Juniper
Juniper had her first lesson out of the corrals today. It was cool and windy, the perfect day for this sort of thing. Besides, Sunshine needed a break.
That didn’t mean Sunshine had a day off. Just that he got a break from active training. His job today was moral support. He got to come along and graze. That was his duty, grazing calmly nearby and he did a wonderful job at it. He does like to graze.
Juniper and I explored. She touched a barrel. That’s the first step towards rolling one. She stood on the teeter totter and the piece of plywood. She walked over the poles, then when she realized she got a cookie for that she very purposefully walked over them a couple more times. She hung out and looked around. Then when she didn’t want any more cookies we went and stood with Sunshine to do more of that grazing.
She was nervous, it’s understandable in different surroundings. That was the point of this, to start working on those nerves. She did have one little incident. I wasn’t doing a good enough job of managing the rope and she turned into it so it wrapped around her neck. She handled it beautifully, if off screen unfortunately, calming right down and letting me fix it instead of panicking and bolting.
We need to get to this on a much more regular basis. I love her brains, her curiosity, and her desire to explore. She comes and checks in with me regularly and whenever she gets worried. This is one fun horse to work with.
