Still suffering from rain rot...

It’s been a rough couple of weeks dealing with the rain rot. I feel like we haven’t done anything except for grooming, grazing, and baths. I do think the rain rot is getting better, but it is a long, slow process.

I was determined to accomplish something with Lola tonight. I do hope to ride her some day, and I’m never going to feel ready if we don’t put in some ground work!

I’ve been working her in the indoor ring here and there so that I don’t have to fight her over grazing, but I just wanted to be outside tonight. It was way too nice out for that indoor.

Lola got a medicated bath yesterday, so her rain rot was in pretty good shape tonight. She got a really good grooming in her stall. Her coat is getting gorgeous. It’s so soft and so shiny. She’s still shedding a little, but even with the rain rot she looks good. I played lots of Friendly with her in her stall, made sure that her legs and everything were clean and there weren’t any cuts that needed attention. I rubbed her belly and spent lots of time scratching and currying her butt. She seemed to really enjoy that! She is great with letting me touch her ears, belly, tail, but she is still a bit apprehensive about me touching her nostrils and inside her mouth. I worked on it a little tonight, just taking it slow.

I lead her up to the ring tonight without letting her graze. I just shook the lead rope if she tried to graze and she quickly figured out not to, at least while I was leading her.

Up in the arena, I started playing some Friendly game with the carrot stick. Lola of course decided to try grazing. I patiently shook the lead rope, gently at first, and moving up in phases until she got the idea and quit, then back to the Friendly game. I had to give her little reminders the whole time I was working with her tonight, but she was hugely improved by the end of our little session.

We played Porcupine game, and Driving game. Porcupine went very well. She backed very softly, and I got her front end to move better than I had in the past. Driving game went well, but I didn’t push my luck and try to drive her front end. I just drove her back and drove her hindquarters in both directions.

I decided to push things a bit further tonight and we played the Yo-Yo game a couple of times. She did great. I even tried the circle game tonight and had a little bit of success with that. I got her to figure out what I was asking and to move off in the direction I wanted, but I couldn’t get her to keep going. It was MUCH improved over the last time I tried it, so I was very happy. I even stood outside her stall tonight and sent her in without me. That will be a handy habit to get her into for trailer loading. She needs to learn that I don’t always go first and some times I’ll send her some where.

After I finished working with her, I lead her back to her stall, again no grazing. I sprayed her rain rot stuff and covered her in fly spray, and then lead her back out. I lead her about half way back to the ring, and then asked her to put her head down and let her graze.

I really feel like I made some good progress with her tonight. I think the whole thing of having her in the ring and not letting her graze really built some respect into our relationship. She wasn’t pushy at all tonight, even when I did let her graze. She was very responsive when I moved her from one spot to another. I was very careful to ask her to stop after I lead her, and then asking her to put her head down before I let her graze.

I feel like I have been spending WAY too much time on the first couple of Parelli games. I’m going to start trying to work on all 7, even if they aren’t all perfect, it is time we started to make some progress. Once I introduce them all to her, we can start working on making them all better. I'm looking forward to heading back to the barn on Friday to play some more!