Oh WOW

Today was a WOW day. Both Karin and I must have repeated that word quite a few times today but more on that later. This morning we had mud, rushing creeks, and full overflow ponds. I'm not sure how much rain we got yesterday but what came down was substantial. The driveways here are so soft and squishy. We cut the walk a little short as one of the driveways just had too many deep puddles for any of us to want to wade through. I left for Berean and had a great day there. Today the Bibles were delivered and processed. To read about our morning there click HERE. I was on my way home before noon but stopped at Diane's office to drop off her printer cd.
Karin arrived for her usual training but today she only wanted to work 4 mares as Hannah was coming to help with Galena's training. The first mare worked was Zalena.

Zalena improved over yesterday. 

When Karin quit with her we were both impressed. Her canter transitions were much more quiet and controlled. She is neck reining and did not rush as much. The next mare worked was Indy. Now Indy would fall in at the canter but today did not. The flag Karin is using on all the mares is a training tool. They need to learn to balance Karin's weight while she leans forward, back and side to side waving the flag near her head, sides, rump and feet.

 Notice the big smile on Karin's face in the picture above and below. We just couldn't get over the improvement since yesterday. 

After Indy Karin worked 4 year old Oksana. 

Oksana does not know how to neck rein but is learning. She too had some awesome transitions. Karin feels Oksana is going to be our next superstar. She is a curious mare and into everything. To see more pictures taken of her today click HERE.  Galena was last, Karin put the surcingle on her as today she was going to be introduced to vaulting. The very first thing Galena did when Karin asked for a trot is buck. She isn't very athletic but that is not the reaction we want from her. 

 Karin asked Hannah to bring Faith with her and when they arrived put Faith on Oksana and Hannah on Galena. 

 The plan was to have Hannah on Galena with Karin lunging her and Faith walking on the outside of the circle with Oksana except the first time Karin cracked the whip Oksana took off cantering with Faith. At that point I lead them around the outside of the circle until Oksana got used to the cracking of the whip. Now the pictures below do not tell the entire story. Yes Galena looks like she is a vaulting horse in them but she is not at all ready to be a vaulting horse. 

 It sometimes takes years for the horse to learn a steady rhythm and to accept someone dancing around on top of them instead of sitting still. To see the rest of Galena's work out click HERE. She did well and Hannah gave her a great big hug for all of her hard work. 

Once the horses were put away, Karin came down for supper and we marveled at how well today went with each horse and the improvement we saw in each. Wow another wonderful day!