Focusing on Details

I let the horses out to muzzle around and try and eat a little of the uncovered grass now taht the snow is beginning to disperse. Cocoa was being so adorable and would stop eating and walk right over to me whenever I came back to check on them from the barn. I brought Cocoa over to the stump and she got all fours up without my even asking. So I let her go back to eating.. :)

I grabbed Dixers and Zone 5 drove her over to the tree stump and just waited. She eventually started snuffling it and then licking it and then pawed it and then finally stepped up on it. "Nose, neck, Maybe the Feet!" So she got both two front feet up there and then for the next ten minutes of getting off and on it we focused on getting her front feet in just the right spot so she could attempt to squish all fours up there. She understands the dynamics now we just have to get the physical side and balance to get all four up there for awhile! At first when I was asking for the back feet to move up she would pivot and then she would paw with the front legs and then eventually end up falling off the pedestal. But then it just clicked and she moved the back legs closer and got all 3 up there and tried to get the 4th but....missed the stump. SO CLOSE! We called it quits after that...it will go even faster next time and I have a feeling she'll get all four up soon! I then had her play in the yard and the deep snow in the ditch. I had her do the circling game and then stopped her in the snow. Where she pawed and pawed and pawed then Rolled!! She rolled and rolled....she must have went back and forth atleast 5 times..and it was easy for her because she was in the ditch. At one point she was trying to get over and all four feet were sticking straight up. It was hilarious. She can be so comical.

So..finally my dirty horse was beginning to look clean. After that she was trotting around and attempted to do a sassy jump move and slipped....and down she went on the grass and in the mud. She hopped right back up...but not before her side was all full of dirt. Shucks. She continued being playful and sassy after that. I love my little snot, I love the little attitude she has going on..she just makes me laugh. And isn't that what this is all about? Having fun!

I took the girls for a walk down to Michelle's to visit the horses. They stared but my girls didn't nicker. Apparently they were feeling anti-social. Hmm...

We continued on and ran into the neighbors dogs who followed us then on the way back we had a little fun chasing them. Dixie was intrigued, that's for sure. Cocoa was being such a sweetheart. I let her rub all over me since she insisted she was itchy and she got lots of kisses. She's been so calm and sweet lately. I wish she was all back to normal..something is still up. I'm scheduling an appointment with the vet to get her tested for a urinary tract infection soon.

When we got back there was a wee bit of daylight left so I gave Cocoa a flake of oat hay and put her in the pasture and grabbed my little one and headed to the backyard. Well....Dixie and I go running down to the backyard and a couple seconds later I hear footsteps and lookie there...comes Cocoa running after us. I had went in the barn with Dixie and gave her some treats and had forgotten to close the pasture gate...Cocoa noticed. So she was out..but I really didn't care so I just let her stay out and eat some grass while Dixie and I played. Well a couple mins later after Cocoa taste tested the grass...apparently it wasn't up to standards and she ran back to the pasture to proceed eating her hay. What a goof!

Dixie and I did some circling with transitions. She was very entergetic. Then we did some change of direction which she got a big dominant about. She would come in quick and give me a snotty look when I directed her back out so I gave her a 'wipe that look off your face.' Then we did some traveling circling game. A lot of sideways towards (Man..it's getting ridiculous she is constantly offering this...all the time. She absolutely LOVES this.) Her new trick is to come sideways towards me and then I ask her to swing her butt over to line up with me and then we go into a back up. Did some of that and then worked on going sideways towards me from the other side which she has some troubles with. Her and Cocoa have both have trouble with that side. I need to make a point to focus on that side...and perfect it more..and not so much on the side they are good at. Maybe it's me?

Then we did some backing up. Which is some great exercise and a challenge for her in this deep snow. Then we worked on her rearing! I'm having so much fun with this task. She is starting to really put the two and two together and I want to make sure I stress when she should rear and when she should back up so she doesn't get them confused. She was giving me cute little rears on cue when I asked...little hops. It was great! I'm so proud of her.

We went into the roundpen for a bit. Did some sideways with the barrel, some pawing, and some jumping. Got her to jump it and stop..so she was staddling it again. YAH! I love it. I can't believe she caught onto that so quickly. Then I hopped up on the barrel and she immediately came sideways towards me to line up so I could mount. I just did some friendly and then we practiced doing a backing up circling game around me and the barrel. Slowly but surely its coming along. Finally we did some extreme friendly, cuddling, and some more work on yielding the front end. She's a little sticky with moving her shoulders over but is getting really light! I'm hoping to get her light enough and teach her how to spin pretty soon, then she'll be caught up with Cocoa! Oh and we did some bowing too!

It was a fun jam packed learning night!


Savvy Out,
Olivia, Cocoa, and Dixie