9/8

I finally got to longe Pandora today -- till now, Mom's been doing it, but I'm walking well enough on my boot that I decided to do it.

She was great. With a bit of work, I think I got her to better understand the concept of halting, out at the end of the longe line, even facing to the right! It's very strange, and sometimes the halt is hit-or-miss. I find it odd. Sometimes she'll walk a circle or two without stopping, despite repeated commands and jerks on the line. Stepping in front of her path does nothing but confuse her and make her nervous.

It will take time and time only, I think. With most horses, I would get after them and either drive them forward or back them up when they went so long without executing the command, but I really feel like that's counterproductive with her. I'll have to experiment. For the most part, she seems to get very upset and nervous when you respond with quick discipline, such as driving her into a canter for not halting. She doesn't mind a swish of the whip. What seems to work best for discipline is when you only need to do it once to illustrate your point -- for example, she didn't pick up a trot right away when I asked, so I stepped at her aggressively and flicked the whip at her haunches. She scooted right forward into the trot, and every time thereafter she was prompt in her response.

Will definitely have to work on it more, but she is still improving. The halt will drive me crazy until it's fixed, but I think it's an understanding issue, not a stubbornness one.

Her stiffness is all but gone. Her walk starts out with a nice overstride, even before she's warmed up. She doesn't track up all the way in the trot at the beginning, but I wasn't paying much attention to how it was after a warmup. I think I'll start her over some walk cavaletti to help build some strength.

Started giving her and McKinna SandClear (psyllium) yesterday, just because they eat off the ground so much in the pasture. We'll do the recommended one-week-per-month dosage, though next time we may check her manure to see if it actually has any sand in it.

Trying to pick her hooves while she was eating her grain was a pain. She was fine for the fronts, but couldn't be bothered to pick up the backs. Eventually I got her to give each hind leg to me several times, but it took quite a bit of convincing on my part. I think she just didn't want to be bothered with it while she was eating, since she doesn't have an issue in the cross ties. Note to self - pick her feet before you put her in the stall to eat!

We've decided to take her to a dressage schooling show on October 5th. I won't have been riding for long, so Mom is going to ride her in one Intro test and I'll just hack her around and warm her up beforehand.

Still no signs of the killer-rearing-horse. Sweet as a pie, willing to please as a Golden Retriever, and getting better every day. So far, signs indicate that she's a remarkably quick learner, though it'll take more time to really determine.

That's all for the night. I'm pleased with her longeing progress.