Saturday, February 10, 2007

Finally, no rain!



The paddock has been getting pretty well worked over by Sunny's long hooves this week. It's finally stopped raining, and no fog, either. The sun has come out and it's feeling rather warm out there, at least for February. It hasn't taken more than a couple of hours for the paddock to begin drying out. The back corner where she spends a lot of time standing is still relatively sloppy, but the front has pretty solid footing already. Now, if it would just last a few more days!


Sunny loves to roll. When she does this, however, her rope slings up over her back. Today she really enjoyed the sunshine and rolled completely over three times. This posed a bit of an issue when it came to unwrapping her! The rope went over her poll, wrapped around a second time halfway down her neck, and then a third time over her back and was somehow even between her front legs. She looked like a poorly wrapped Christmas package, and she wasn't in any hurry to be unwrapped! After a couple of minutes, though, I'd managed to get her to step in all the right directions and got the rope untagled.


My goal for the weekend is to get Sunny to allow me to lead her without hesitation through the barn. It should be to lead without hesitation anywhere, but I'm optimistic! We worked at it last night, and again today. Last night she would walk in from one side of the barn, but not the other. Today she would enter from either the left or right, but not as smoothly as I'd like. Still, we're getting there!


Yesterday I worked on grooming as well. She really enjoys the feel of the curry over my hand. I was able to work up to her face and along her jaw just a little, as well as around her eye. Then back down the neck and shoulder as I'd done before, but this time moving further and travelling all the way down to her knee, reaching over and brushing her elbow and making sure I managed to reach all the way back to her hip. That long has was just flying, and while it was obvious she wasn't 100% comfortable, she enjoyed it too much to resist.


Perhaps by next week I'll be able to cross over to the other side...
Almost immediately after Iwent inside, Sunny rolled and once again got her rope over the top of her poll. Please excuse the blurriness of these photos, but I'm holding the camera while Sunny is unwrapping herself (she's figured it all out!)

1 comment:

Ellen said...

rolling on the rope feels good on her back... a little like her own massage wheeld