Reprieve

Official Records Information
Misty 1 hour 5/5/10 evening

Up until 6:40, I was having a rotten day. I seriously contemplated not going to the farm because if Misty was going to do a "not talking to you," I did not know if I was going to be able to handle it. I resolved that I would go down and help Bridget with Conner and just relax.

Getting out of the BarnKat (my truck) at the farm was a huge weight off my shoulders in and of itself. The South Pasture horses were out in the back so we had to bring them up, I was told. I took the 12' line and the halter out with the front pocket of my hoodie full of candy canes. Britney and I went out to the pasture and Conner and Misty were at the back side (they are the North Pasture horses, so they were not in the back pasture) grazing. I paid attention to Misty's body language and watched for her to make the decision to avoid me, but she did'nt. I stopped and she walked to me. I backed up and she walked faster to catch up to me. She carefully stepped over ground poles in her way. I gave her a piece of candy cane and itched her. Then I did what I did yesterday with the travel wraps, only now I did it with the halter and line. First I gave her a candy can bit for touching the line several times. Then I gave her a candy cane bit for touching the halter. I took a couple minutes to itch her, then because she was looking skeptical. When I picked up the halter again, she confidently touched it for her treat. Finally, I began to go through the motions of putting the halter on to see if she would stay through that. She leaned away the first time I took the halter back off, but when I yielded her hindquarters gently, she turned right back to me and touched the halter confidently again for a treat. The next time I put the halter on, she chased it with her nose for the treat. I stood and gave her treats and itches for a few minutes.

I wanted to assess her motivation and attitude with me, so I drove her from zone 3 to the big tire pedestal. That drive went really well, and within a few minutes, she had thought her way onto the pedestal with all four feet not only on the tire, but completely inside the middle. I was in happy shock. This was way better than I had thought it would be!

Bridget and I took our horses out back to round up the horses, on the ground on line. First, I backed her out the gate. She was very responsive to the yoyo. I drove Misty from zone 5 with the one line and she was amazing. She would go sideways, turn right or left off of tiny hand signals, back up, and even speed up. I frequently stopped for grass, and although in the beginning she was stopping for grass without asking, after 5 minutes she was not really doing that. The communication and willingness was a serious joy.

I let Misty go and Bridget and I worked on her vault onto Conner. First we had to play with him to get him comfortable with Bridget running into him and flopping onto his barrel so that as she practiced he did not get upset. He has this great itchy spot and we were able to keep him from going introverted and used to Bridget's antics. When I learned to vault onto Misty, I had her ground tied while I did all of that and I had no one to hold her while I ran at and into her and flopped around. That made me smile thinking of that, and I am glad. Bridget was really wonderful. She got herself on two times. The first time she almost flew over the other side, but then she did it once more and did much better.

The whole time we were playing with Conner, Misty was hanging around. That also made me happy.

Natural Horsewoman Out.