Finding a partnership with Navi

Thursday Navi and I hiked 4.5 miles while my other half rode Willow. We took a route Navi has never been on. One that included flags blowing in the wind, walking along the ditch beside the road, and our 1st encounter with cows on the trail. How did Navi react? Well just fine! The only thing that worried her was the yellow water tank. Ha! She did drink out of it, but it took a minute to convince her that it wasn't going to eat her. This mare is about as rock solid as they come. For a green 5 year old hitting the trails is a piece of cake for her. She takes everything in stride. I have been trying to expose her to as much as I could since we got her at  1 1/2 and I think it paid off :) 

I joke that she is my Henry (dog) of the horse world. For those of you that don't know of Henry. He is the worst dog ever! Okay maybe not that bad...well yes, he is. But he is also the smartest, most loyal dog you will ever meet! And I truth be told I couldn't live without the little dude. Well that is Navi in horse form,okay maybe not the most loyal horse, but smart.

To say that my partnership with Navi has always been perfect wouldn't be the truth. We have worked hard to find a mutual respect for each other, lol. At times our relationship has been rocky, but at other times really good. There are many days that I honestly avoided working with her instead choosing to get Pixie because it was easier. I have a hard time not comparing Navi to Pixie. Pixie is far from perfect, but in my eyes she is perfect, and I struggle with comparing other horses to her. Since Pixie has had to take some time off I have been working with Navi more, and it has been the best thing for both of us! I have to give her credit for what she is good at and learn to work with her and not put her in Pixie's shadow. I look back and realize the only reason Pixie and I are this good together is because I devoted the time to her. I have not devoted that same time to Navi so I can't blame her for not being Pixie. I keep saying she is going to make a good horse and she will only get better, however,I need to stop and realize she is already a good horse. I don't feel like Navi and I have connected like Pixie and I have because I never really was open to it. Was that on purpose, no, not at all. I thought I was open to making a connection with her, but I wasn't, and now I can step back and see that. I love her, don't get me wrong, but I wasn't allowing her to step out of Pixie's shadow so her and I could form our own working partnership. Giving Pixie some time off will not only benefit her, but it will allow Navi and I to form a better bond. 

A Break from Riding and Demo Time.

I have been battling lameness issues with Pixie for what feels like all summer. It probably hasn't been all summer, but when lameness affects your main riding horse it seems like forever. In the end, I have decided to give her the rest of summer off of riding. It was just trail riding, but I rode her for a short time last weekend and she came up sore after. So it is obvious she needs some more time off. Yesterday I went out and she was moving much better, but I decided it is in her best interest to take a few months off. So instead we will focus on our demo coming up in October. We have been invited to do a little demo of liberty work with my trainer. So yesterday I really started to try and decide what we were going to do. My original plan was to do some ground liberty and then some bridle-less riding, but I will have to see where Pixie is health wise come the 1st of October. So until then we perfect our ground work. I love playing with her at liberty on the ground so we should still have lots to do to keep us busy this fall without riding :)

Giving Pixie some time off means I will have that much more time to work with Navi and see how her leg holds up to hiking and riding.

Another Lesson Taught by Navi

Two days ago we were working with Navi in the indoor arena. Well I only worked her for a few minutes before moving on to riding work. (well accepting a rider with confidence). She quickly showed us that she was over stimulated and bored with what we were doing. After a few minutes of trying to get her to relax we moved on to more ground work. She was feisty and non too impressed with the whole situation. So one more try at the mounting block and we called it a day. Or so we thought. I was going to let her loose to run when she decided to blow up and starting rearing in hand and almost kicked my other half. Okay so I draw the line at safety issues. I always have. I will train without pain and fear, but I will and do issue strong punishment for dangerous behaviors. While what she did was unacceptable I do take blame in allowing her frustrations to get to that point. I could have avoiding the whole situation if I had changed what I was doing sooner. However, because I didn't prevent it from happening I had to quickly get after her and made her back and lunge with change of directions. When she was calmer I turned her loose and boy did she take off like a bat out of hell. She was running and bucking all over that arena. I just stood in the middle with the lunge whip asking her to keep moving if she starting to come to me to stop. Finally she slowed to a trot and did some liberty with me by her own choice. I asked for a stop and she listened. We then did a couple more minutes of liberty work and called it a day.

Yesterday we took a 4 1/2 miles hike on the trails before attempting to work on the riding in the arena. And she was 100x better. She was perfect on the trail and awesome in the arena. I tell ya there isn't anything on the trails that has bothered her yet. If she does stay sound for riding she will be an amazing trail horse, regardless I am still going to teach her to drive because she is the perfect horse for driving.

Boy, I tell ya this little mare has been one tough cookie,but boy once she works with you she is great. She continues to teach me things every time we work together. She is opinionated and strong willed, but she loves to get out and work. Taking her hiking has shown me a whole different side to her. She loves being out there exploring! She even lined up to different stumps so I could have gotten on (if she was ready). I have no excuse now not to head out hiking. I have a great little horse to pack my water for me :)