Letting Lil Gallop It Out

I'm so glad that I know what she needs right now!!!!!!!!!!!

The horses were in for nearly 48hrs. (all their stalls have large runs but of course its not the same) Plus..even when Lil gets turned out she doesn't usually gallop enough.

Last night I put on forty thousand articles of clothing and sat in Nigel's stall while he ate. This turns out to be a great way to spend undemanding time with him. If I go in when he's not eating he just gets bored with me and wants to DO something. It was pretty cool. He seemed happy to have me there. He kept checking in and blowing out nicely. I say points for me. Ha!

Meanwhile in the stall next door....Lil was climbing the walls. Poor thing. The crazy weather freaks her out.

So today I squeezed in about 40min to take her up to the arena. She rolled right away which is always a good sign...then hopped up squealing and jumping around. Also a good sign. At Liberty* I asked her to maintain gait and direction which she challenged a few times but not in a scared way. After 15 quick canter laps I asked for a flying change which she was present enough to do but she wanted to change direction again so it took us about 7 laps to get 2 good ones maintaining gait to the right. Then she wanted to come in. The really really cool thing was that she was licking her lips within about a minute. And I could see like 2 inches of tongue!!!

We are working on hopping halfway over the barrels. Teaching it Online* at the moment....it took about 4 tries to get it today but then she licked and chewed within a minute again.

Also quickly did a few walk canter transitions and some stretching online...then waited for a final lick and check. This took a little longer but not too bad. She shook her head and as we were walking to the gate she did a few little bits of blowing out. Not like she does most of the time but this was a pretty quick session so I was happy. She was relaxed when I put her blanket back on and settled back into her room. Later when I set everyone free she walked out calmly. Yay!