Ride 5 and lunging basics

It is amazing to think that I have already had Mia for 2 weeks now, it seems like it was just last weekend that I picked her up and yet it also feels like she has been here forever.  She has integrated into the herd perfectly and, aside from some bites from the App, it has been an extremely uneventful integration.  The App is doing much better, he has been very sore these past 2 weeks with a hoof bruise/abscess.  I was planning on bringing him back up to the equine hospital to see my vet this past Thurs as he was so uncomfortable that banamine was the only thing keeping him semi-comfortable, but the threat of the vet worked because he suddenly got better Wednesday night.  He went from almost non-weight bearing to barely limping.  I can't find anywhere where an abscess would have burst through but he is certainly more comfortable, comfortable enough that I even took him off of bute on Saturday.  Success!  He is now/finally being turned out with everyone instead of being locked in the indoor arena by himself and he hasn't relapsed.  This week the vet will be out to do another evaluation on the TWH and his suspensory and I will have the App checked on too, hopefully I will have 3 sound horses.

Mia is flying right along in her training and is picking everything up quite quickly.  I had ride 5 on Friday and we can walk, trot, transition between trot and halt off of my seat and even halt off of my seat.  She can now also move each haunch and shoulder away from pressure on command and even back.  I rode her for the first time at a trot with blunt spurs on Friday and while I didn't really use them, the feeling of them there was enough for Mia to really move out and trot quite nicely.  She is going to be a nice mover once she gets some muscle and balance.

This morning I worked on lunging for the third time, the majority of her sessions are ground work and I have free lunged her twice so I figured it was time to try something new.  She has learned to walk on a lunge line (in a small circle) and she halts, most of the time.  After some warm up I worked with making the circle bigger, I have kept her on a really small circle for control and after some clarification on what I expect on a bigger circle, she was walking and halting on a 15-20m circle like a pro.  Yay!  It actually took a little time to teach a calm change of direction, the first change of direction she was completely confused on what I wanted and the second resulted in a nice, springy trot away with a strong eye at the door as she planned to make a break for it.  Ah young horses lol.  With more repetition she figured out how to change direction and then decided to start offering it whenever she felt like it, Uh no mare.  Must wait until asked thank you.

With the changes of direction becoming easier I figured it was time to try a faster gait and with some encouragement she went into a pretty nice trot on a nice 15-20m circle.  No zoomies, no buck, no take offs, just a nice slower trot that she was more than willing to drop out of when asked.  Yay!  We need to work on the whoa more, apparently she forgets how to whoa if it is asked after a trot but it will come and everything else is going fantastically.

Ride 6 will be tonight and ride 7 tomorrow, I are going to start incorporating some of the new leg cues while moving to see if we can get some of this steering business under control.  I think I will also start trying to ride with some contact at the trot to introduce that concept.  Right now I leave her be while she learns the basics and I think she has got them pretty well.  I am so happy with this horse and am really excited to see how we progress through the winter.

In other news, check out Denali's mom's new adventures now that she lives in Alaska and is horseless.  She is doing a great job of balancing humor and adventures without making it a mommy blog.  Jealous of her cupcakes though!