Mud Is Icky, Drag-A-Bag & New Friends

"Daddy, Mud Is Icky!"

Well, that is what Cearra thinks anyway, Such a GIRL (grin). After our really nice groundwork session Laurie and Cearra took on the under saddle part of the session. Laurie has not done much riding with Cearra and as such is a good gage of her progress. Cearra had good lateral and vertical flexion happening. Nice, supple turns. Decent stop and backing. Her forequarter yields were a bit off but that is totally our fault as we have not been doing enough of them. All in all she did really well. Her work on the obstacles was really nice. She was calm over and through every obstacle. Very proud of here.

Mud. Ugh!

Our riding area has a LOT of soft mud in the most unfortunate places. One spot as really a big puddle that the more mud and moss than water. Cearra basically tip-toed through the mud like a little kid. It was funny. Areas that were squelchy got the same level of distain and tip-toe steps. Ah well. She is a princess after all. More exposure to muddy environments is in her future.

Drag-A-Bag under saddle happened today! Cearra was a rock star and dragged the noisy milk jug filled feed bag around as she and Laurie cruised about. It was pretty awesome! They did very well together.

It was a good session!

VIDEO (Drag A Bag): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmlGIiUR07U

Mud Is Icky Pt. 2

Had a nice potential family come out to meet Cearra. Not sure what was on the lady’s hands but Cearra HAD to sniff her a lot. Our gal was all personality and curiosity. Too funny. We really appreciated that these folks reviewed the journal and video. They had great questions and seemed to be knowledgeable and kind people. This is the type of family we would be comfortable with Cearra being with to be sure.

Cearra showed off on the ground at first. She did well even though she was in a more “cuddly” mood (meaning it was chilly and she really didn’t want to work but doesn’t really protest too hard because is getting attention and love). We went through some of the exercises she knows. Then we saddled up, rode the terrain, the obstacles and demonstrated some basic maneuvers. The ground…sigh….the ground was crunchy (the top layer was frozen) and squelchy. This made for slippery conditions. Not ideal to demonstrate all her gaits but we were able to help the folks see where she was at. Cearra performed admirably. No complaints. What was cool (in our opinion) was the conversation we had while riding. A few spots on the terrain “looked sketchy” to her. She checked in and looked for leadership. 90% of the time she was right to be concerned so we backed up a little and went around the soggy area. The other 10% we moved through with some firm cues and focus. 

It was a good session.