HALLELUJAH!!

Yea, thats right! Those two pictures above taken with my cell phone before 7 pm this evening are proof I did not have to chase my horse tonight! She was in the furthest corner of the pasture, which she did make me walk most of the way to her, but she still closed the gap between us ON HER OWN. I didn't even have any treats with me. I am so ecstatic. I almost peed my pants a little. Ok maybe not, but I'm pregnant, so that can happen over anything.





She did get her very last spring vaccine today which was actually very entertaining. We did the intra-nasal strangles which many horses do not appreciate. I did get to watch a performance from one particular horse tonight at my barn that definitely does not enjoy having her nose violated by a long, skinny tube that shoves fluid up towards her brain. Poor Sunny (aka Squealer or Squeaky Pants as I call her) is a previously abused, high spirited Pintabian. She trusts as little as possible and did not like the idea of being held by one person and approached by another weilding the nostril invading syringe. She put up a pretty good fight and managed to drag Kristy (Barn Owner) and Rebecca (Sunny's Owner) around half of the arena, head butting them a few times as well. Meanwhile, Summer was tied on the other side casually napping, unknowingly awaiting her turn. I don't think I ever saw her flick even an ear in their direction.





Once Sunny was finished and put away we untied Summer and led her towards the middle of the arena. We rubbed her nose for a few seconds to desensitize her and I slid my hand just above her nose to help keep her still and Rebecca moved in for the kill....er I mean injection. Summer struggled a bit and at the end it looked like the tube part had come off the syringe making the whole mission a fail. Rebecca and I both stepped back and noticed that all of the vaccine was gone from the syringe. At the same time Summer stretched her neck out and lifted her lips away from her teeth and made the most hilarious face I've ever seen. She then managed to sneeze all over poor Rebecca who was still standing in front of her. We were both laughing hysterically at this point. Poor Summer.

All in all it was a good night. I rode Summer for about 45 minutes. We worked some more on having her move off my leg, neck reining, and backing. She's starting to get much better at the first 2 but the 3rd is an ongoing issue. She is still a bit hardmouthed and doesn't give to the bit as well as she should so her backing is pretty resistent. Instead of freeing up her shoulders and tucking her head when asked to back she will lean into the bit and slowly drag backwards. Tonight I saved the backing for last so that when she backed twice while giving to the bit and freeing up her shoulders I could jump off and loosen her cinch as her reward. Summer always seems to remember training sessions beter if I'm quick to reward her with a job well done. It helps us end on a high note as well. She definitely made me work tonight too. Her body control wasn't very good so I spent alot of time holding her together with my legs tonight so I'm a bit sore since I haven't actually ridden like this in a few weeks to a month. I realized though that I've been getting lazy lately when I ride and its my fault for not using my legs as much that she's having a hard time keeping it together. It'll also help my impending labor a little easier if I work with my legs more and get the muscles in better shape so that will be my new personal goal when I ride.

Off to bed now, need to feed in the morning for Kristy since they are off to a QH show this weekend. Hopefully all of you ( I think I have 3 or 4 readers now!) have a great weekend. I'm getting a new mattress and bed frame and paint for the baby's room!