Oh, I hope to say so!
This girl has some serious athletic ability. Didn't take as long to get the halter on this afternoon as it did yesterday. Went relatively smooth, considering she'd rather I not touch her face. Biggest challenge, as always, is handling her near her poll. But we've gotten that figured out and are trying to lessen the stress of it all each day. Tying the knot on the side is another challenge since she can see my hands both there alongside her eye, but she's figured out that I'm not leaving until it's finished.
Because she let me get the halter on quickly, and because she did some light lateral flexation and picked up her front feet so readily (back ones, too, with the rope aid), I decided to bring out my handy little rake again. This is the first time I've had it out in over a week due to the snow and ice. It wasn't just the rake, however, as I decided to tie a plastic bag to it this time.
At first, it was nothing more than it'd ever been. Oh, sure, a bit frightening, but the rake bounced on her hip as she trotted a couple of almost frantic circles, then when she stopped it stopped too, and a moment later I began to scratch her with it. Normally the scratching is accepted, but this time the scratching wiggled that bag, so off we went again, only not so worried this time. We got to the point of it being okay to scratch the hip, down the dock of her tail, and back up to her lower back area. But once we reached the withers it was a few more laps.
Now, mind you, while working on her feet and flexing, I'd stood with my side pressed right up against her and my arm over her back scratching the opposite side of her body. This is something Sunny had the hardest time accepting. Firecracker, however, is a mirror of Sunny in terms of what is and isn't acceptable. Sunny liked having her ears and poll scratched, FC does not. Sunny didn't mind the rake with a flag all over her body. Firecracker, however, turned into a PRCA bareback contender once she realized that bit of white plastic had crossed the centerline.
Man, oh, man...that girl is quick! We've got a lot of work ahead of us if we're going to get that saddle on her back this spring...let alone me, lol!
This girl has some serious athletic ability. Didn't take as long to get the halter on this afternoon as it did yesterday. Went relatively smooth, considering she'd rather I not touch her face. Biggest challenge, as always, is handling her near her poll. But we've gotten that figured out and are trying to lessen the stress of it all each day. Tying the knot on the side is another challenge since she can see my hands both there alongside her eye, but she's figured out that I'm not leaving until it's finished.
Because she let me get the halter on quickly, and because she did some light lateral flexation and picked up her front feet so readily (back ones, too, with the rope aid), I decided to bring out my handy little rake again. This is the first time I've had it out in over a week due to the snow and ice. It wasn't just the rake, however, as I decided to tie a plastic bag to it this time.
At first, it was nothing more than it'd ever been. Oh, sure, a bit frightening, but the rake bounced on her hip as she trotted a couple of almost frantic circles, then when she stopped it stopped too, and a moment later I began to scratch her with it. Normally the scratching is accepted, but this time the scratching wiggled that bag, so off we went again, only not so worried this time. We got to the point of it being okay to scratch the hip, down the dock of her tail, and back up to her lower back area. But once we reached the withers it was a few more laps.
Now, mind you, while working on her feet and flexing, I'd stood with my side pressed right up against her and my arm over her back scratching the opposite side of her body. This is something Sunny had the hardest time accepting. Firecracker, however, is a mirror of Sunny in terms of what is and isn't acceptable. Sunny liked having her ears and poll scratched, FC does not. Sunny didn't mind the rake with a flag all over her body. Firecracker, however, turned into a PRCA bareback contender once she realized that bit of white plastic had crossed the centerline.
Man, oh, man...that girl is quick! We've got a lot of work ahead of us if we're going to get that saddle on her back this spring...let alone me, lol!
3 comments:
They're all different, that's for sure. You just never know what's going to happen for sure.
I hate to say it but there's another pesky virus around. This one however is horse related so thought you might not mind too much that I tagged you with it. Check out my blog for details.
Not fun to watch those bucking demos they give us:-)....Hard to get rid of the images!!
I've tagged you for a bucket list - see my blog.. Thanks.
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