Success!!

After the terribleness that was her last trailer loading, Reina responded to the trailer with an "oh-HELL-no" look as soon as she saw what we were walking towards. Some clicks and treats later, and I had her loading halfway into the traler quietly and sniffing around. Finally, we got a bit of grain and willingly bribed her into it. Not the way I wanted it to go, mind you, but she was relatively relaxed the whole time and there was no drama whatsoever. The whole thing took maybe 15-20 minutes. Once Jeff gets his new trailer, I'm going to borrow it so that we can have trailer loading practice and bribes won't be necessary anymore.

Anyways! She rode really quiet and was a very good girl on the way to Jeff's barn. She backed out a little fast but was otherwise unphased; so I walked her to her new barn and into her new stall. She was up and wide-eyed but very obedient and responsive to me. I coaxed her into the barn with little to no issues, and then I walked her into her new stall and, much to my surprise, she walked right in and settled almost immediately. Good girl!

She got hay and got to look out her stall's back window and got fed grain as well. We turned her out with the other horses and they ran her a little bit, but settled in quite nicely without any mare drama to really speak of. She's already relaxing quite well and I'm loving the barn and its owner/manager! It's so nice and I have a really good feeling about this place. I feel spoiled already!

We have our own bridle hook in the tack room and a spot against the wall for my stuff as well as a saddle rack. Reina has the stall right next to the tack room (score!!) for when there's bad weather or during feeding time. Jeff's already working on setting up her feed schedule so that she'll put more weight on, and I simply can't wait!

Jeff and I walked to the back paddock with Reina and the other horses to watch and make sure they were getting along with one another nicely. Reina, my alpha mare, shockingly didn't put up much of a fight and was rather passive! It worked out fine, though, because the other horses seemed to accept her pretty readily. Perhaps she was just out of sorts and feeling less sassy than usual because she's in a new place and everything. The good news is that her trotting around gave Jeff a chance to see her move, and he commented (all on his own; I didn't ask!) that she was a pretty mover. Yay!! And on top of that, she was awfully adorable, loving on me and whuffling at me when she got nervous throughout the ordeal. I'm so glad she can look to me for emotional support!!

Rei had gone out to eat grass and was pretty far away while Jeff and I were talking. Suddenly, she turns and starts walking towards us, ears pricked, head low. I was like, hmm, what's she doing? There's no grass over here! She walked right up to me and off to the side a little bit, and stood there quietly until I came up and petted her shoulder. She turned her head around to look at me like "hi, Mom! Whatcha doin'? Will you stay with me just in case?" and she dropped her head in my hands and I rubbed on her for a few minutes. She's such a big baby!

She left after while, though, to go graze again and inch closer to her new herd. Jeff and I left them and I went to go home.

Did I mention that I have a great feeling about this place??

Here's to Hoping!

Yesterday I spent a bit more time with Reina doing targeting work. She caught on fast - as usual - and soon, I had her following my lunge whip in circles around me (to both sides) and walking with her following it with her nose. It was adorable.

This is all in preparation of trailer loading day... which just happens to be tomorrow! Oh my goodness, I'm nervous. I hope she walks on all right! Our last experience with the trailer was shaky at best, but our relationship was also next to nonexistent then as well. I'm hoping that her loving and trusting me now will make her less skeptical when I tell her trailers are not, in fact, scary horse-eating monsters.

Jeff (the owner of the new barn I'm going to!) will have his horse in the trailer already, so maybe that will add to her not being so scared? I hope.

Anyways, I've done all I can really do in preparation so I just have to wait and hope that it'll turn out well!

Will keep you all updated. :D

I Fail at Blog Upkeep

Hello, everyone! Sorry, I know I've been neglecting this blog. I have not, however, been neglecting my horse! Which is good.

Anyways, a few things have happened. I've mostly been keeping quiet because my plans were rather up in the air, but it's settled now. I'm moving barns! Reasons for this... I won't go into. It's not pretty, though!

So, I visited Reina on Tuesday and worked undersaddle in one of our makeshift arenas. It was like 92 freaking degrees outside (ugh!!) so we didn't last long, needless to say. The good news is that we worked in a different paddock than usual, and she was super good and didn't really spook at anything!!

Reina enjoying a drink post-ride!

Not too much to report about that, but she was a very good girl! We worked on stopping and rhythm and not rushing her gaits. She was "up," naturally, because I hadn't ridden in a while. She was responsive though and we really only had one tiff where I got impatient. We trotted around the ring like 5 times until we were both huffing and puffing from the heat and then she decided that maybe she didn't want to rush headlong around the arena, lol!

Then we worked on trail horse things and I taught her to open the gate again with me on her. She was confused, though, and got a little nervous, but she kept trying different things - back up? turn around? sideways? - until I clicked. Then she realized that I was going to help her get the right answer and that she shouldn't feel abandoned or overfaced, and she calmed right down and kept trying until she got the right answers. It was wonderful!!

Then I rinsed her off completely, and she looked like a drowned rat (and kept giving me pathetic looks about it, too!).

And then, like all wet horses, she decided to...

ROLL! Ack!!!

Afterwards she was half Reina, half Sawdust Monster. I tried to brush her off as best I could, but there was only so much I could do at that point! Sigh, horses.

Yesterday I went out again, and we only did groundwork with my brand new, adorable, multicolored "stock whip". It was awesome and she was amazing. She catches on so fast; seriously, she is sooo smart!!

We worked on targeting! We'll be moving soon and I want to make trailer loading as stress-free as possible, and following a target is one of the easiest ways to make a horse feel comfortable. So! We worked on targeting, and my whip made a perfect target. She caught on fast and was soon tracking it and following it a bit!

Then we worked on responsiveness and stepping forward when I asked and yielding her hindquarters. She caught on fast and was almost a pro by the end of the session. What a smart girl! We ended on a happy note and didn't do anything else that day; I wanted to give her time to really soak in those lessons because they're very basic and she needs to have them down pat before we advance to lateral work on the ground.

So! That's it! More about moving and my new barn soon; oh my goodness, I'm excited, it's going to be sooo fabulous!