Finding the Relationship

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 :)

Pictures

July has been keeping us busy busy :) We are alive and all the horses are great! Hoping to document Navi's amazing progress this week and update on how everyone else is.

Trail Riding

I haven't posted much recently because I have spent the last two days off trail riding, and today I am headed back out for a three hour ride :)

So here are some pics. Wednesday it was just my partner and I that went out and yesterday I went out with three other ladies from my barn. (My partner had to work yesterday :(  )

Willow and I exploring on Thursday

The group of ladies I rode with

Willow and I's ride

My favorite shot looking back towards my barn

Heading back down the hill

Our ride from Wednesday

Cows

Headed up

Pixie and I

Looking back

What a view

We ended by the river for some water play

Willow

Char's Farrier Visit

Last Wednesday was Char's first farrier visit. I was not able to be there so it was just my partner and the farrier. I am sad to say it didn't go very well. It didn't really surprise me as she is NOT trusting of other people. So while we can now pick up her back feet without her kicking at us, this was not the case for the farrier. He was able to get her front feet trimmed though and one of them rasped. We will continue to work on it in hopes that one day she will have no issues with it. The whole ordeal scared her and I will guess it set us back a few days of training. Although it didn't go very well (really it went as expected ) I am glad we got the first trim out of the way, it can only get better from here!

Today I am headed out to see her and the others. I hope to get some feet work done with her so we can rebuild on her trust in us.

Tomorrow is the day

Tomorrow is Char's scheduled farrier visit. She has done a good job at breaking off her own hooves, but they still need work. We have been consistent with getting her front feet picked out. She still struggles with holding up her back feet for any duration of time.  So I don't expect my farrier to be able to trim her back feet, but I think her fronts will go okay. We will see, as this will be the first time someone other than us try to handle her feet.

Char is also coming along nicely in other areas too. She is learning head down and stand facing forward. (Of course at separate times) With every session I see her confidence growing.

I want to touch base on Navi too :) She is really showing improvement! Yesterday I went to go pick her feet and for the first time ever she picked up her back leg for me before I even bent down. I thought for a split second she was going to kick me, but then I realized she was just picking up her foot for me. It wasn't something I expected with her because she has always been heavy with her feet. She will pick them up when asked, but would lean. Well since I have been doing 100% clicker training with her she is becoming a willing partner in everything. I wish I would have stuck to my gut feeling before and never moved away from positive reward training as much as I did with her. Oh well...live and learn right?! Lucky for me it's not too late to start over. Never again will I be swayed by others and think that any amount of force is okay no matter how little it is. Navi never feared me, but it shut her down mentally. She felt forced and hated every minute.  Now we both love our time together :)

Four Amazing Years!

June 24th will mark my four year anniversary with Pixie. That was the day we signed the adoption papers. Of course I had visited her and ridden a few times before that day. She wasn't delivered to me until July 10th, but we went and visited her before she came home. These are some pictures from the times we visited before she came home.

I was so excited to have a horse again! Every week I looked forward to our visits and on July 10th when she was dropped off I could hardly contain my excitement.

These last four years have been amazing. We had some major hiccups in the beginning, but she has forgiven my mistakes. When I first met Pixie I was told she was a special horse that needed someone to bond with. And that has proven to be true. We worked long and hard, and she finally started to trust me and bond. Pixie doesn't give trust easily, so I had to prove to her I was worth it. What I learned along the way was I had to trust her too! I couldn't expect her to trust me if I couldn't trust her.
Every year I set goals. Our first year was to trail ride one day. We did that. Year two and three were cantering and liberty work. Year four I had one goal and that was to continue to build an unbreakable bond. Over that past four years Pixie has grown, but more than that I have grown by leaps and bounds. I no longer focus on what I want to accomplish technically, now I focus on growing our relationship. When I started focusing on our relationship everything else fell into place. We are accomplishing things that were in my wildest dreams such as riding bareback and bridle-less. In fact I should call it halter-less because Pixie doesn't wear a bridle any more. We explore the back country in just a halter and lead rope. Now each week we usually enjoy four days of playing/riding. Each session with her is fun and positive. We learn new things together each time.
Here is to many more fun filled years together!! Pixie you are my world!

Lasts night visit with her :)

Pixie and I did it!

Three years ago I said my dream was to one day be able to ride Pixie bareback with no bridle or halter. We have been well on our way since we have been able to ride in just a neck rope, and last night I ditched the neck rope. Officially making my dream come true!!! We rode around the outside arena with nothing on her.

She walked with me to the mounting block and lined up so I could get on. Then off we went. She was a perfect angel. Listening at the lightest cue. I was in 7th heaven, we had done it! I am so proud of my Pixie. She is and will always be my not perfect, but perfect for me horse :)