Sorry guys, I didn't get a chance to take pictures yesterday. I only had an hour to work with Freedom much to my horror. Why only an hour? Well...Apparently this morning my mom informed me that my aunt was coming with my two toddler cousins to go see Santa! I was like...'Well...Alright.'
She told me to be home before or by 4:30.
Well, hell. It was 12:44 by the time I got to the barn, and if I wanted to make it home before 4:30...I had to catch the 1:45 bus. Alright well. Let's make today snappy, yes?
Went to the barn, there was no one there. It was deserted, but Freedom's neigh rang in the stillness and I grinned as I placed my stuff in the arena. I could see as I walked by Freedom's stall, my girl's eyes eagerly watching me. She knew I was here and if I was here, that meant..Food. But also work, but more of food.
So, I unstrapped the blanket, and she did side step until she realized what I was doing was simply undoing it and taking it off and she was okay with that. Then, I brushed her quickly, and hooked her up with the lunge line-but this time I took the chain over her nose and tied it to the right side close to her ears. The reason was simple.
I needed to let her feel the pressure I was trying to place on her nose when telling her whoa. When she resisted pulling, the chain would put more pressure and when I got her to move, the chain would ease up and released the pressure-the reward of it. Yesterday, Freedom lunged like a charm, stopping when I said whoa and trotting around me (but she kept stopping so I had to make some scary noises with the whip, hitting the ground. It got her to maintain her pace.)
She was doing so well lunging on her left side, that you could see her muscles forming! But I know that muscles only on one side isn't good so I tried to lunge her on her right side. She wouldn't budge....Not even an inch. I tapped her on her butt, her legs, her belly and side. All I got from her was flinching.
Wooooow. Freedom's either getting not so scared anymore-or she's getting cocky. Not sure which. But-we will find out soon! In the process of rubbing the whip on Freedom, I rubbed it on her head, between her ears, on her chest...And I noticed...
FREEDOM WAS FALLING ASLEEP!
My first thoughts were like: 'Really, Freedom? Really? You at first hated the whip, now you're gonna fall asleep on me? Really?'
So, I stomped on the ground and she jumped to the side, obviously spooked. I tried again and again and again-all I managed from her was a lazy walk to where she walked right up to me and stood at my shoulder. I had to laugh and walked to rub her back and she backed up to stay at my shoulder.
I walked forward. Freedom did too. Good girl!
I let her off the line and walked. She followed me most of the time and then she stopped. Fine.
So now we began to work on the pointing. I pointed in the air with one hand and with the other, I waved at her and told her to GO. Freedom got that pretty fast. She took off running to where I pointed and when she tried to go somewhere else other than where I pointed, I chased after her.
I let her go on her own for a while and while I was visiting Duncan, I saw something horrible. His one good eye...Was all stitched up. He had to wear a blinder that made sure he couldn't see behind him and only in front because it appeared as if he must have bumped into something and ripped his eyelid open-a good 4 or 5 inches at least, but it was a bit hard to see the wound completely. Duncan looked like he was in so much pain though.
I gently petted his cheek and nose and he slowly closed his eyes, ears forward and then they moved to the side. He didn't bite me like he usually does.
Duncan began to fall asleep. And as I turned to see how Freedom was doing....My sly girl was sniffing and interacting with the gelding next to Duncan's stall, the horse that seems to hate me and she knew it. When I turned to look at her, all of a sudden, both Freedom and the Gelding moved away from each other as if they didn't want me to know they were friends.
Well, I'll be. My girl is seeing someone behind my back! Maybe she saw me interacting with Duncan like some would a herd, and thought that the gelding was also apart of the herd and mimicked me. But I could be wrong. I could be wrong.
Some of my thoughts are to get on Freedom again and teach her the whoa from her back and the walk. But this time, I want to see if I can borrow someone's western saddle. I need something to hold onto if she gets scared again. Also-we need to work on the dismount and mounting. She really needs to be taught ground manners.
Onto other news...
Last night, my aunt, mom and cousins and I all went to see Santa-then went Christmas shopping...And then happily went to Chuckie Cheese! I...I'm sorry to say but I didn't have fun at all there. I was more annoyed that I had to watch the two troublesome toddlers who thought it funny to throw basketballs at each other. I mean, really? Basketballs? REALLY?
But on the fishing reel game where you can win 125 tickets...I told myself since I have no luck with the game...If I win it, it would totally make my night. And guess what?
I FREAKING WON IT! ALL 125 TICKETS! WHOOO!
In total for the entire night, I got 270 tickets, but I used the entire thing to buy just junk for my cousins since all they had were things just for them. I wish they had some airhead candies. I love airheads.
By the time we got home-it was 9:30 pm and I was tired.
Another sad news...The stables was and are having a Christmas party tonight but I can't go...My ride ditched us. Which goes to show...We desperately need a truck. Not a car. We need a...
TRUCK.
As long as it runs good with very minor body damage and can haul a horse-we want it. We're willing to pay monthly like in payments because there's no way how we'd get 1,000 bucks all at one time to pay. Actually, about 1,000 is all we get a month to live on and that include's my dad's paycheck too.
