Maintaining

Tonight I was almost home from work when I saw a person on the road several hundred feet beyond our drive. It looked like Maggie! What do you know, it was Maggie! I rescued her and we drove to the farm. She took Ginger out to graze.

Yesterday, when Blu came to Misty and me so eagerly, the first thing across my mind was "I hope I can still get that next time." I decided that tonight, I would ride Misty with Blu on line and just take them grazing with Ginger and Maggie. They did work really hard last night. So, tonight's time was dedicated to maintaining a Blu who came eagerly to me when I was riding Misty.

To the beginning . . . I went to the gate with the halter and finesse reins. Misty met me there. When I lifted my arm for her, she put he head under my arm and into the halter right away. I noticed that once I squeezed her through the gate, she maintained connection with me instead of disconnecting with me and connecting with the grass.

In the barn, she was great for saddling up. I gave her cookies when I was tightening the cinch. I played stick to me on the driveway and got the newspaper with her to tighten the cinch. Misty waited outside the door while I put the newspaper in the house and got my riding boots on. To mount, I climbed onto a pair of washtubs that serve the purpose of planters, now. She started to turn around and put me on her left side, but she easily came back to keep me on her right side. When I put my leg over her back, she steps even closer. What a partner thing to do!

She did great working the gate. When I got to the big gate to Blu's pasture, Blu began coming over to us. I was so happy to see that he was still keeping up with that positive attitude toward us!

We worked the gate and Misty jiggy-jogged to Ginger :). While we grazed, Misty was super maneuverable and Blu was obedient. I got really good at getting Blu to step over the line to untangle himself. I went off to find Maggie. She had left Ginger loose with Blu, Misty, and me. I called her and she came cantering with us.

On the way home, she did not come with all of us immediately and began galloping to catch up with us. Maggie put out her hand and grabbed the line off her back as she ran by in a really slick move. I was quite impressed with Maggie's super savvy. Ginger got her head back on her shoulders and was great.

I put the horses back and they all got a snack. It was a nice night and fun to talk with Maggie about horses and other things ;)

Natural Horsewoman Out.