Don't Look, they're here

This is the site we arrived to. All the horses enjoying the warm sun amongst the cold wind and temps falling quickly from the upper to low 40's. All the horses stood very still as Justine went out as if to say "maybe if we don't move they won't notice us". However, they have now become accustomed to Justine being there to feed them, so a few came over for a quick inspection of her. Winnie no longer runs away, but stood steady waiting for Justine. However, this time Justine gave Target some attention first and Winnie was not quite onboard with that idea or perhaps thought Justine had her confused with the other dark bey thoroughbred. Win walked over and gave her a gentle nudge and got her away from the other horses (Win doesn't let us get in the middle of the pack), and then lowered her head waiting for the halter. Between the recent activities of lessons, going in the trailer to trail rides and parade practice, Winnie seems to have a curious "what you got for me now?" kind of attitude.

Frustration to Triumph

After several weeks of the "new Justine", new as in not showing frustration, no crying, complaining, sassing back or a whinny attitude, the old Justine tried to make an unwelcome appearance. Winnie was full of "spring stupid", her leg was healed and she was "good to go", as was Justine not having any school today. Both wanted to go fast and be silly. However, to get ready for some shows, instructor Jolene had them working on a lot of trotting flat work and polishing up details. Both horse and rider (rider first) became annoyed and frustrated. It is amazing how Justine's emotions transmit through and are amplified by Winnie. The picture on the left is perfecting 20 meter circles at the trot. Paying attention to details like "rider elbows and hands, get horses hind end to engage more and not drop a front shoulder, get her to soften her head, and oh yeah post properly too and don't fall off". The pic on the left was when things were going well but the frustration was about to erupt. Fortunately the "evil twin Justine" made a brief visit, and after some reassurance from the instructor as well as Justine realizing her emotions and taking a moment to get control things returned to normal. Justine did some large exhale exercises and started to relax and what a riot, Winnie would blow/exhale which means the horse is relaxing. After that they both were much softer, smoother and controlled. The pic on the right is reward time and time to face fears. Some horses a reward is to stop, but Winnie's idea of a reward is to give her something to do and the faster the pace the better. Justine has been cantering up the long end of the arena with the instructor there to grab a reign if needed. Okay, I think that's a hoax, 1,200 lb horse coming at 120lb instructor at 15 mph, my bet is instructor gets out of the way or gets dragged. When Winnie and Justine approached Jolene at the corner, Jolene's voice went up a few octaves as she positioned herself to grab Winnie and instructed Justine how to get her to slow down, she jumped out of the way as Justine turned Winnie and in a laugh said, "look out I'm telling her to go, I'm going all the way around!!!!!" The made a few circuits, then Justine faced her fear, she turned Winnie around, and asked for the canter right in the location where she fell and broke her arm almost one year ago to the day. Horse and rider had a great time. If Winnie could laugh she would have been laughing with Justine. It was great for both of them that the lesson could end on such a good note. Then was Dad's turn to take a lesson. That's a lesson in stupidity (rider) and frustration (horse).

Art or Bad Photography?

Okay, so it's not art. Lori, the lady that owns the farm where Winnie resides is a retired art teacher and her blog always promises to have pictures of nature, horses, dogs, art and culinary flair. Sometimes it gives me inspiration, but then when I look at my pictures it's back to reality. This is the best I could come up with today.

Horsing Around

The weather made it to around 50 degrees today and brite sun for a change. Brother

Ethan has a 103 degree fever again, so Justine and Dad headed to the farm to spend some time with the big girl. Groomed her, got some of the winter hair off and then to the indoor for some

free and line longing. She was pretty calm today and not much gallup and bucking. To do left circuits is not her favorite since she can't see me on the blind eye, so sometimes we use the longe line. We both are perfecting our technique. You'll see in later pictures below, she was cuddly today and had to be where the fun was. Now back home and Ethan's fever is worse. This winter has been horrible on our family. Someone if not two sick every weekend. Come on spring!!!!

Who's Training Whom?

We thought this was pretty funny since it looked like I was receiving guidance from Winnie (ok, I was). I'm holding a dressage whip, however we've never touched her with it, but if you just hold it in hand she free longes better especially to the left (blind side). As an experiment here I held it very still to see if she was afraid of it, and she's not. She walked up to the whip and even played with it in her mouth. I'm glad Justine didn't get video the America's Funniest Home Video skit we did. Winnie wiggled the whip and I ran in circles. Ok, you had to be there, but Winnie and Justine thought it was pretty funny. As long as we were laughing, Winnie was up for anything and wanted to be a part of it.

Feels So Good!!!

After our festivities we let her walk around and chill out. Of course Winnie had to take our grooming job and mess it up. She so enjoys a good roll and the dirtier the better. She moans and groans with pleasure as she rolls side to side. Then hops back up, shakes and dust flies everywhere.

Mare Dispute

One of the other mares, Berlin (she's beautiful) was not impressed with us giving Winnie attention and the other horses standing by the tack room watching. Ok, I admit it, if they stood by the door I groomed the shedding hair off them and they loved it!!!! This is Berlin chasing Winnie into a corner of the barn. Berlin got her trapped and turned her hind to her to buck/kick Winnie, but Winnie hit high gear, spun and ran around Berlin, then out to the back pasture with Berlin in full chase. From back pasture to paddock and then back again, she went for all she was worth, sometimes charging Berlin head on. Berlin finally gave up and Winnie did too. Winnie does not like to fight back, her defense is to go fast and turn a lot. Justine's theory on the matter....? "She likes to make them think she's crazy".