sass-a-frass, farrier, and free-jumping!

I was a little (okay, a lot!) frustrated the other day with the pony! I must have spent 30 minutes trying to mount Shyloh. It got to a point that I would have spent all night lining her up at the mounting block, just to get prove a point that I WILL get on her!

Every time Shy moved away, I would trot her in a circle back to the mounting block, which was actually more work for me than her! Sassy pony knows how to make me work harder than her. . .

But I did it! Shy's mind was completely on getting back to her stall, but I made her weave through the cones a few times. And she did great! I worked on getting her to turn using my seat and Shy was very responsive, even though she was being a sass-a-frass!

I also took her outside to get some fresh air and graze for a few minutes. This was on Wednesday. One day, the water and mud will be gone and the horses can go back out to the pastures. . .one day . . .

Oh grass. . .how Shy has missed you!

Today, the farrier came for Shyloh and Ryleigh. He trimmed Shy up and put my mind to ease. He said her hooves and frogs look real good, no signs of thrush and no signs of founder. Whew. I asked how they seemed since I moved her inside and he said they are still good. Whew. He also said all the Haflingers he sees have nice hooves and he has never seen a Haflinger with founder (not to say it can't happen).

Kathy and I took Shy and Casi outside. They grazed for a bit and enjoyed being outside. Shyloh and Casi have been hanging out a little but more because Ryleigh is being mean to her. He keeps biting her and she just ignores it. So Ryleigh got to hang out with Lexi so she could put him in his place.

Then, I put Shy in the arena and set up a jump. Ryleigh had done some free jumping to get the sassy-ness out of him the other day, which reminded me of Goal #2 for Shy. Wednesday she spooked at the jump (she was pre-occupied with it before I attempted to mount her 600 times, so we walked over to check it out and I picked up a pole and accidentally dropped it), so I thought she might be hesitant to jump today. Not so! She watched with great interest as I set the jump up, making her "thinking" noise.

When it was time to jump, I swear I got more of a workout than Shy! I was running and she was out-running me! That pony can be quick! The trick was that I had to stay at her rear with the lunge whip to push her forward, but then keep her along the wall near the jump and not let her go around it, so I had to get to her side. Eventually, I was able to do it and soon enough Shy did not need much to get her over the jump! She is pretty good at free-jumping! I look forward to working on this some more!

Shy says "Okay, I jumped, now give me a treat!"

I decided to get on her to walk her around so she could cool down, although she was much less out of breath than I was at this point. Getting on her was not nearly as much as a process as it was last time. When I mounted, I tried to give her a treat to let her know good job, but she wouldn't take it! Unheard of!! I guess when she has a rider she is all business. The evening feeders even took hay out the door for Notch and Clutch and she watched them, but did not spook. 

I am noticing differences in Shy these past few months. Kathy stated today that she has come a long, long way. Kathy said that Shy is fantastic for her when she lets her out in the arena and will let her come up to her to take her back to her stall. She is not head shy anymore. In her stall, she used to turn away and position herself in the corner if I went in. Now, she might take a step like she is going to turn away, but then she changes her mind and will come to me. Little improvements, but they mean big things!

More food!!!