Updates!

So it's been a LONG time since I've written about Aspire. So much has happened with me lately, including graduating from college and starting a new job, that I haven't spent much time with Spy...the rainy, dreary weather hasn't helped either.

As far as her cuts from the barbed wire, she's healing really, really well! You can barely tell she flipped through a fence at all, with the exception of one or two remaining scabs. I am SO pleased with how fast she's healed and with minimal scarring...and so thankful still that the accident wasn't worse.

I've made the decision to move her from where she's at now to a new place in town. I have been torn with the idea of trying to reconcile Aspire and Phoenix and not messing with it to avoid any future accident. I just don't think I could ever feel fully comfortable with them together, unsupervised...even if we could help them get along in the arena with some flaggers and such. I love where she's at now, but with the fencing we just put up to allow some of the pasture to grow for hay, the horse area is much smaller and we have to keep the horses off it for most of the day. Before we could have one group on the pasture with the other in the arena so Spy and Phoenix never had to be together. But now we'll only be able to have horses on the pasture for 6 hours a day, meaning everyone has to be in the arena together... The new place I've found is close enough I can ride my bike too (yay!) and she'll have access to lots of pasture during the day and be in a pen at night. It's right near the fairgrounds and it has a round pen. The only draw back is that she'll be kept by herself, which isn't ideal...but we'll see how it goes.

Today I trimmed her feet and she did a lot better than last time. She let me hold her feet up for a lot longer and wasn't so fidgety which was nice. The more we do it the more each of us will get better - me at nipping and her at holding still.

I also did some stuff on the ground with her today. Worked on jumping around like a maniac, jumping jacks, stumbling around, etc - just being loud with my body and with zero intent. Also sent her on a circle in the round pen for two laps and got a really nice bring back at liberty. Then...our big thing was having her "park" next to the fence and I sat on her!! Not for very long, and with one leg and one warm on the panel so I didn't risk safety if she panicked or needed to leave. The ground was really uneven and I think with feeling my weight for the first time on the really terrible/uneven footing she just felt weird and shifted around a lot. I just rubbed her and got off, put her back in position, then lifted and lowered myself over her, rubbed with my leg, etc, sat on her, got up, on, off, rub, etc. She did really well. I am excited to see how she progresses and at what speed. I didn't anticipate doing a lot of the things we've done thus far, yet on the other hand there are a lot of things I didn't think would be so challenging for her that have turned out to be rather difficult (i.e., the circling game). Such a fascinating horse - I just hope I am good enough for her!

I've been trying to decide what focus I should have for us and what discipline or two I'd like to 'specialize' in with her and I'm torn between dressage/jumping and maybe some western sports like break away roping (I need to learn to rope first :), trail classes, ranch versatility, or WP... I want to do everything!