Well, this morning I met Lori (the manager of our boarding stable) at the barn and she served as my spotter for transporting Rain to a run! It went surprisingly well, actually. She followed me calmly out of her stall, through the barn and out the sliding doors to the driveway. Once we were outside, her head went up and she got alert, but she stayed under control, stepping heavy and nodding her head with each step we took. She stayed next to me and walked calmly into the run, and then tore herself out of my hands and galloped full speed through the snow to the other end, then trotted with beautiful energy up and down the fence line for a bit before stopping to introduce herself to her new neighbors. I was fine with that, I was actually going to just let her go anyway, but she got away from me before I could detach the lead rope. So, I gathered our equipment and moved it from the stall to my car, and moved her beloved mineral block into the run. I gave her maybe ten or fifteen minutes to get used to her new surroundings until I went in to catch her. While this certainly wasn't easy, it went much better than I was expecting, and it was actually quite a bit of fun. I ran through the snow chasing her and moving her feet every time she trotted or moved away, running in front of her to cut her off or getting right close next to her to encourage her to go faster. Can't help but think she enjoyed this little game as well, she'd stop every once in a while to come get a treat and then I'd send her off again--after detaching the lead rope the first time, which was a total non-issue.
After playing for quite a while, I finally went and caught her, and I lead her around the perimeter of her new home a couple times in each direction, stopping once in a while for backing up or doing a circle, and then I released her for the afternoon. It'll be interesting to see how catching her goes tomoro...I have no idea what I want to do tomoro, actually...I may try leading her outside and doing a grooming session at one of the hitching posts.
After playing for quite a while, I finally went and caught her, and I lead her around the perimeter of her new home a couple times in each direction, stopping once in a while for backing up or doing a circle, and then I released her for the afternoon. It'll be interesting to see how catching her goes tomoro...I have no idea what I want to do tomoro, actually...I may try leading her outside and doing a grooming session at one of the hitching posts.
RSS Feed