NIKE: Day 5 at Orangevale Park Arena

DAY 5 – ORANGEVALE PARK ARENA: We knew that Orangevale Park and a REALLY nice round pen and we figured we could take advantage of the clear weather. So we loaded up the horses and headed down the hill. Nike loaded up without a fuss. Sadly, the round pen was a pool so we changed up our plan a bit.  Did some work on the lead line on the grass and then in the arena. We got some great consistent gaits and direction changes where she really used her hind end. We did some suppling and flexing and worked on yielding the forequarters. She did pretty well and we were pleasantly surprised! All three horses got worked and then got to race around the big arena. It was cool to see. Nike was able to find her stride and had a great time running with the boys! It was good for her mind, body and spirit! Nike is NOT scared of water. She splashed around in a very big puddle at the end of the arena, took a drink (crazy horse) and then rolled in it. Sigh. Glad we carry towels in the trailer. We loaded up (again, no fuss) and headed home. Tossed blankets on the horses and then they got dinner. It was a good session.

We are seeing more respect and responsiveness every session. The sass is less and the try is more so we call that a win. Lots of love, scratches and rest to let the lessons sink in. She is sensitive to where we are in relation to her, which is good. We also see that as a 4 year old we have to teach the concept of a thing and then move on. If we dril too long she tunes out so we keep her lesson on “X” exercise to 3 to 4 good tries per side and then move on. We wrap up with a short review of the focus of the day and usually see a better try than when we started. We end on “wins” and reward quickly. Let’s hope we continue to have more good days than bad days on this journey. (Sorry, no pictures from today.)