like a charm

I had sent Shyloh back to basics last week to get this whoa and stand down. For me, it needs to be perfect (or as close to perfect as can be) before I brave the cart. We spent the week line driving and just working on cues. 

Someone put these tires up and we used them as cones, weaving back and forth. Shy can turn a sharp corner. Her steering is not the issue, but it is fun to give her other stuff to do than walk aimlessly through the property. 

We had snow earlier in the week

The whoas are good. That is not the issue. It is the stand. The stand. . . After one particularly frustrating session of Shy absolutely refusing to stand still past one second, I was ready to give up, throw a fit, cry, or do something drastic. It was blow through the bit, side step left, side step right, pull forward, anything but stand still. All this from the horse whose favorite thing is to stand still!

Sometimes it is the simplest thing, the most obvious thing, that when you feel overwhelmed and in over your head that you just need someone to tell you to do. And Becky from the Ohio driving shows, owner of three Haflingers, two who are mares, was just the person to give it to me straight. 

First, I got the reminder that Shy is a mare. Yes. . .the "m" word. Which pretty much means that at every step of the way, every opportunity afforded, Shy is going to test me. I just have to come to terms with that and be prepared for it. Even though I know all about the sassyness of mares, I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Sass. . .never. . .

Second, use the whip! Always use the whip! The driving whip is used to act as legs. Well. . .since my whip got torn up by some unknown rowdy horses, I had no whip. The plan was to use my lunge whip and tie up the excess until I get a new driving whip. But, another boarder had found a driving whip that had been abandoned all winter in our tack room. I'll borrow that for now. 

whip it. . .whip it good

Whip in hand, I headed out with Shy. . . and ooh did we fight! Shy started her pulling forward then side to side movement. I tapped her on the side to straighten her out and Shy wanted to go forward. We dealt with a little bit of whip miscommunication before Shy realized that touch of the whip did not mean shoot forward. After we got that down, my pony was perfect! 

I could tell her whoa, then stop and talk to people without constantly pulling on my horse. It was wonderful! It was everything I hoped it would be. A whip will be my constant companion when we work. Shy got a ton of hugs, a carrot or two, then a quick shave of a heart on her butt. 

Shy loves this heart

whip it

After a too short vacation to Frankenmuth, Michigan, my husband and I returned home and back to the normal grind.

My first order of business, the barn! I checked my locker and found that the sticky mouse traps did not work. The mice clearly walked over the sticky traps, and pooped on them to spite me.  And even though the peppermint seemed to work at first, my mice like peppermint because they have been eating the  candy canes I bought for Shyloh. Now they have begin to eat my saddle pad. Ugh! I immediatly took all fabric type things to my car. Guess I'll have to keep some tack in my car and resort to deadlier methods to take care of the mice.

Fuzzy troll forelock

I got my fuzzy pony, loved on her a bit, then tacked her up. It was my intention to prep Shyloh for a special sledding guest tomorrow. So I took Shy to the outdoor arena and lead her around with the sled for a quick minute. Shy was normal and normal is good. No starts, nothing. I got behind her and started line driving her. She just chugged along. Then. . . I kicked the sled. I got  quick legs, but no forward motion (that crazy thing she does where she moves quick, but never pulls on the lines).  But another quick recovery. I kicked the sled again. No response. Kick, no response. I kept kicking at the sled throughout our session. Sometimes it even ran up on her and she was completely fine with it. I am so happy how Shy is doing!

Heading out the gate

Being awesome horse

I let Shy kinda decide where she wanted to go and she took us right out the arena! Funny, she didn't want to do boring circles. We walked around the property. . .then had another fight at the gate.

What happens when we fight

I made her go around another way and continued to line drive her around a little longer, then I sent her back to basics. I unhooked the sled and grabbed my lunge whip. We were going to walk past the gate to the pasture with no problem or we would continue walking past it all night.

Ain't no thang

Stinking Shy knew I had that whip and gave me no problem walking back and forth. Ugh! Good think I ordered a driving whip. . .it clearly works when needed! I still had her walk past the gate a few times before we ended our session.

I did find the whip worked really well to keep her going and send her in a trot. Just a tap on the rear and it seemed to bring her attention back to me when she got distracted. And Shy seemed to not want to give me as much trouble. Now I am kicking myself for not listening earlier. . .

Right now, I am glad we don't have a saddle. If we had it, I would be trying to work back and forth between attempting to ride and line driving. But without the saddle, we have been real consistent working on the driving and I think it has really paid off. Shy has been amazing and we have been having a lot of fun doing this. Cart. . ..here we come!