Whew...

I spent a full three day weekend at the Youth Fair for my county. I showed five chickens, entered in chicken showmanship, LOTS and lots of contests...I don't know if I have sat down to relax for more than five minutes! And now it is monday(thankfully I'm off school) and I am trail riding with tow of my friends in a few hours! Ahhh...peace. After a weekend of having little time to work with Diamond I hope he does well, I'm planning to do some online(of course) before we venture out, and I might bathe his hindquarters...he is filthy! Why are mud and dirt covered horses so cute when they give you the "innocent" look when you start scolding them?

Another great day!

Well today I went trail riding with a couple of my friends. Diamond being a stallion I was uncertain how he would react considering one of my riding buddies has a mare. But he did wonderfully! He didn't rear once, just nicked and whinnied a bit, then wanted to graze! God bless Parelli and left brained introverts! Anyway we had a lovely ride, rode for about an hour. Diamond saw some donkeys and he was spooked by them but immediately went over and sniffed them, then didn't care. Our Touch-It has really paid off. I wonder what tomorrow will bring...probably a rest for both of us I imagine.

Today Diamond and I had a wonderful play session- we started out online playing the seven games with a few obstacles added here and there, then I decided to work some more on teaching Diamond to come towards me sideways. This is the second day I've worked on Diamond coming towards me in a sidepass. At first he didn't get it at all, got frustrated and unconfident and started to shut down. I gave him a break for a minute or so till he calmed down then started again-immediate stiffness "I can't do that, I don't know what you're asking, so I'm ignoring you" behaviour. So I reached inside my pocket and brought out a bit of carrot, and gave it too him. "What? Wow! Oh, I didn't know you had TREATS for me! What was it you wanted me to do? I'm all ears, tell me! Tell me!" Five minutes later he was stepping sideways towards me like it was as normal as anything! We started with me standing on a chair, then progressed to me asking him from the ground. After that I decided to try bridless riding. Without saddling him-as usual-I mounted with just my stick. I barely had to use it, he was so tuned into my body language. We cantered and jumped without a problem! We wove through trees, backed up, and went sideways in one direction-all without any rope at all! It was one of the best play sessions we've had in a while. I'm really looking forward to the next one!