This surprised me!

Look at the difference! That old, patchy stuff has been shedding out, and she's looking so sleek! It was quite by accident that I found these two pics and had them on the screen at the same time. A wonderful contrast, wouldn't you say?

Surprise, Surprise

Sunny gives me her right eye

Life is full of surprises. Surprise number one was a most pleasant surprise! Sunny has made great strides over the weekend. She's continued to allow me to move all around the left side of her body. She's not willing to give up the legs just yet, but an incredible leap of faith on her part was dropping her head down to my waist and allowing me to stand directly in front of her while massaging her poll, right ear, and down the right side of the crest of her neck. In fact, she enjoyed it so much that yesterday she turned to face me and physically reached out towards me! It still took a bit of coaxing to get her to relax, but she knew what she wanted.

The lariat swung over Sunny's withers

Amazingly, she didn't seem to mind the rope bumping her down on her leg. This will make saddling so much easier when we get to that step! And yes...we've had rain, which combined with Sunny's feet, made mud.

While I'm not allowed to approach too closely, I'm able to leave the lariat over the top of Sunny's head. She's not too terribly concerned with it passing back and forth over her eye and ears, and although she felt it was a rather silly headdress, she let me take this picture!

Surprise number two was less pleasant. I've left the saddle sitting out so that Quiet Storm could become accustomed to it being nearby. In fact, it'd been left for a week over the rail between their stalls, and QS didn't appear to care much one way or the other after that initial shock.

Yesterday I brought her out and thought I'd toss the blanket over her back while she was tied alongside the saddle. Should be a piece of cake, right? After all, we had that old flannel sheet all over her a month ago, and she'd had my heavy coat tossed on and off her back over and over without flinching.

Evidently saddle blankets are different. They are to be avoided at all costs. In fact, one should attempt to kill them.

I'm sorry I have no photos of the event. I couldn't hold onto a stomping mad two year old, the saddle blanket, and take pictures all at the same time. Hey, I'm good, but not that good!

Quiet Storm pinned her ears back and struck at the blanket while tied. I figured I'd untie her, walk along with the blanket in my hand and have her follow. I didn't really want to be in a tight place alongside the fence the way she was reacting. So out into the yard we walked, ears pinned back the entire time. I turned to face her, shook the blanket at my feet and out off to the side a bit.

And that's when she tried to kill it. Ears pinned back, she did a half rear and lunged at the blanket! I took a step back, gave a quick pop on the lead rope and continued moving the blanket (although admittedly a little less vigorously now.) Still, I wasn't planning on giving up. I continued to lead my mad tantrum thrower around while moving the dreaded saddle blanket, and she followed along, making her displeasure known.

This behavior is exactly what she'd offered up back in late June when I introduced the fly mask to her. She'd wanted to kill it! I left the fly mask hanging in her stall then, and I left the blanket hanging over the fence rail alongside her hay last night. I'm sure by this morning she'll have forgotten all about it. At least...that's what I'm hoping!

Dancing the Two Step

I'm not going to look at you. If I can't see you, you're not there!

I'm not really sure what got into Sunny this weekend, but she was certainly a challenge. It was if we were right back to where we were three months ago, with a wild eyed, snorting red head...and I don't mean me!

Trying to catch this girl has become a problem. She's recognized that corners, of which we have six, can be used to her advantage. And use them she does. She's also realized that I step away from her when her butt is turned towards me, and uses this to her advantage as well.

On top of the snorting and butt turning, while sitting in the 'grain chair' with her pan of gain in my lap, she actually pinned her ears back at me! This was something totally new, and completely unacceptable; she was attempting to take the dominant position from me. I was beginning to feel as though I was losing ground. So, while sitting had helped her build confidence, it was obvious that on this day I'd need to stand to show her I was still the dominant one in the relationship.

Aside from standing, I began bringing a long rope into the paddock with me. Instead of trying to get her to work off pressure to face me, I just kept her moving in circles. Normally, when I'd step out in front of her to get her to turn, she'd swing her butt to me. This time I made sure she knew first if that butt came my way, it'd get a slap with the rope. Now, when I stepped out in front to turn her, she'd swing her head towards me instead.

Me, 1; Sunny, 0.

After ten or so minutes of trotting and turning, Sunny was getting both tired and a bit more relaxed. Yesterday I had the lariat instead of the usual soft cotton rope. When Sunny finally decided to stop trotting, I worked my way to within five feet. She looked at me from the corner of her eye, ready to dash should I attempt to come closer. Instead of reaching for her, I used the stiffness of the lariat to my advantage and tossed it towards her hind end. Because I was standing towards the forequarters, she didn't feel comfortable jumping forward, and allowed the rope to bounce off from her without fleeing. I did this over and over, working from her withers to the dock of her tail, even letting it fall down behind her haunches and bounce off her back leg. She just stood there.

At that point, I was able to quietly move close enough to pick up the end of her lead rope. I switched it for the long cotton rope and led her out into the pasture. I didn't want to let her loose to run, but I did want to give her an opportunity to associate being led and handled with something good, and that goodness came in the form of green spring grass. She never tried to pull away, and she let me lead her back into the paddock after we'd been out there a while.

Once back in the paddock, I began brushing. As mentioned, Sunny has a love hate relationship with grooming. She's shedding and loves the feel, but she's not fond of the touch. But yesterday? Yesterday Sunny was in love! She let me work from her poll, down her neck and shoulder, the front of her chest, down her back to the dock of her tail, along her barrel and even a bit behind the elbow (that last part she wasn't sure about, though.) She even let me reach over her neck to the right side and brush under her mane! This is the first time she's allowed me to venture into so many areas without having a major fit, and to do it all in one day had me walking on air.

Of course, now that she's got me feeling so good, no doubt today we'll slide backwards again! That's okay, as long as we can work a few positives in to keep me encouraged now and then!