Yes, I am still working with Matilda.

I wonder how many of my posts begin with an apology for not writing enough....

I am just going to summarize where we are now and what we are doing, so that I can move forward with you this week.

1) Groundwork:

Matilda continues to excel with all of her basics. I believe we have finished all the exercises in Chapter 2 of our book, including one in which I had to attach a lunge line to one side of her harness, take it down one side of her body, behind her legs and pull to see if she would follow the pressure without knowing where it was coming from. This was an exercise I was wary of doing but Matilda had no problems with it.

Right now we are focusing on just how Matilda responds to pressure. (She should move away from it, fyi.) We are building her response level, using all the voice and visual commands she has learned to help, so that if I put a finger on any part of her body, she will move away from it. We are doing this with the idea that even a small child should be able to move Matilda around with the smallest amount of pressure from their leg. She is better in some places than in others. For instance, she is more likely to give a speedy and appropriate response from her left shoulder than her right. We are working on this all the way from the top of her head down to her haunches: applying varying degrees of pressure and waiting for her to move where and how we want her to, then click and reward!

We are also starting to click for her ears turning forward. As long as I have known Matilda, she has preferred to have her ears pointed back, not pinned back but not far off it. This one is going to take some time. Matilda is such a wiggle worm, I anticipate weeks before she narrows in on what exactly she is doing to earn the click.

2) Longe work:

The lunge work is going really well. I am keeping Matilda on the 10' lead for the time being but have, on several occasions, been able to ask for the trot, drive her through it for 1 or 2 full circles and then ask for and immediately receive the walk and stop. I am not ignorant of the fact that the heat is working in my favor. Ninety + degrees, bright sunshine and high humidity keeps all of us a little quieter in spirit.

I think I can say that I did learn from the last break away. We start every longing session with about 5-10 minutes of me dropping and picking up the whip, making sure that she can stand still while I move around her holding the whip out towards her. There have been many days when I haven't asked for anything from Matilda, as far as longing goes, because the timing or something didn't feel right.

The closest I have come to a break away happened last week (while my mom was visiting, incidentally - she really enjoyed seeing Matilda do the things she has been reading about). I was just working on walk/stops with Matilda and the ATV went by to deliver dinner to the paddocks. Of course Matilda knew exactly what that ATV meant and she gave a buck and trot, I immediately dropped the whip and pulled her nose in while I yelled "WHOA!" She responded and it was over. Just like that. Nice to be able to maintain control every once in a while.

I am hoping for one more solid week of good, short walk/trot/halt work before I move her onto the 25' longe line and give her more space to move. Maybe next week!

3) An introduction:

I want to introduce you to Loryn. Loryn loves Matilda and hopes to ride and/or lease her someday (soon?). Kim hooked us up and she is now working with Matilda, too. Loryn has a lot of experience with horses and riding and I am grateful to be able to share this experience with her. It is also good to know that there is someone else looking out for Matilda on the days I can't be there.

In addition to all the other stuff that we are working on, I think Loryn is going to start working with Matilda on "squaring up" on command and (hopefully) whenever she stops. Squaring up means that when she is standing still her front legs and back legs are lined up, nice and even.


SO that is where we are. If all goes according to plan, I will be at the barn a good amount this week and would love to have some interesting stories for you, more pictures, maybe even a video! Things are cruising along nicely, though. Sometimes it's hard to believe!