Ground Work, Petal Pattern

87 minutes - 0.75 miles - Rhulain (40 min ground, 20 min tack/untack, 27 min walk/ride)

 I was thinking about Rhulain's back legs issue and decided to go back to square one.  Started with touching her all over with the lead rope, a riding crop, and finally the flag.  She looked like she was praying the flag would go away, but then resignedly reached out and touched it. We worked all over until she stopped flinching when it touched her legs.

Picture from Jonathan Field Horsemanship
https://jonathanfieldhorsemanship.net/ 

 Then we took a break and spent extra time grooming before saddling.  We worked in the yard doing a "petal" pattern which focused on setting back on her haunches for a nice, tight 360 degree turn before going back out.  She did really well on the right turns, less well on the left turns, but she was balanced throughout.

Then she got to blow off steam by selecting the direction and pace in the far side of the yard.  I was completely passive and curious to see what she chose to do with the freedom.  She stopped and drank out of the dog's water a few times and seemed to have a good time.

We unsaddled and just stood for a few minutes.  When I lead her to the stall, she stopped outside the gate.  She didn't want to go in ... which to me meant she had a good time.  So did I Rhu!

Sweat and Tears - All the Joys of Horsemanship

30 minutes ground work
36 minutes - 1.15 miles - Rhulain
15 minutes - 0.41 miles - Morgan

 Since Rhu had an issue with the branch touching her leg last night, I decided to work with her legs today. I rolled a ball in her stall over and over until she seemed to accept that it wasn't going to eat her.  After 30 minutes she let me touch her all over with the ball and kick it right to her while she stood still.  She was drenched in sweat, but finally calm.

I let her rest for a bit before saddling her up. We rode around the yard, then out the gate to step over brush and trash, then back to the yard for a lap ... rinse and repeat the pattern. She got a good grooming since she was still drenched, lots of praise, but no snacks.

About an hour later, I saddled up Morgan for the kid and worked on releasing the "reins" when stopping.  We worked on sitting the trot, and he got a bit ahead of me ... then the doberman got excited and snapped at Morgie's butt ... she took off running.  

I caught up with them a minute later, and found him in the saddle crying.  I asked him why there were tears and he said he was afraid of falling.  I told him tears were allowed only after falling!  Then we talked about why she ran off, how well she took care of him, and praised him for staying in the saddle without grabbing on to the horn.  Not a bad lesson.