Milestones

I rode Coregel outside for the first time today.

I have been hesitant to do so considering what a nut she is when in her paddock; anything changes such as a new blanket on a horse, or a horse leaving and she looses it. She has also proven herself to be insane if I try to put her in the outdoor to do the edging while I put jumps up, and she just runs and whinnies. She is the only horse I know that will not settle down even long enough to take a bite of lush green grass.

Today was just too nice to ride inside, so I decided to give it a try. first I did some basic ground work such as having her halt politely beside me without me having to pull, and then some flexions with her jaw to make sure she would give to the bit, and then I got on. We walked for a long time. Spooked a bit when the wind picked up, but nothing major. So we trotted. She was fine. A little looky, but nothing frightful.

I will admit though, that we avoided the issue of the pylon hanging from the chain at the far end. That was spooky and I opted to avoid the issue.

It feels good to have that out of the way; I had been worried for a while about how she would be in the larger space, with loose horses in her line of sight, and her friends sometimes visible...but the odd thing about this horse is that she is consistently better with me on her than off. If i had waited for her to be sane on the ground, I would still not be riding her...so perhaps her injury was a blessing in disguise; it forced me to train her under saddle without longing.

Karen