20 seconds? Because apparently Daisy refused twice (two minutes or two refusals). I was irritated because it let her think moving on was ok ... but I know others have complained of that in trail trials as well. :-/ I did write a comment about it on their survey, so hopefully next year they'll have more schooling opportunities like the curtain obstacle. Anyway, the video is fun and includes some jumping-enjoy :)