Remember when Phebes could not walk down a hill without about killing us? *fast forward almost 500 miles* I have one of the hill climbingest horses I could every wish for. She can go up them walking, trotting, or like a rocket! She goes down with a nice straight little shimmy, even in the mud. In fact, Phebes has conditioned in mud and not much but mud! She is a mud running fool. She is as sure footed on a muddy trail as she is a dry one. Now the fair weather riders? Will they have that advantage?
Remember the pain of trailer loading? I walked her up to the trailer, pointed....and in she went yesterday *huge Granny grin*.
Remember the horse that would not trot? Uhmmmm she trotted at least 13 miles of the 15 yesterday.
Each trail ride presents with new training opportunities. My feeling with most of what Phebes does "wrong" is that she still lacks confidence. Once she is able to push through her fear, and see that everything is okay, then she nails it. Our new training opportunity? WATER STOPS. She has figured out that you get to stand and relax at water stops.....so now she wants to camp out at water stops. Geez Louise, my Phebers! ~E.G.
Fantastic, Jacke. You've come a long way with that girl. :)
ReplyDeleteYep! A little work, a little suffering, a lot of faith. We still have to overcome some things, but looking back, she's come a long long way from this time last year. We have our discouraging moments, and I think THATS IT! I'm done with her...but after sleeping on it, I come to realize that her failures are MY failures. If she doesn't understand, then I'm not communicating, if she's afraid, she does not trust my leadership. She is a very strong willed horse, full of emotion much like your Aaruba. When it is good...its really good, and when its not, then not so much *LOL*. Counting down the days to her debut ride. ~E.G.
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