fantastic friday

Today was beautiful outside!

Zeek and I headed over to be with Gwin at about 11a. I let the three horses out to pasture for about 30 minutes while I cleaned up poop. That sounds so gross to write, but it's really not. 

I had a little lunch in the Jeep while I watched the horses, and then I told Zeek to come with me to shag them off the pasture. I closed the door to the Jeep just as I looked down at the locked lock inside. Bummer.

So, we played with Gwin a little. I did some ground work with her. Trotted her over the white bars on the ground to work on strengthening her core and lifting her back a little. Then I worked with her on asking her to side pass, yielding at the front with me on the ground. Once we got that right, I got on her bare back with just her rope halter and asked her to do it from there. SHE DID! This was my first success. Of course, Gwin knows how to do this. I just needed to learn myself. Gwen and Carrie really made it simple for me the way they taught me yesterday. 

At about 1p I called Gwen to see if she was near, and she was not. I called my neighbor Teri to see if she was near, and she was not, either. So, Zeek and I decided to walk home so we could eat and play before someone came around who could drive us back to the Jeep with the key.

We had such a great adventure! Thankfully we booth had our boots on, because we did NOT take the roads. We cut straight through the acres between our place and Gwen's. It was so fun. 

We hiked up, down, through woods, across tilled fields, over a creek! 

It reminded me of when I was a kid and would go off exploring in the woods.

It took us about 45 minutes to get home. We did some stuff around the house, ate and were back at the farm, thanks to Gwen by 3:45p.

I groomed and saddled Gwin. I put her in her rope halter for the first time we would be out of an arena or round pen. Then I led her with Zeek on her out to the hills behind Gwen's house. We switched, and I rode her up and down the tree hill three times while Zeek played in the yard. Again, working on her core and leg muscles. The we headed back to the round pen. I rode her a bit over the poles, trotting and walking. I worked with her again on yielding her front and side passing. Then I led Zeek around on her quite a bit.

I un-saddled her, groomed her out and turned her out to pasture with her new friends.

Even though Gwin is still wanting to be with her friends when we work, it is completely different than at Linda's. I can tell she doesn't NEED to be with them out of fear or worry. She just wants to, and she's much easier to convince to hang out with me. For that I am SO happy.

It was an all around wonderful day.