The morning was spent online doing the change direction at a trot without breaking gait. Sue did fairly well at this considering she had not done it before and is nervous at turning and facing me and then going the other direction! Anyway, we had a lot of fun at this and made some improvements in maintaining gait. Sue felt claustrophobic when everyone started riding. I was instructed to do the hindquarter/forequarters turning task and then move on. Everyone else was doing it at a stand still. But Sue felt…

Wednesday, May 10, 2006 Sue - How Do You Go On A WALK I got home too late to ride Sue...darn it..outside at my home. So, Sue and I took a walk. What nice manners she has. Not once did she dive for the wondrous green grass. We walked out the gate and headed for an old stump. I sat on the stump and let her grazz. She was very comfortable and able to eat between checking things out. We walked on some more...around a lake and went back home.…

I had fun tonight on Sue. I was able to relax. I had someone telling me what to do. I didn't have to rely on myself to figure out what to do. I had a task. I had people to chat with as I zipped around. All those are good things. In the warm up tonight I think we have the rope throwing done..except she still flinched when I threw it over her while clamoring in the trailer. I used lots of treats tonight when she accepted the rope touching…

I haven't played with Sue for almost a week. My life with humans got in the way. Sue thought about not coming up to me. She stayed outside the round pen instead of coming inside. Finally, she decided that she could be caught and came on in her stall. We went to Pine Dell and went through our long warm-up "friendly" games. We chatted with other people and just had a nice time. Then it came time for the bridle...Sue is hard to bridle. She doesn't open her mouth. I…

My personal life won the battle for time this past week. I only saw lovely Sue in the distance. One night this week, I stepped out my front door and there was Sue. She came up and smelled my hand. Then she left. I was pleased. Today, the chiropractor came to work on Velvet and Isabel. she saw Sue for the 1st time. She said Sue was "portly" or maybe she said "chubby". Guess Sue shouldn't be on the rich grass so long and I should ride her more...I wish!…