New Year!

January 6: New Year, great horse

I haven't updated this in a bit. Mayfly was left to sit for a few weeks while I went back east on a few vacations. Sitting must have done her a lot of good. I no longer have a worried baby, I have a friendly, ready to work mare.

Yesterday I got her out for her first ride since I came back. She now ties easily and saddles easily. I didn't do much ground work yesterday, but mounted and dismounted a few times, then asked her to walk off. She walked off relaxed with her head nice and low. She is picking up neck reining pretty quickly. She turns easier to the right than to the left, but she is coming along in both directions. She wants to please and listens to rather quiet cues. She walked off easier and stayed at a nicer walk the whole time. I ended it at that.

Today I got Mayfly out again. When I grabbed her from the pasture she was laying down and I slipped the halter on her while she was down. That was a great change for me to see in her trust of me. From day one when it took me 15 minutes to catch her in a small pen to today, when I walked up to her laying down in a pasture with 55 horses and she was happy and relaxed to see me!

Today she got to be a big horse, no more special hitch rail for her. She is tied up with whomever else I am working. She was happy that today she was being worked with one of her best friends. Stood tied well for grooming and saddling with trucks driving past and dogs and cats underfoot. I flagged her a bit on the ground before mounting up and she was a rockstar. I swung up on her, worked on turning, stopping, and speeding up/slowing down the walk. She was again relaxed and happy, so I dismounted... and mounted back up with the flag. She swiveled her ears around a bit as a flagged her from her back, but wasn't upset in the least. She did great at a halt and walk with the flag, so I threw it off of her into the snow in the roundpen... and we kept working. She didn't spook at the flag in the snow at all. I asked her to speed up her walk in the better footing, then slow down in the tough snow, then repeat over and over until she was perfectly relaxed. Then we pushed the walk into a few steps of trot, then back to a walk. She was a bit worried about trotting with me, but only showed it by wanting to stop after trotting.

We ended on a super successful point. She was amazing today! She again stood well being tied. I took her in the barn after she got a snack so I could stick her... and I found out my little mare is 15.2ish hands! So much for a little mare!