Lilly's outing

Yesterday Dingo had an outing, today it's Lilly's turn.  Except that she's not off to a clinic.  She's off to the state forest for a walk.

We are barely out the front gate, when Lilly first sinks her hooves in the ground and refuses to go forwards.  I am carrying a crop, but at this point I don't feel the need to use it.  There is a lot of going backwards, and she tries at all costs not to go forwards.  But in the end, she relents, and we walk on, up to the state forest gates.

There are two gates into the state forest, and the 40m in between them is hardly enough to bother getting back on.  So while I am walking her between the two gates, Lilly kindly tries to bulldoze me.  Nothing a bit of "stop" and "back up" can't fix.

Once we are on the state forest track, firstly it takes me a while to get on, due to Lilly spinning about.  When I am finally on, she takes up to going backwards again.  A bit of a tricky task, as there is quite a slope in places, and the ground has all sorts of nasty branches lying in long grass.  I persist gently.  The fact that the gate is closed is a real help - at the very least we can just stand there.

After about 10 minutes, she gets over it, and goes forward.  Uncertainly at first.  I encourage with my seat, and she decides to trust me.  And the rest of the ride is pure pleasure.

Of course our tustles mean that we have wasted time, and I probably don't have the time to do a loop.  Not to mention, there might me more tustles along the way.  So I pick a nice safe looking spot and stop.  Then I ask her to go forward again.  Yes, this is really important.  It tests the friendship.  I can feel her hesitate, but we're good.  She goes forward.  I reward her by turning her around and heading home.

On the way home, I ensure that she is on her best behaviour.  There is to be no getting excited, no trit trotting, no head shaking, no shying.

Once we're back at the hitching rail I feel really satisfied with my ride.  It has shown me that we need to do much more of this.  But I have also returned feeling that quiet persistance, which is so much in my nature, works really well with this horse.  And I just think we make such a solid partnership.