Night Work is Great!

60 minutes - 0.70 miles - Rhulain

Cleaned out Morgie's wound and then spent some time grooming her so she wouldn't feel neglected.  Spring definitely is here ... tons of hair!

Then it was time for ground work.  I set up a keyhole with cones and walked her through it a couple of times.  She seemed wholly unimpressed with the orange cones and tried to eat them, then kick them, then ignored them.  That's my Rhu!

We saddled up and did some gorgeous circles amid a myriad of distractions ... Namely, "A."  He was great at getting the carrots and feeding them to Rhu ...once she showed him where they were located.  Once the carrots were consumed A asked if he could ride Rhu.  I relented and gave him a quick ride. Rhu made it clear that she was done though ... it was dinner time ... so I untacked and she received a quick massage before putting her back in the turn out.

So happy with our progress!

Dreamy. Simply Dreamy.

65 minutes - 1.34 miles - Rhulain

Cleaned Morgan's eye wound and the applied the medicine.  I was only able to take a blurry picture because she didn't want to hold still ... she wanted to eat and I was bugging her, obviously.

Rhulain and I went for a half mile walk to check where her brain was.  She was right there with me, which was fabulous.

We headed back to the yard and did some ground work and trailer loading in the fading light.  She was solidly locked on.  I saddled her up and we rode around the yard in the pitch black dark.

 

We nailed our circles and transitions ... it was almost magical.  She and I were teaching and listening to each other. I made note of what cue worked and when, then repeated it twice to ensure I got the same response ... then used it on the other side.  YES!  

We got beautiful, even circles on both sides and lovely downward transitions by melding the way she was trained and the way I ride. 
We came to a dead stop by me thinking it, then breathing out loudly, and sitting deeply.

*dreamy sigh*

Love.This.Horse.

Eye Injury & Night Work

61 minutes - 0.42 miles - Morgie & Rhulain

There's sunshine when I get home now ... only 15-20 minutes left, but just enough time to spend it with Morgan!  I grabbed a halter and ran outside, only to find Morgie had a cut above her left eye.  I removed her from the turn out and cleaned her forehead so I could get a better look.  Looks like a small gash that stops right before her eyelid.  WHEW!  

Cleaned off the dried blood and debris ... it must have been tender because she kept lifting her head away.  I put her in the large stall and will check it in the morning.  Wish I knew what happened, but I feel absolutely fortunate it didn't need stitches or injure her eye.

The sun had dropped below the mountains while I worked on Morgie's injury, so riding was out of the question.  I haltered Rhu and we did some ground work.  Then we worked on trailer loading for a while.  She wouldn't step in until there was some pressure on her face ... but then, the trailer was very dark.  Once I opened the "escape hatch" she stepped right in and stood still until I asked her to back out.  I was impressed with her effort.

Decided to do some trust building, so I saddled her up next to the trailer.  By now it was fully dark, Ryver kept running around her hind legs, and our foster boy was stomping around the yard in his shoes that light up.  Rhu looked worried.  

I tossed on the treeless and the bitless, while giving her lots of rubs and praise.  Two trips down the driveway, then circles on each side, and back to the step stool.  

I dismounted, rubbed her and stepped back in the saddle, flexed her neck to both sides, sat for a bit, then repeated the process three times.  I just wanted to sit in the saddle and breathe with her, no pressure, no work, nothing but being right there in the moment, together.