Day 20 First Day of November

We had a good day today. It is the first day of November. It is crazy to think that! As we go into November I am excited to see what our month will be like. We will continue to work on manners while walking, building connections, being brave and confident, manners while being feed, lifting hooves for cleaning and trimming, and standing still. 

She had a lot of spooky things happen to her today. She handled them very well and I waited until she relaxed (licking and chewing) before moving on to something different. I do not want her storing up those rabbits! 

The morning was pretty easy. She did very well with her feet. I tried tapping on her cannon bone to get her to raise her foot. It did not help her raise it faster so I just went back to squeezing her chestnut and wiggling her leg. I also tried counting to help me be patient. Her last foot she picked up very fast! 

I was able to clean her face. :-) 

We checked out the arena and the ball again. She was a little spooked in the arena because the light was shining differently which made different lights and shadows. She also was not very interested in checking out the ball as much so we walked around the arena to the far end. 

When we got back to her pasture something really special happened. She fell asleep while I was petting her. I was going to leave - but then noticed that she was getting very sleepy so I stayed with her and gently petted her as she nodded off. When I stopped petting her tummy and was petting her withers she moved forward a little till my hand was on her tummy. I think she was telling me to pet her tummy. I was gently stroking the underside of her tummy. The hair is so soft there. It feels like velvet. So I gently stroked that part of her belly as she dozed. It was so peaceful. I also gently laid my head on her side. It was a magical moment. 

The evening session was filled with so many more spooks. Because of daylight savings time ending today the sun is going down sooner. So when I went out they were starting to put the some of the horses away in the barns for the night. Also some people were there to ride and train their horses. 

Rabbits of the evening:

1. Other horses anxious - calling (usually horses are quiet)
2. Lots of horses moving around (usually only 1 other person or less is out there)
3. Serenity and (sometimes) Sonnet barking (they were especially barky today much more so than last time - I will need to use the anti-bark collars next time - until they can be calm)
4. Sonnet excitedly scratching at the window 
5. Someone lunging their horse in the arena with the door open (the horse was running fast on the line and the whip was making noise and she could only see the other horse sometimes and it seem to appear and disappear)
6. Gracie all saddled up racing through the open pasture right past her and up through the farm (her owner got off the make a phone call and she took off) - this was the biggest rabbit
7. the barn making weird noises as we walked through

I tried to make sure she let go of each rabbit and didn't let them build up. It was challenging when some of them happened on top of each other. She did very well and we ended the day on a successful note. I am proud of her. She is a great horse and doesn't get too spooked. Today was a unique day. I hope it helps her get more comfortable with lots of things happening at one time. 

I also did not have my hoodies (they were all in the wash so I had no place to put my phone so I could not take very many pictures.)

I was able to take good videos of her walking, her hooves, and hanging out.