Water Fights, Yielding, and The Farrier

Don't you love when you capture the most perfect candid moments? What a fabulous expression he's got. Notice how one side of him looks VERY dusty, and the other side is shiny, shiny, shiny.

"Yeah, I rolled. What's it to ya??"

Great news as Mom finally got Jet to yield Zone 1 in Driving, albeit at phase 4,061 but she used the fence as a marker which proved to be a great help. I still need major work in upping my energy so Jet views me as more of a leader, and less like a fly that landed on his shoulder. Although I was imitating Linda in the segment in L&HB about the horse who doesn't use his energy as an example to Mom about different ways to produce rhythmic pressure and Jet SNAPPED awake, like, "Whoa, where'd that come from??" I'm always so worry when I up my energy that I'm going to come off as mean or aggressive but Jet didn't seem the least bit worried. In fact, he licked his lips, and was looking expectantly at us after that like, "K ladies, whaddya want me to do?" For a LBE, I'm amazed how when his curiosity starts going, he gains much more of a desire to please. When he's not particularly engaged, that's when he starts acting dominant...like he's trying to create his own fun. So he'll wander away, sniff turds, pretend we're not there...and when we use the carrot stick for Porcupine and especially Driving, he'll throw his head up. Here's a question, Parelli Peeps, do you always do all the Games in order or do you mix them up after establishing your horse understands you when you play the games and can play them LB at a relatively low phase?

The new farrier arrived this morning THANK GOD, but Jet was a little anxious about waiting. He's so sociable and was busy whinnying at Jill's Fresians who were gaily tearing each other apart in the pasture next door, so I figured he needed some time to move his feet around and keep his brain thinking. Undemanding time at Liberty, no sticks, no lead ropes. We had a BALL! I actually got him to trot after me and play Tag. His way of saying "You're it!!" was grabbing my shirt and trying to tear it over my head. Luckily I was wearing a sports bra so if that had actually happened, I wouldn't have offended too many people. Then, to cool off I grabbed a hose, which he loves drinking out of. Jet thought it would be even MORE fun to bite down on the nozzle and shake his head around, soaking both of us to the core. For one of the first times EVER, I felt like a horse was actually PLAYING with me. When I left the round pen to fetch something, he actually whinnied after me!

Mom and I had a great first impression of our new farrier. He seems extremely concerned with the welfare of every individual horse's foot and devises "Hoof Plans" for turning even the flimsiest flap of fingernail into Hooves of Steel. He discussed Jet's feet, past, present and future in detail and while I am THOROUGHLY fascinated by hoof care, Shiloh has been farrier hungry for weeks and there were at least 8 horses including Jet who were in dire need of mani/pedis and he had been there for over 2 hours and only done 1 horse. Jill was extremely anxious to get these other tenderfoots ready (and who could blame her??), so Mom and I listened as long as we could, and said we were going to work with some other horses for a minute so he could concentrate. Jill decided to use this guy for the boarders, aka the Overprotective Parents Who Will Nod and Listen Mesmerized For Hours About Frog Depth, and a more direct clipper to help maintain the geriatrics and sanctioned horses that can go barefoot. I had some friends join us today so we went and gave some of the ponies baths, while Mom tried Natural Attraction with a frightened Mini paint who had been used at carnivals. She made it back to the farrier just as he was finishing up with Jet. I popped back into his pasture to give him cookies and say goodbye and noticed he had a much lighter spring in his step and was distributing his weight far more evenly than he had been. Oh God, I love effecient farriers. Mom agreed that the guy did a terrific job and we definitely owed him some lecture time (us listening to him lecture, not vice versa). Then Mom said, "And the farrier kindly requests that we stay with Jet the entire time anyway next time, because he said Jet got very upset when we left and it wasn't until I came back that he finally dropped his head and stood still."

Oh, my.