Give-away!!!

Well, not my own yet... but Ashley over at A Process of Learning is having a giveaway for a blog makeover! Hers is really adorable, so I'm blogging to see if I can get double entries and to let everyone know!

On the horsey news front: We did crossrails today!!! I just set up the second smallest crossrail we could do and did it. Well, I walked her over it first, but there was no stopping or even a big hesitation. I think it's finally starting to click.

There were all sorts of fun things to play around with since my barn had a desensitization clinic recently. The funniest part was that the brush they set up with scary tarps etc was not nearly as scary as the seating area for Bijou. She really doesn't like lawn chairs. I got her to let me put one on her back last time I worked her, but she still shied away. I let (or maybe made) her walk up to anything scary, sniff it for a sec, and then it was time to forget about it. For the most part it would work. She would start to fixate on the scary thing as we approached, and I would leg on with my inside leg to correct her counter bend. She would flick an ear back toward my leg as if to say "oh ya, you're over there and I'm supposed to be working" and by the time she thought that we were past whatever it was that was so scary to begin with.

I also started bareback 'training' with her today. I like riding them from the pasture up to the trailer bareback, but I haven't really had the guts or trust to do so yet. She was really cuddly today when I went to get her, so I thought I'd try it out. I scritched on her really well and then just hopped up and down next to her a bit. When I first got her that would have been impossible! Now she doesn't even raise her head or flick an ear. She's too tall to just pop up onto, so I tried taking a step back in order to get some momentum. That's the part she wasn't too fond of. I made her settle back down and did it a few more times til I found a gopher mound that I could use for a stepladder. That worked out just great! I laid across her for a second or two til I started slipping and called it good. I'm really impressed with her, I think that she really trusts me now and we're going to go far as long as I can keep her that way :D

I've got quite a few days off this week, so hopefully we'll get lots of practice in!