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| Melody and Zoe |
Zoe's first "ride" of the year was a couple weeks ago. I took her out with the intent of just saddling up and lunging to see where we were at. She was definitely "up" when I took her out! A little background, I had just taken Star out for middle daughter to ride and while she was riding, Zoe was FREAKING out in the pasture - running back and forth calling frantically for Star. Star didn't care AT ALL. Anyways, so middle daughter was in the back yard with Star letting her eat some grass when I went to get Zoe out. I brought her into the barn and she acted like she had no idea of where we were and didn't respect me or my space at all. That was unacceptable! I sent her in some circles with a long lead rope I had used to bring her out of the pasture. She was very reactive. I decided to tie her and go get the lunge line when she figured it was time to leave the barn. She flew backwards and almost ripped the pole right out of the ground! After that little episode I realized she needed some time at the "patience tree". I don't know if I wrote about Zoe's bad habit of pulling back while being tied but she's broke plenty of lead ropes and loosened up her fair share of my tying poles. Now I used a rope halter with an attached lead so there aren't any metal parts that she can break. We have GOT to get this tying issue under control!!!
When I tied her to the tree she got to pawing and calling for Star. Again, Star never responded. So at that point she started swinging herself around to try and get a better view of Star. I just sat and watched her. She continued this behavior for 15 - 20 minutes with a couple pulling battles mixed in there. Finally she relaxed and was standing nice so I took that opportunity get her saddled and ready to go. She had another mini pulling battle when the saddle went on so I asked hubby for his assistance. I got her all saddled and we lunged her, going through all of her commands. She seemed pretty confident so hubby and I decided to have him lunge her with me on her. It went great! She was still VERY responsive and seemed to be remembering where we left off. We had some great trot work in both directions so we called it a day.
She was happy to be reunited Star at the end of the work out but was more eager to eat than socialize!! Meanwhile, Melody was content to have the pasture to herself for once. Our work with her is just beginning- more on that later!
Until Next Time!!
Quote for the day:
"If you can dream it, you can do it."
-Walt Disney
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