New Day

I ordered Parelli's Level I kit. It came yesterday. I have already played the friendly game, yo-yo game, and driving game. She did great! It actually worked. It also seems much more polite. My husband is not very supportive. I think it is because his attitude is not positive and he does not communicate well. Working with my horse is like seeing me in a whole new light. I keep thinking in the back of my head how are these techniques applicable to dealing with people and the girls. It is definitley getting me more in tune with my body language and facial expressions.

Last Few Days

I had her shoes pulled Thursday. She seemed a little sore, so I have not done much with her the last few days. I went to the Georgia Arabian Horse Association meeting today. It was informative and I meet a few people. I have decided to do the Parelli program. It should be here next week. Can't wait. Not much else is going on right now.

Still Cold

All this cold weather makes it hard to do much with Khari. So I am pretty sure I am going to take the plunge into barefoot trimming and let Khari go with no shoes. I worked with her today on more free lunging, brushed her down, and noticed that her coat looked a little dull. I will be keeping a close eye on her to make sure that she is feeling ok. With it being so cold I do not know if she is getting enough water. I took some more pictures of her today and will be posting them soon. I finally found someone to come and work with me and Khari. She has been working with horses for 40yrs. She follows natural horsemanship techniques so I am very excited. But it will not be until February. In the meantime I am going to re-read Pat Parelli's Natural Horsemanship book. Hopefully I am going to have her shoes pulled on Thursday.

On the home front my youngest daughter almost started the house on fire today, peed on the porch, and touched the fire poker right after it had been in the fire. Its hard being 3.

Another Cold Day

Today was another cold day in Georgia. Very odd for this part of the country. Today I worked on some round pen work with Khari. We worked on free lunging, leading with no rope, bending with no rope, and having our face and ears rubbed. I am working up to clipping. She does not really like to have her ears touched but with persistence she is making progress. I also took a few more short videos you can check them out at www.localequine.com. I am also considering taking her shoes off. I have found several websites support ting no shoes. It actually cuts off almost all of the blood circulation to the lower leg.

End of the Snowy Day

Last night when I went to the barn I cleaned out Khari's stall while she stood and patiently waited for me. I then took her blanket off and checked her over to make sure she had no cuts or sores on her from being in her stall all day. We then did some longeing and backing to get her blood flowing. I posted short video clips of lunging and backing her at www.localequine.com .

Snow Day

Today we are suppose to get 1-3 inches of snow. I wonder what my Arab will think of the snow? I am really glad that I purchased a new blanket from Schneider's 6 months ago. My husband thought it was overkill because we live in Georgia, he grew up in Montana, and it generally doesn't get very cold. She has stayed absolutely gorgeous though without growing a great furry coat. It was definitely worth it.

I also bought her a hood to keep her mane (lycra slicker hood) from getting ragged. This has doubled as a neck warmer for her on days like today. Definitely worth the money. I didn't realize how much mud it would keep out of her mane on rainy days. Georgia clay seems to get everywhere when it rains.