Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Bushwacking

Yesterday I only had a little time to be at the barn. Felt I needed to spend the time cleaning the paddock, so with fork and wheel barrel I entered. Cici and Casey came right over to me. Nuzzles and treat begging. I scratched favorite places and then went off to pick up poop. Well they followed me. Stopped and waited for me to finish one place before the three of us walked over to the next pile! Very calm and quiet. A bit difficult sometimes to handle the muck rake LOL. Both took turns at chewing on the handles of the wheelbarrel. And Cici stood right next to it and then lifted her front foot up and over the handle! And back. Felt like the wheelbarrel and I were amusement for the day.

Today played with transitions on the circle. She kept offering canter, even though I was not asking, so had a great reason to ask for trot. And then to ask for walk. Then back up to trot and walk and trot and canter. I had worried that I would not be able to keep her on the circle. But that wasn't a problem. And all the transitions caused her to focus more and more on me. Whoohooo!!!

After our play session went out for a trail ride with M. Wanted to check out some old trails we have not been able to access for a couple of years. Bushwacking! Amazing how quickly the woods fill in. We walked through dense underbrush, over downed trees (okay that is old hat), squeezed between trees, ducked under branches, clambered over rocks.

Cici was a champ (or to borrow from Kim - a rock star!!) through all of this. At one point we were waiting for M to clear some branches and Cici's left front foot slowly sank into the ground. She stood quietly as her foot sunk - it felt like a flat tire - and then quietly walked forward.

For me to be doing all this on a loose rein shows me how far we have come. Amazing. Awesome.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great post Jamie about your awesome day.
-->Cici the R*O*C*K*S*T*A*R!<--