Trying to think positive

I admit I don't enjoy taking Mara out yet. It's something I have to do to get her through her stress, and I'm never sure what will set her off, so it's not fun yet.

A commenter on my blog said, "I always tried to think of the good things that happened, not focus on the problems." (paraphrasing) That's what I'm doing now.

Tonight was good! She did not try to pass me at all for the first time, she just consented to walk behind me, and her head was at a respectable horse level, not giraffe-ish at all today. She even sighed. She showed curiosity, pausing by scary new things, rather than freaking out.

When I talked to two different neighbors, she stood stock still and waited. Not happily, oh no, but she resigned to just stand there. One neighbor pointed out how nervous she is, how tense, and I said "Yes, and this is a very helpful exercise, just standing here talking to you."

We went by the terrifying sheep and lambs and she didn't spin around me for the first time. She actually stopped and stared at them curiously. Very good!

I took her down to the watershed, aligned her with the first bench and leapt on. She has the bareback pad on now cuz I'm not so sure about the saddle. She stood perfectly still as I stood over her, and even after I was on. Wow.

Her hooves are ruined in only 6 weeks of living in a muddy/wet pasture. I'm so bummed. She was a true gravel cruncher 6 weeks ago, and now she does all she can to stay off the trail, skirting the sides and even falling down mini cliffs to stay off gravel. Thankfully the neighbors across the street let me try on a few types of Easyboots and I found the ones that fit. That number is a guarded secret cuz really no horse should have such miniscule hooves. They should arrive tomorrow. This is Germany, land of 2 day shipping.

So riding her barefoot now is kind of challenging as she keeps trying to leap off the trail onto either the up-side or the cliff-side. Agh. I admit I held mane a lot of the ride.

Then she spooked big time at the very logs she had chewed on 10 minutes before, that  I had sat on. Good grief. She had never seen them from that perspective (coming home rather than going out) so they were totally different. I was so thrilled when she did not choose the option to spin and run back down to the watershed. I spoke to her sternly and she finally managed to walk by, giving them a wide berth. *sigh* Success!

Then I jumped off, remembering again how lovely short she is, and slapped her neck a lot, loudly. I would never slap a horse to praise it, in fact, I used to only slap Baasha when he was being ridiculous and I wanted to patronize him. He knew what it meant. But Mara is *German*. Germans slap their horses as hard as they can to reward them for good behavior. So hard, and so loud, that small avalanches fall whenever a horse is good in the Alps. Around here, birds fly panicked from treetops.

I let her chew on one of our rose bushes and was totally thrilled with our 1 hour training session.

She even gave me all 4 hooves tonight, twice (I had to be sure). I think there is a thinking part in her brain that is wondering what the part that isn't thinking isn't thinking of.

I've received encouragement from you guys, and I've been so frustrated and IMPATIENT that this is going so slowly, but I know, logically, I've got a good thing here. I have a well-started, good-minded horse who is not mean, not spoiled, and picking up the rules (if slowly).

She tried to break Herr S's hitching post THREE TIMES yesterday. But failed thank God. Now I'm glad I trusted my instincts and never ever tied her here at home, where we have nothing solid. Her ground tying is almost perfect and....tonight...it *was* perfect. She knows when I say STAND and drop the rope to the ground, she'd better not move a hoof. Well, at least tonight! But that shows a lot of self control for a green horse, I think.

I did some target training when we got home as a positive thing, and finally she's getting it. She used to be afraid to touch the target when it was on her left barrel, because the first time she touched it, it made a noise and spooked her. Now she is touching it like Baasha used to, confidently.

I think she feels the echo of Baasha in my mind and I know she smells him on my tack and in the barn and on the grooming tools. She cannot miss the fact that I regret that she is not him. That is not a very nice thing to do to a person or animal. I simply need time; she came so soon.

They say it takes 6 months to 2 years to fully bond. I am nowhere near it, but we'll see what happens.