Ooooh baby girl is gonna be the whole package!! She's just enough spice, all the talent and athleticism, smart, brave, and fun!
She's getting a little chonky though. Ha! So today I decided since I had time... let's ride! I put the Peter Horrobin on her and I think she likes it. We started off on foot heading up to the arena and she got "that look" in her eye and I thought she was actually going to reach over and chomp me! I gave her my best "mom glare" and told her that I had eyes in the back of my head and she better watch herself. She made a move and I ended up slapping her because she just felt like she was getting ready to escalate BIG. After that.. she was like "okay, it's cool.. I'm good" and we walked politely to the arena. We did our pillar walk to the far end and our pillar 3 sideways steps and then I asked her to step up to the mounting block. I got on and we headed out. We spent a lot of time walking as she was frisky. She was also a bit inverted so I tried to just get her to relax and lift her back and drop her head a little and breathe. We worked on turns. We did that for a good 10 or 15 minutes. And she was a bit sassy. She tried to scoot a time or two. I told her that she needed to use that brilliant brain of hers for good and she needed to work with me. Because, I was the one who would allow her to do fun things. I told her that she couldn't get to these cool places without me.. and most of the time they required that she be ridden... and therefore, she needs to just work with me instead of fighting me and we would do all the fun things... chase cows... parades.. jump big jumps... strut in the dressage arena... more trail rides. And I swear.. she heard me. And decided I was right. The walk got much better as did steering. We picked up the trot and we had a few rough circles. She got quick. Hee hee. We even cantered a few strides and I allowed it before I shut it down. But it wasn't a straight canter, so.. I didn't want it to escalate into chaos. But I reminded her what I had said and she started to settle and then.... holy cow she gave me this most lovely soft swinging trot!! A BIG GIRL trot! Like... an even and soft contact in the bridle with a softly dropped neck and head and a lifted back and swinging stride! It was glorious. And it was almost a full circle. Yeah girl!!!!!! I was even able to give the inside rein and she kept it. So I walked her and praised her and then we tried it the other way. It took a minute but we got it that way too. SUPER!!! We did one more circle each way and then I called it quits. What a lovely girl you are!
After I told her how great she was I told her that we were gonna be brave and hack home and maybe hack to the lake. She was not as good as her brother at the gate but maybe not quite as bad as her sister at the second attempt and we managed to get through the gate and get it shut again without getting off or too much drama. Then we headed down the driveway. She was chill and calm and all was well. Then she saw the reindeer Jean had put up at the end of the driveway. She started to get upset but just went to the side and tried to squirt past them. That's okay... she was still pretty hill about it. Except once she got past the gate she got more scared and started to try to bolt but she was half turned so she ended up flying sideways and then backwards rapidly. At the walk still but a power walk! Easy girl, easy!! I managed to get her stopped and facing it and she was snorting but took a breath. So I got off... and then before I could really even get ahead of her she marched right up to them and snorted at them and then stuck her face on them. Okay... I mean, I was gonna touch them for you first, but get on with your brave self! Then she was fine. But since I was already off and it was getting cold, we just headed back to the trailer and untacked.
