A Major Break Through

     I am couple days behind in posting this since it's been a crazy weekend of holiday prep, hockey, and Taylor's Birthday. It's a bit of a bummer because I wanted to share my excitement with everyone while the feeling was still fresh. This is a great example of how things can get worse before they get better with horses. Never has the phrase slow is fast been any more true. So, let's start at the beginning of Thursday evening.

    When Taylor and I went to feed on Thursday evening I was pretty excited about progress I had made in the morning. I had reached out and touched the crown piece of Pebbles halter and actually tugged on it a bit without her getting worried or panicked. Her halter was still over one ear but it wasn't bothering her and I felt very confident that by not pushing her I was making way more progress than had I forced the issue. I had told Taylor that I expected I might be able to fix the halter over the weekend if things continued on as they were. So of course when we started putting everyone in their stalls to be fed you can imagine how much of a gut punch it was to see that Pebbles had managed to completely twist her halter in such a way that I couldn't just leave it. As she ate her dinner with her halter all askew it was obvious she didn't share my concern about the situation. 

    After the boys were done eating and out enjoying hay I grabbed my flag stick and went in the stall to contemplate my options. I felt like if I could just turn it back around it would be still off one ear but atleast it wouldn't be as bad as it was. My first thought was maybe I could use the flag to do it as I had already gotten her used to me touching her face with that. One attempt told me that the end was to flexible. A stroke of genius made me turn the stick around and use the thick handle and low and behold...success! The halter was back to how it had been. Pebbles stayed remarkably unphased and so as I was standing there I reached out to touch the crown piece again. This time she let me itch behind her ear and pull the crown back towards her neck some. I praised profusely and then decided I might just give it one more try since she was being so good. I lifted the crown piece and pulled back towards her withers and her opposite ear slide under! Woohoo, the halter was now on correctly! All of this really only took about 5 minutes but it was a huge milestone for Pebbles and such a relief for me. In just 8 days with us she has made tremendous progress. She is very smart and genuinely seems to like human companship. Even when we turn her out for the evening she always spends time just being near. Her personality is starting to show and we have learned that she loves her heated water bucket and the barn cats. She doesn't mind the dog being around but she doesn't like the dog in her space.