Stampede Parade prep

Today was another quick day with our own horses, though this time Missy and Silver. Silver and Koolaid each had their feet done today, Silver getting fronts on.


Silver
Much improved over yesterday even! Our work was shorter today, cut short by the farrier finally arriving (late). We worked on pretty much all that we had worked on yesterday though, and made a lot of progress already! Our sidepass to the left was great (I was very delicate in my communication to him though), our lateral work and circles were great (obviously lots of cleaning up to do yet though, but he was great and we were able to work on a lot of refinement and advanced work!), and we even got in some nice flying chances! Some cross-firing though, so we'll have to work on that (which will include a chiro workover). I will have to get his teeth done soon as well, which will probably help our communication some. I was pretty happy with our work today though, Silver is such a hard, honest worker.

Afterwards we hauled Silver off (he loaded great - I can't imagine after the type of partnership we've worked so hard to develop, him being difficult to trailer!) to the same facilitv Link is at to bath and stall him. Not the greatest day for a bath, as it was a little cloudy and windy - luckily the sun came out afterwards though and evaporated poor Silver's shivering.


Missy
I worked the big tank whilst Koolaid and Silver's feet were being done, and for her first real work under-saddle, and away from her love (*ahem* Koolaid), she did great! She was a little excited at first when under-saddle (after some quick groundwork) and gave me some attitude (headshaking at me and refusing to move out on the right rein when we changed direction), so I actually did dismount and did some groundwork with her before remounting. On the ground she was very light and responsive, though a little reactive. Under-saddle the second time (after earning a higher level of her respect on the ground), she worked great for me! Her attention was not 100 percent on me, however it was nonetheless very good (say at 90 percent as opposed to 10 percent or so our first shot at under-saddle today, lol) and I was overall very pleased with her focus and work. We did sidepass, walk/trot, figure-8's, circles, etc - some engagement work, and reminding her she knows what leg aids are (it was more than a little hilarious feeling her 'remembering' underneath me, hehe). A great work, especially considering Koolaid was screaming at her to come back in the background - I am looking forward to making more progress with her! We'll work the next week or so in the rope hackamore before putting her in the cradle bit - her teeth need to be done first.


That was it for the day! Prepped Silver for the parade at the other barn before moving on to scouting out more vehicles. I checked in on Link though did not ride him, to find him contentedly chewing down grass. Koolaid had lost weight with Missy's introduction (I think he was spending a lot of time and energy protecting "his mare", haha), but has regained it back after being left out on pasture at nights (24/7) as opposed to days only. It's funny too, because I think he may have lost weight too because he spends so much time staring off into space rather than eating his share of grass. That and the ultra-good metabolism of his, haha.