August 25, 2008

Yes, a very exciting day all around!

This morning when I went out to check on/feed/clean up Billie's pen, I opened the gate between the pens. Usually I leave this open, but we've had a bit of rain and I didn't want the footing to get real yucky, so I'd closed her out of the round pen for a few days. Billie was excited, mainly because in the interim, choice green shoots had made their way to the surface and dotted the round pen. She had a good time making her way around the pen sucking up juicy morsels. The perimeter had some good stuff too, so she stuck her head under the panels trying to get to that.

Yesterday morning I had a little scare. I was standing outside the pen gate, on my way back in. I think I had her feed in hand. Billie stuck her head through the gate panels as she sometimes does (which I hate), but this time when she started to bring her head back in, she had turned it and was stuck! OMG! I let go of the gate, and it swung in with her. She quickly got her head free, and it turned out to be no big deal. Funny, though, that she has not stuck her head through the panel since. Ha! Good lesson. Lucky pony!

So back to this morning...I used the opportunity of Billie being in the round pen to hang her Blocker bolt (for tying). We "chatted" a bit more, and then I went inside the house.

After a bit, I was feeling guilty, thinking that this poor little girl needs a bit of work. I'd neglected working her the last few days since I'd taken Decker to the horse show the past weekend. I headed out of the house, but before I could take two steps out the door, I saw that Billie was entertaining herself! She was running and bucking in the round pen! She'd make a circuit, then run into the small pen and stop. Next, she'd dash back out to the round pen and kick and buck some more. I saw her repeat this 5 or 6 times. What a hoot to see!

After a while more, I decided that I really should work her, so I made my way into the pen with all my "tools"--the bamboo pole and the stock whip. She was up for a bit of fun. I made her walk each direction, turn in toward me, and walk on some more. She was so hard to get going! She a Decker both are so NOT worried about me! Billie kept turning in toward me, licking her lips, as if to let me know that all she wanted to do was to play follow-the-leader. Well, we did that, too.

This evening as I was driving into the driveway, it dawned on me that I really do not have to take Billie to Ft. Worth. I decided last week that I'm going to keep her afterall. Why do I need the stress of Ft. Worth?

I feel like a slacker, though. I've not made up my mind about it!

I talked with Bev this evening, too. And in talking with her, got to face up to some of my worries. And then, of course, had to go act on them! I put my boots on and headed out to the pen one more time. Bev came over, too, which gave me something more to work on when Billie acted scared. We/I handled it! I took it as a training op! Good for me!

Next, Bev moved the junk from in front of the gate, and Billie and I went outside! We lived! Yippee! We had to repeat this a bunch of times, and it got better each time. We had to have "discussions" to go back inside the pen, but, hey, we lived! Billie even got caught up in the hose strewn across that area, and she handled it so well--it was no biggie--I love this horse! Bev helped point out where I needed to be a bit more abrupt in my corrections, and geez does this pony pay attention. It amazes me that the more she has to focus, the calmer she gets. Bev thinks it's because she feels comfortable knowing she can defer the leadership to the handler, and I'd have to agree.

At this point, I told Bev I needed to be able to trot Billie in hand, so we made a stab at this. Truely, Billie had no clue what I was doing--was I inviting to play? Did she need to run away? Did she need to rear? What was I doing? We kind of got the hang of a very ugly in-hand trot. Now I want to get a nice one going, with a nice float in the lead.

To end the evening, I tied Billie to the Blocker bolt. I was SO worried about this! So I looped the rope through, leaving her a little float to her head. She checked it out this way and that. She even tried to turn and pull away. It's amazing to me to be able to watch as she is thinking this through. She'd stand with a bit of pressure, then step up and release the pressure herself. She kept checking it out. After a few minutes, I picked a point so that the next time she stepped up and released her pressure and stood still, I would release her, and I did--end of lesson. Only one time did she pull enough slack that I felt the need to re-set the rope. Of course, next time, she may have more tricks up her sleeve. Next time, I'll let her check it out for a few minutes more.

Big day, huh?