Still Working

Betty and I continue to work with Sugar and Morgunn. We couldn't work with them on Monday because of our commitment to Galloping Grace Youth Ranch.

On Tuesday, we were a little tight on time, so we just did our flexing ground work and a little side-rein lungeing.

Today, after the basic ground work, we saddled up and worked on several different exercises - go, stop, back up. We also are working on turns on the forehand and turns on the haunches.

We both noticed both horses seemed a little rusty since we haven't ridden them since last Friday, but they both came around pretty quickly. Betty made some good progress with Morgunn on his stop and back up.

We're working real hard on keeping our hands soft and not pulling on their mouths. The principle we're trying to follow is give the cue(s) as correctly as possible and don't worry about the horse's response. He/she will have to find the correct response over time. We're trying not to force the moves, but let the horse respond to the cue(s). If we get even a small try, we'll celebrate that.

This approach we're using requires a lot of repetition and patience, but we're seeing progress with both horses - and with ourselves.