From shan....

Katia got her hooves trimmed today. She had a couple of outbursts. Not really bad ones...about a 4 on a scale of 10. She looks pretty! I am VERY tempted to hop on her today...we'll see how her ground driving is today...I will have my camer with me JUST in case.

From shan.....
well...it's been raining off and on all day...no riding Katia is AWESOME!!!!! She puts her head down for me to get the halter on....I think she knows I am out to train her good!!!!! Ice is giving me good morning whinnies everyday...I think he knows he is home to stay It is supposed to be nice tomorrow..will ride if weather permitsI love Katia!

Report from shan,

Boy is it HUMID!!!!Today we lunged with the saddle and the rope contraction. She did very well! Fussed a bit, swung her butt out. I just reset her and got her trotting again. She is a bit weaker lunging left but not by much. We did serpentines. HELLO! She was like "What are you making me DO!" she finally got the hang of it. lol at first she thought she was supposed to lunge in a circle but I kept straightening her out. After about 3 minutes of her having tantrums she did what I was asking for...to walk in a straight line. When she gave me 3 nice line walks I let her be done. She was so sweaty so I hosed her down...again, she threw a tantrum but not a bad one. Then after her 2 minute tantrum was over she accepted the hose. Not sure if I will ride her Monday...gonna work on the ground driving her more and getting her used to the meaning of the word "walk" She feels like she has to trot when she's on a line.All in all she was a very good girl and accepting of the new assignment!

Training day number 5

After putting the saddle and bridal on Katia a few days ago she did so well Shan decided to move up a step. I had lunged her, saddled her, bridled her and was so proud she remembered most of it and was totally nonplussed by it.

Shan's heart-rate peaked yesterday when she was working on Katia's tail. Shan's son scared Katia with his big wheel and she bolted backward then forward while Shan jumped out of the way. Luckily Katia is so laid back she was fine within a minute or 2 but Shan said she took longer to get back to normal.

Today's lesson with the long lines was new to Katia and at the beginning she was a little freaked by the outside line. She scooted forward, tucked her tail and tried to speed up. Shan is so good at giving her confidence in these lessons that are new. Katia has tried to get out of work a few times, testing her luck with Shan but she is learning not to give shan any guff.

Shan has a student that she gives pointers too and she says it's great to be able to show the girl a mistake then the way to correct it. It's hard to teach with horses that know it all and don't make major mistakes.

We are finding out just how easy she is to work with and that she has smarts. I knew that, she got it from me, ha ha. Katia's confirmation is perfect for a WP horse, something I worried about. She is able to carry her head with ease and a natural look too. Some WP horses I have seen look miserable when collected because they are not built for the headset required.

Katia's dam Mora is a fantastic WP mare and did well showing in WP and halter. she was a natural too!!

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Katia went to Shan's place last Weds and it's weird at the barn with her gone. She was such a good girl in the trailer, loading in the dark, and the 5 hour trip. When er arrived at Shan's I was so proud of her. Shan really likes her. I have never had any good pix of her so the ones Shan took are soooooo wonderful. I have had this mare sitting on the prairie of SD and I always thought she was special. It's so nice to hear comments about her that confirm my first impressions of her.

When she was born in 2003 she had the worst case of windswept, it was horrible!!

Did some free lunging. Set her head and she was a very good girl. Fought the rope a couple of times but then figured out that if she just kept her head down all was well. This will build up her rump back and neck muscles...I'll snap a picture as to how I did that (forgot camera)So I worked for a half hour combing her tail out...did she have that matted mess before or did it develope in the short time she was here...I found a wire in it that I don't have at my place...lol...I braided her tail and wrapped it up to prevent any further rat's nests