sweety pie shy gets to work

Shyloh was incredibly affectionate today. Being all snuggly is not her M.O., but I'll take it when she gives it out. I was grooming her and she  put her head on my shoulder and just held it there for a while. It was definitely an "awwww" moment. Especially since after I pet her head or rub her neck, she always shakes it off afterwards. 

I went out to the barn with a plan. I had been re-reading a book sent to me by Dreaming on training a horse to drive. I know Shy can drive, she (we) just need to get some confidence in ourselves. So, I thought to take a few steps back and really drill in her commands, mostly whoa and stand. We always have trouble with stand.

I tacked her up in the barn, it is getting cold outside! And Shy promptly tried to get into Clutch's food. 

Her head almost fits through. .  .

Which brings us to another problem. . .Shy's ever expanding girth. Seriously, I could not buckle her harness girth! I think Shy may have to live permanently with the minions because she clearly has not demonstrated that she can handle herself with the round bale. And, as if she does not have access to the round bale all day, when she comes inside, she tries to steal Isaac's food! Jaime even had to change out her buckets so she stops getting to Isaac's and dumping his. How she does this, we have no idea. 

No self control

Anyway, Shy got her harness on and we stopped for a quick photo shoot. . .

Go Blue!!

Then I took her to the round pen. I lunged her and worked on her commands. I was pleasantly surprised that Shy was spot on. My only issue was that her trot to whoa was more of a slow down shift to a stop than a quick stop. However, I think that may be okay because I don't want a sudden and jolty stop. And then we she did stop she turned into me and started to walk towards me. 

Ready to work!

While we were lunging, I was dragging the whip behind her, through the leaves on the ground. Shy was fine with that until she heard it coming up next to and in front of her. That made her stop. I clicked her on and she would walk until the sound came up next to her again. But hey, a stop is better than a bolt forward. Shy eventually got over this. 

See the hay baby?

Then I line drove her around the round pen. This is were we worked on stay. Shy was a rockstar with stay! We made this short and sweet since she was doing so well. Why is it that going back into work after time off, Shy is always so good? It is after she has been in work that she starts being a butthead. I think a couple more sessions of this then we can work on hooking the plastic sled again. Then maybe Shy can shed these extra pounds. . .

And another shout out to the Horze college jacket contest! Click here to enter now!