Three white mules on the track as I went down to the horses this morning. They normally live at Bramshaw but enjoy an annual excursion to Fritham. I don't need to add to my collection so I don't look at their feet!
Henrietta was paying close attention to Theoden's feet. If only she could learn from watching someone else having things done. I am sure they can learn demeanour but not necessarily the task itself.
Another visit to Inara today who wasn't altogether certain that she wanted to do any work, or at least leave her herd, especially as there has been a new arrival in her field. This is the first change in the herd since her own arrival seven years ago.
With all of the horses paying close attention outside the round pen she didn't want to go around in circles away from them...
...and protested pretty strongly.
However, with some clear body language and some flappy long reins, I got her going forward and rewarded her for going past the others smoothly by stopping what we were doing.
However, that mean I had done enough to ensure that she would also keep moving under saddle. We used targets, people and objects, to give Karen something to focus on and that helped to give them both a sense of purpose. She was soon riding left, right and straight on past the different targets.
We finished with a little ride along the lane for the very first time.
"Great, thanks Sarah. Some really interesting pics there, I do like how they show the progression from her initial resistance to calmly being ridden. I was actually very happy with yesterday's session, as Inara finally showed you my reasons for contacting you in July (!). I have a better understanding now of why she sometimes acts up like this, and I feel that I know how to react safely if it does happen in the future. So, good progress - thank you!" KT
