I started this last week but naughty me has only sat down and finnished it tonight….sorry. So, from last week:
True to my word (but admittedly a few days late), I’m starting the new ‘shorter but more often blog’. Hopefully I will find this more doable so I can get on here a bit more regularly. I’m actually waiting for a horse to be dropped off right now so thought it was a good time to get on here.
Schnitty and Sammy helping with feed up
So, onto the lovely Spirit. She’s had a great first week and is now everyone’s best friend around here. I’ve actually had to ask her out of my space the last few nights with mucking out, she’s that friendly and wanting to help with all the jobs.
Spirit's stunning trot.
From a training point of view, Spirit is now ready to start her mouthing. We’re waiting for Dr Rachel Stone who’s coming tomorow to do Spirit’s teeth as of course we can’t start any mouthing until they are done so Spirit is having a day off in the paddock today.
Fred has completed Spirit’s leg restraint training and she’s now getting really confident with having her legs and feet picked up and handled and being touched everywhere else. Fred also hopped on her from both sides last week while she was collar roped to consolidate the training and she coped really well with this.
Fred started the Parelli 7 games with Spirit last week and she has learnt lots of those now and is amazingly light and responsive and quick. Trainers talk about horses being able to ‘move their feet’, often trainers that are anti leg restraints actually 
. It’s very important that a horse be able to move their feet in any training situation…duh…. but with a previously wild horse, and in Fred’s opinion any horse, you need to know that you can also stop those feet from moving and that the horse has an understanding of stopping and moving off again with no panic and with full, calm focus on the trainer. Well, Spirit has that and some now and has learnt the yo yo game, the driving game, the porcipine game and a few others will full confidence. She’s a very good pupil!
Learning some groundwork games
I’ve included a photo of Spirit having the bridle on for the first time. This is purely to let her feel the sensation of having a bit in her mouth to make Rachel’s job easier tomorow when she puts a dental gag in Spirit’s mouth for the first time, just incase anyone was wondering.
Bridle on for the first time
Mouthing
Just to quickly update on other things around here it’s been pretty business as usual. All the horses are going really well with 3 ready to go home this weekend. We have three new horses arriving this week too, a lovely Welsh Cob for starting, an unraced Standy for starting and the new one coming today.
Archie having his morning gallop
Update again tonight (3/05) as I didn’t get a chance to post the above yet…sorry . Spirit has now finnished the mouthing process and is having her first ride tomorow. She’s been coming along so well and the only set back Fred had was when he started to put her ‘front brakes’ on where he needs to get behind her. She found it very hard to accept him behind her and not being able to really see him all the time. They worked away at it with small efforts and big rewards, and Spirit was far more confident today with it and is now ready for her first ride. I’ll post on how she goes but she should be fine.
'Front brakes'
The lovely Tira is back today too which is exciting. He was featured in earlier blogs as Clayton Station Tirawa (his full name) and is a stunner. I’ll mention him more next time and some of the others as we have some interesting horses in now.
Barney, here for re mouthing.