And that is why I need to get on the payroll ASAP so I can help out more often.
She told me to be home before or by 4:30.
Well, hell. It was 12:44 by the time I got to the barn, and if I wanted to make it home before 4:30...I had to catch the 1:45 bus. Alright well. Let's make today snappy, yes?
Went to the barn, there was no one there. It was deserted, but Freedom's neigh rang in the stillness and I grinned as I placed my stuff in the arena. I could see as I walked by Freedom's stall, my girl's eyes eagerly watching me. She knew I was here and if I was here, that meant..Food. But also work, but more of food.
So, I unstrapped the blanket, and she did side step until she realized what I was doing was simply undoing it and taking it off and she was okay with that. Then, I brushed her quickly, and hooked her up with the lunge line-but this time I took the chain over her nose and tied it to the right side close to her ears. The reason was simple.
I needed to let her feel the pressure I was trying to place on her nose when telling her whoa. When she resisted pulling, the chain would put more pressure and when I got her to move, the chain would ease up and released the pressure-the reward of it. Yesterday, Freedom lunged like a charm, stopping when I said whoa and trotting around me (but she kept stopping so I had to make some scary noises with the whip, hitting the ground. It got her to maintain her pace.)
She was doing so well lunging on her left side, that you could see her muscles forming! But I know that muscles only on one side isn't good so I tried to lunge her on her right side. She wouldn't budge....Not even an inch. I tapped her on her butt, her legs, her belly and side. All I got from her was flinching.
Wooooow. Freedom's either getting not so scared anymore-or she's getting cocky. Not sure which. But-we will find out soon! In the process of rubbing the whip on Freedom, I rubbed it on her head, between her ears, on her chest...And I noticed...
FREEDOM WAS FALLING ASLEEP!
My first thoughts were like: 'Really, Freedom? Really? You at first hated the whip, now you're gonna fall asleep on me? Really?'
So, I stomped on the ground and she jumped to the side, obviously spooked. I tried again and again and again-all I managed from her was a lazy walk to where she walked right up to me and stood at my shoulder. I had to laugh and walked to rub her back and she backed up to stay at my shoulder.
I walked forward. Freedom did too. Good girl!
I let her off the line and walked. She followed me most of the time and then she stopped. Fine.
So now we began to work on the pointing. I pointed in the air with one hand and with the other, I waved at her and told her to GO. Freedom got that pretty fast. She took off running to where I pointed and when she tried to go somewhere else other than where I pointed, I chased after her.
I let her go on her own for a while and while I was visiting Duncan, I saw something horrible. His one good eye...Was all stitched up. He had to wear a blinder that made sure he couldn't see behind him and only in front because it appeared as if he must have bumped into something and ripped his eyelid open-a good 4 or 5 inches at least, but it was a bit hard to see the wound completely. Duncan looked like he was in so much pain though.
I gently petted his cheek and nose and he slowly closed his eyes, ears forward and then they moved to the side. He didn't bite me like he usually does.
Duncan began to fall asleep. And as I turned to see how Freedom was doing....My sly girl was sniffing and interacting with the gelding next to Duncan's stall, the horse that seems to hate me and she knew it. When I turned to look at her, all of a sudden, both Freedom and the Gelding moved away from each other as if they didn't want me to know they were friends.
Well, I'll be. My girl is seeing someone behind my back! Maybe she saw me interacting with Duncan like some would a herd, and thought that the gelding was also apart of the herd and mimicked me. But I could be wrong. I could be wrong.
Some of my thoughts are to get on Freedom again and teach her the whoa from her back and the walk. But this time, I want to see if I can borrow someone's western saddle. I need something to hold onto if she gets scared again. Also-we need to work on the dismount and mounting. She really needs to be taught ground manners.
Onto other news...
Last night, my aunt, mom and cousins and I all went to see Santa-then went Christmas shopping...And then happily went to Chuckie Cheese! I...I'm sorry to say but I didn't have fun at all there. I was more annoyed that I had to watch the two troublesome toddlers who thought it funny to throw basketballs at each other. I mean, really? Basketballs? REALLY?
But on the fishing reel game where you can win 125 tickets...I told myself since I have no luck with the game...If I win it, it would totally make my night. And guess what?
I FREAKING WON IT! ALL 125 TICKETS! WHOOO!
In total for the entire night, I got 270 tickets, but I used the entire thing to buy just junk for my cousins since all they had were things just for them. I wish they had some airhead candies. I love airheads.
By the time we got home-it was 9:30 pm and I was tired.
Another sad news...The stables was and are having a Christmas party tonight but I can't go...My ride ditched us. Which goes to show...We desperately need a truck. Not a car. We need a...
TRUCK.
As long as it runs good with very minor body damage and can haul a horse-we want it. We're willing to pay monthly like in payments because there's no way how we'd get 1,000 bucks all at one time to pay. Actually, about 1,000 is all we get a month to live on and that include's my dad's paycheck too.
And that is why I need to get on the payroll ASAP so I can help out more often.
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