Days 14-16

The past few days in Sophie's life have been pretty eventful and we are continuing our steady progress...here's some pics from today--

So it has rained like crazy the past few days...so I figured what the heck! Let's get her to go through some puddles!

I love working the horses through water. It really engages their brain, desensitizes them and gets them trusting my leadership role.

More practice picking up the feet...today we were able to clean them as well as hold it and tap the hoof like a farrier would.

Can't forget the fronts! We also did the other side..whatever you do to one side you have to do to the other!

As you could probably tell from the pictures, we got quite a bit of rain the last couple of days. In fact, yesterday it didn't stop at all! Sophie got a day off because it just poured and I figured she deserved a day off anyways. So today we went right back at it- utilizing all of the puddles I got her to use the thinking side of her brain and then did some more desensitizing. Today I also took an empty feed bag and started desensitizing her to that. Whenever I could, I stopped and rubbed her all over and then practiced picking up her feet some more.

And because I introduced her to tying a few days ago, I am making it a habit to always finish the lesson by tying her up and letting her just sit there and think about everything that was just done with her. I love tying...it really starts to teach the horse patience and that it is easier to just sit there and take a nap than it is to cause a fuss or react. A lot of people's horses don't tie very well because just like anything..it takes practice. I want my horses to stand there like that is the best part of their day...where it's just a nice place to relax. The only way to get there though is to do it everyday...I kid you not, one to four hours at a time. (or more!). This will especially come in handy later when I start riding her. How? Because it makes it so that when you are done riding her she really has no place to go, so she just may as well take a nap and wait on me. I hate it when a horse gets in such a hurry to get home and get put away that he develops bad barn sour habits or other disrespectful issues. I love it when they are relaxed and just waiting on me. Tying really helps.