Miss Poco 349- a day-by-play

Miss poco 349-
Day 1- May 26, 2014
Getting a saddle on her.
I started with the blanket, and within 5 minutes she was ready for it to be on her back. I only had intentions of blanketing, but she was so receptive to it that I went ahead and put a saddle on her. In fact, she was so gentle we thought that she may actually be broke after all, and that there was a mistake in the sale catalog! To test that in one manner, we put a snaffle bit in her mouth to see if she knew what to do. It was new to her, but she only chewed on it for about 10 minutes and then settled down to her happy place, holding it still in her mouth, head down. I saddled her again that night and picked her feet up. She was quick to respond to pressure.

Day two - figuring out what she knows
I saddled and flapped the stirrups around. She was a little spooky. At one point while she was tied she got a stirrup caught on the fence and did a little hop.
She obviously is not broke- she snorts at every little thing, gets the white-eyed look at the blanket, steps away from the saddle in fear, and doesn't open her mouth for the bit.
However, it won't be hard to get her that way if I take it easy.
I got the stick out and did a little poking and prodding on her shoulders, neck, and hips to see if she knew to step away from me. She didn't know it, but she picked it up faster than any horse I've ever worked with.

Day 4- Sneaking the Fly Spray
It's horsefly season, and horse spray is a necessity to keep these poor horses sane during this time of year. The mare wasn't crazy about the spraying yesterday. Today, on top of saddling and letting her hold the bit in her mouth, I brushed her while holding the fly spray in the other hand. I would brush and brush, and then when she wasn't looking, nonchalantly spray the fly spray, and when she would look to see what was going on, keep brushing. I'm not a fan of sneaking things onto my horse, but I see no reason for a big battle about this. She noticed it after I had sprayed a few times and stepped away from me. She'll get better at this within a few days.

Day 5- The Day Off

Day 6- progress on the feet, direction changes while lunging, and being ground tied, flexing laterally.
Today I saddled her up and instead of gently placing the saddle on there, I slung it up onto her back. She only startled a little and then settled right back down.
We lunged at the walk because the ground is wet. She did her direction changes a little rough, but improved with work. By the end of the session it wasn't pretty, but she was at least understanding correctly what I was looking for in the direction changes and doing it willingly.
WILLING would be a really great word to add to this horse's description.
She held up all four feet well enough to pick the mud out of all four of them for the first time.
Ground tying is one of the LASH association's trail obstacles, so we began that today. I led for a while, then deliberately chunked the long lead rope onto the ground in a pile in front of the mare. Then, I took small steps backward while facing her, and if she moved as much as one foot, I would correct her and put that foot back in place. At first she wanted to follow me, and I would back her. Then, she began just moving one foot forward, and seemed to even make moving that one foot a game- she would move it forward, and I would move it back. Then, as I was stepping away, she would move it forward again. She did this a few times, and had it not been a training session I would've been entertained. After three tries and a little more firmness on my part she got the hang of it and obeyed 100 percent, holding completely still as I walked 4 steps away. We'll add more distance later.

Today I was rattling a feed sack over her stall to get her used to loud noises, and when she got startled, she got down LOW and cut a 90 degree angle away from me. It was absolutely beautiful.

This mare literally picks up things after no more than four times of doing it, and lateral flexing for the first time today was no exception to that. It's so easy that it's almost boring to talk about.

I'm still toiling over finding the right name for this smart, willing, gentle, snorty gal...