Hello ALL!! First, let me get you caught up. For the last 3 months, since drill team ended, we've been forced to work on groundwork because Fiona had an allergic reaction to fly spray and she got some weird rash on her skin. It got really wrinkled at first, then the hair fell out..ugh what a mess. It was VERY itchy. The poor girl, I tried to wash it with a bristle brush and she looked at me with an amount of indignation which I have never experienced, even from another human, much less a horse.
The rash is clearing now, so no long term damage was done. We are going BACK to natural fly spray.
The good news out of all this, is that our groundwork has consisted of some really amazing outings to the park across the street from the barn. For those of you that do not know the history, I came off of Fiona in this park over a year ago while riding off property or the first time. It nearly killed us both...literally. See....
Another bad First for details.
But going out with Fiona on the ground has been nothing short of amazing. It took at least a month for her to even consider calming down outside the barn walls. She was convinced that I had lost my mind and gotten us both lost somehow. Even worse, I continued to do it week after week. It is important to mention that every night before our park outings I would work her hard. This will come up again later.
Her main issue was right as we would get into the park, she would start to circle me in an attempt to herd me back to the barn/horses. Instead of stopping to get her attention at that point, we would just keep walking away from the barn. She would continue to get anxious and we would just keep lunging her until she would get calmer, but she never REALLY settled down.
Finally, after watching a youtube video about how to get a horse to go closer to something they are afraid of while riding, it clicked. I needed to deal with that behavior before we did ANYTHING else in the park. So one day, I took a long whip out with us and as soon as she circled back to the barn, I started smacking the ground and getting after her. As she went away from the barn, I left her alone. Toward the barn, BAD. Away from the barn, GOOD. I am starting to think this is why Tonto was so good with horses. He kept the conversation simple.
Finally after a severe 20 mins argument on this matter, Fiona got it. She began to stand next to me, on the side away from the barn. From there, it was like the dam burst. She walked out of the park, away from the barn to the desert across the street. She walked by my side the entire way.
The game was on!!! Now it was time to start pushing her. The next week, we walked through a neighborhood for the first time. She was amazing. She walked right by my side, looking at everything! The trash cans were definitely shifty, but she dealt with it. The car under the waving car cover was definitely not cool, but she eventually got over that too. Even the giant trash truck, driven by a human being who clearly thought myself and my trainer were out of our minds, wasn't a big issue. We had to wave the driver by because he was afraid to scare the horse!! now there's a switch!!!
We've practiced crossing the road a few times, which is where we got ourselves in a wreck riding. She was amazing, scared, but amazing. She just puts on her brave boots and marches on.
This is the first time in a long time, maybe ever, that I think this horse might really be able to make a full leap into something that will blow everyone away. I don't know what it will be yet, but I am convinced that she will continue to surprise us!!
Here are some pictures/video of our adventures:
Remember, this is a $550 rescue horse folks.....
This guy likes to walk his pitbull during our lesson
Apparently, this day it wasn't amusing anymore.
This is where we started.
Fiona Chillin' in the park
This is where we are now.
Happy trails!!!!
