Last year sometime,Tony mentioned to me that one day in the future I would ride over to his house and we would have training sessions there. I secretly thought to myself that I would probably be old and senile and lying in a nursing home somewhere by the time my horse was ready to make the trek from Code Blue to Tony's house :)) Well today we did just that!! Dawn and I set out for Tony's and planned on meeting Elaine there to have our session someplace new. Tony set up some barrels behind his house and had us play some of the seven games to get our horses focused on us and then had us weave the horses on line in and out of the barrels without putting any tension on the lead line. It was hard to do because you had to really have a good hindquarter disengage,and a good driving game!Everyone did well!! Then he put the barrels together and had us play the circle game near the barrels and then send the horses over them first in one direction and then the other! He also wanted us to walk from one set of barrels to the other and keep the horses circling around us while we walked......this was difficult especially since we were walking over a grassy field :) I didn't think Phryso was going to jump the larger barrels because I had difficulty trying to do this back at the barn and I mentioned it. Tony said Phryso wouldn't jump them if I kept saying and thinking that he wouldn't jump them,and that I should think that he WOULD jump them just fine. So as I approached the second jump,I said aloud"I am thinking that he is going to sail over the barrels just fine" and HE DID!!! HAAAAA! Right again Tony! :)) So remember that the next time you think your horse is not going to do something! :) Anyway all the horses did great and we all had fun,it was a great day!! Between the ride to and from Tonys and the training session,Dawn and I had our horses out for 4 hours today!! We saw loads of deer in the park and a doe with twin fawns,and we saw the magnificent osprey circling over our heads on the way home. Thanks for a great day Tony,and for having enough faith in Phryso and I to know that we WOULD make it to your house one day! :) I still can't believe how far we have come!!
Sue
Sue R