It was probably the coldest so far and I still walked a mile to Terry's place. But then again, I've walked that mile in a blizzard too... Young and stupid? Granted I'm still young, but maybe I'm not quite that stupid anymore.
Lucky for me Terry has a heater in the trailer that I can turn on when I get there.
The fillies are doing well, but my toes are not. I'll explain a little later.
I ground drove all four of them... I'll tell you in story format just cause I think it'd be more entertaining.
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I reached for the green halter and black lead rope hanging on the nail and thought about which one of the fillies I was going to work with first. It's quite a dilemma ya know. I decided that I would work with Frosty and I told Terry that because she was doing so well in a halter I would just go ahead and try ground driving in a bit. I've taken to tying them up at the trailer and brushing them. Usually I just do whatever I plan to work on for that particular day without brushing. But I suppose it gives me the opportunity to fiddle with their feet. I had to shorten the bridle two holes to fit small little Frosty.
At first Terry led her while I drove so that if she didn't do what I asked I wouldn't have to get into a fight with her while she had a bridle on. But she was pretty good. She was chewing a lot on the bit which makes me think that maybe we should have each of them wear it for a day or so. She was bracing against the pressure of the bit too. So after a little while of her not quite figuring it out I did flexing. And now I know that the next horse I want to put the bridle on will learn to flex in the bridle. It is much easier if they realize that getting away from the pressure is the desired response. When I asked her to stop I pulled back on the reins and held them there until she came to a stop. And then I had her back up.
I let Frosty go and caught Toffy. I figured I should work with her on driving because we didn't last time. She was confident about going forward but as with Dash and Coffie her stops were terrible. She is the kind of horse that you can not man handle into doing anything. I figured that out today. With Dash and her stopping, when she didn't stop I could use all my weight to get her to stop. Not so with Toffy. She just got messed up. So with her it's all about letting her figure it out and giving her the opportunity to respond. After I had her not so confused once more her stops improved. Every time we stop I ask for a back up but with Coffie, Toffy, and Dash they kept backing up even after I say woah. So I was asking Toffy to back up and she did it quite well. After I said woah she stopped, but slowly stepped back. She stepped right onto my toes! I promptly pushed her forward. After that every time they kept backing up after I said woah I tapped them with the end of my rope a little bit.
Coffie and Dash's stops are improving. I asked them to trot and it was fun! They did it right away and Terry was watching me trot Dash and he said it looked really nice. They trot so nice and easy. I just love it!
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So, there's my day. And I can't wait till December seventh. There's a masquerade ball that two of my sisters, me, and a few friends are going to. We made masks out of tin foil and you may think that sounds awful but it's actually really nice. You can shape it to fit your face, cut it anyhow you want, and decorate it anyhow you want. And it's not ugly either. Aleythia made a simple mask, painted it white, found a white flower stuck it in the side, painted the surface with clear shiny nail polish and put silver beads along the edge of the mask. It looks really nice. There's more than just tin foil involved to make it, but it does work. I couldn't decide what dress to wear, but I think I'm going to wear my black one with my four inch heals. Fun hey? The four inch heals aren't as uncomfortable as they sound.
Aleythia's mask. It's not quite finished.
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