In my last post I had mentioned that Navi was doing amazing, and she still is! We haven't ridden in quite some time because I wanted to focus on my ground work since she was becoming so hard to work with. Well here we sit a few months later and I have such a good girl now. We keep our sessions short and fun. When she says she is done, then we are done. At this point we have back up, her yields, and walking beside me, all done with the lightest cue. She is also trotting circles around me with the lightest cue :) One of our biggest accomplishments is lining up to the mounting block at liberty. I turn her loose in the round pen or outdoor arena. She of course wonders off to explore and I go the the mounting block stand and wait. At first it took her a while to catch on, but now she will come over as soon as she notices me there :) She gets a click and treat when she is aligned properly. We have progressed to clicking when she is facing forward and after I lean on her. In the end I want her to stand still while I mount and not move until given the cue so we are slowing building our duration of standing at the block. Once she is consistent at this at liberty we will add the halter and lead back in so I can start riding her again :)
An update on Char as well. We haven't done a lot with her lately as far as formal training, but that doesn't mean we aren't working on our bond. We are now able to pick up both front feet while she is standing in her pasture at liberty. :) We are slowly making progress with her back feet, but she isn't ready for us to pick them up while loose in the pasture. Some day! She is gaining confidence around us daily and I still feel one day we will be riding together.
Pixie, Willow, and Jess are all doing great as well! Pixie and I are continuing our work on bareback, bridle-less riding along with taking lots of trail rides. Willow and I have been trail riding together too! Jess is getting out for short rides around the barn, otherwise he spends his time keeping his mares in line :)
