Work has kicked my butt this week and having Steve out of town hasn't helped. I'm not getting the horse time I need to give me peace so I feel doubly pushed to my limit. Kids are home all day for summer break and they need me more than usual as the only parent. Today, in spite of it all, I managed to find a quick 30 mins to play with Z. I took her straight to the round pen to see about cantering 10-20 laps. My plan was to ask her to canter until her head came below the top rail, however, she did that right away. So I changed the game to don't make me pick up my stick. She gave me 10-12 straight canter laps, twice in each direction. We practiced the down transition a bit as well. Then, I scratched her all over and just enjoyed her standing close for about 15 mins. That's her favorite thing with me. I noticed today that she very quickly swings her butt to me and I realize she really likes me petting and scratching her hind end. She stuck to me so well and I think our relationship is stronger and she's appreciating me as her leader more than previously.
Once I was sure she was happy to be in the round pen with me, we left and she got to be back with her herd. A quickie, but a goodie.
No comments:
Post a Comment