Girl Time

Lately it's been in the -30's so no horse time for me, but today we finally got a break in the weather. I spent a much needed 4hrs outside with my herd. I had Moon at liberty in her pen and worked on trimming her feet while she ate. After that I tied my savvy string around her neck and used a bucket to mount. I love the fact that we are now safe and confident enough together for me to be able to do that. I hung out like that a while, just rubbing on her with my carrot stick as she finished her hay. We practiced a few turns and some circles but I mostly just hung out up there. For the fun of it I decided to try teaching her to back up without the use of reins, and I made sure I couldn't use them by not having anything on her head at all! I had to put some feel on the string and use my carrot stick for added guidance at first but she caught on fairly quick. I started off getting her to think backwards rather than forwards and she started to shift her weight back for me. It progressed to actually stepping back and before I got off we managed to get a few steps back with me only asking with my legs. It was a happy moment for me. I love learning!
I also spent time grooming my other 2 girls, Summer and Shadow. They both seemed to appreciate the extra attention and scratches. Summer's coat looked so nice after a good brushing, I even found a good itchy spot that caused her to back up at liberty with me in zone 5, just so I would get it for her! Shadow has a long mane and I was able to get it all combed out, it looked pretty good after and she loved the added neck scratching that came with the untangling. It was so nice to spend time with them again and not have to freeze! I think we all were loving this nicer weather!