I can admit my mistakes..

So I had the vet, the farrier, the previous owner, everyone I could think of panicked that there was something horribly wrong with my horse. I go out to the barn on Wednesday afternoon, and check her feet again. Duh, I'm an idiot. There is NOTHING wrong with her hoof. The frog was shedding, a perfectly normal event, and the extra piece was sideways. Boy did I feel dumb calling the vet back.

The kids rode their lease pony on Wednesday, sadly for the last time. She's been sold. I let Skye canter a bit on a longe line. It was her first time cantering and she just loved it! I wish I had a picture of her face, but I couldn't manage the camera and the pony. She was one very happy little girl.

Before the kids and I left the barn, we went out in the pasture to say bye to Lola. She came right up to us, and put her head down for scratches. She is so good with the kids! She put her head down, and didn't move when they were hugging her. They were pulling on her neck, hugging around her chest, Lukey was grabbing at her legs, and all she did was sniff at them and ask for more pats. She's a really sweet animal.

Yesterday - take some sunshine, some 65 degree weather, blue skies, and a pretty paint filly, add in a babysitter, and you (well I) had an amazing afternoon.

Went to the barn and started with a really good grooming for Miss Lola. She is shedding like crazy. I'm finding it really interesting that her black and white hairs are very different. Right now, her black parts aren't shedding much any more. The hair is silky and shiny. The white parts are much courser and are shedding like crazy. Any way, spent a lot of time rubbing her all over, picking up her feet, giving her scratches and pats. It amazes me that I can groom her standing in a stall without being tied, picking out her feet and all. She's such a good girl.

Put her halter on her and took for a little walk down in the woods. The dogs were making her really nervous because they were running behind her and all the dry leaves were crackling. I could tell she wasn't relaxed, but she wasn't doing anything bad. We didn't do the whole little circle trail in Sarah's yard, just walked a little bit of it, but it was fun. I made her step over a couple of small logs.

Up to the indoor for a little walk around in there. Did a bit of friendly game again, and some yields. I walked her over some ground poles.

On to the outdoor ring for lots more friendly game, and a bunch of porcupine game. She is yielding her hind end beautifully. Her front end still needs some work. She is yielding backwards from pressure on her chest and on her nose. She has started lowering her head for me. She still does not like having her nose and mouth touched, so I'm working on that. I was able to worm her with no problem at all. We did some yo-yo game and she is starting to figure it out. There were times when I didn't have to get to Phase 4 to get her back. She always comes right back to me without any trouble at all. Tried the circle game a little bit. She is getting the idea to move forward, but once I relax, she stops. I need to do more reading to remember how to encourage her to keep going. I walked her over some poles, then a small cross rail, and then a small vertical. She's a bit of a klutz. She hit the poles every time we walked over them and they were off the ground.

I took her for a walk on the street, and she was a bit nervous about the cars. She pranced a little and spun around once, but that was about the worst of it. I made her stand at the end of the driveway and watch a couple of cars go by.

More grooming, fed her some carrots, making her reach around to each side and down between her front legs to get them. She seemed to like that game. Turned her out and heading home until next time.