The biggest project may start soon

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Pool noodles of death! At liberty.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Looks like they did well!

 

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I still haven't gone back to saddle work with Flugi. Other than tossing it on & off.
Lots of mini ground sessions involving anything that happens to be near by.
She's just so worried & upset about anything I bring to her. So, I'm just taking our time to work up to her mellowing out about us working together.
This is why I don't like mares, they tend to be grumpy turds. Lol Yeah, geldings can also be turds, but they don't have the hormones making it worse.

Took this pic tonight, after working with the fatty in the middle. I was carrying a lead, halter & lunge crop. You can see she's not happy about that by her tense belly line.
She was actually backing up to hide behind the middle potato.

I think I'm too sensitive to be working with horses that are like her. If I had a money tree & endless space, there wouldn't be an issue with continuing super slow work. I did it with my gelding, years to get to where he is, but Flugi is supposed to be a resale project. I can't get another horse to work with if she's here.
Hopefully, she'll start actually relaxing & quickly improving in training soon.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Once upon a time, about 150 years ago I was given a mustang mare. All she would do when I got her was barely lead at the end of a long, long rope. She wanted no contact with humans and would stay as far away as possible. After weeks and weeks of working with her she would tolerate us. She stopped fighting but she never really relaxed. I did a lot of the things you're doing to expose her to many different stressors. I'll never forget the day that she gave in. There was an audible sigh, a lowering of her head and she began to seek out human affection. After that, it was a breeze and she became one of the best riding horses I have ever straddled. She was my barrel horse and after me she taught lots of little girls to run the cloverleaf. I used to give demonstrations of barrel runs with no bridle - just a neck rope. She was with me until she was 28 y.o. and there'll never be another quite like her.

 

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Got a new long lens. Messing with it & using my realllllly old Photoshop program(version 5!) on some pics.
Before n after.

 

[Bruce]

Looks good.

 

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YESTERDAY
Lunged all the ponies, except Dunie, he's got a limp at the trot. So, I asked him to stand outside the path & let the others zoom by.
I had set up an area by the corner with pool noodles on two sides. They all raced through it, while Flugi stalled. I insisted with the whip that she follow the other 3 & she did!
Then, after they were done with their practice, I got their feed & decided to see if she'd follow me & the food through the noodles again.
And she did, with almost no hesitation!!

 

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Today.

Caught her w/o trouble, saddled & walk/trot lunged her w/o much trouble. Lots of snorting, but she's actually paying attention instead of zoning out like a bomb.

 

[Bruce]

She's making good progress

 

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Worked with Flugi twice today, this morning & an hour ago. Slow and calm, one tiny step at a time.
She's now a snorty, interactive horse, instead of just staring out into the abyss like a zombie.
She looks around at the cinch moving and the fender flapping. Looking to see and smell what's happening around her.
Twitching and snorting, but listening to what I'm saying.
It feels like she's "waking up" and starting to be an active participant in everything I do with her.