# Vega



## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

March 30
After a few days of not going up there, i definitely regretted it. Vega was of course, full of energy, but she seemed more happy to see me and her read rope halter  Tom came along too, so i was unsure as to how long he wanted to stay (it was warm, but the wind made him cold and he had a lightish jacket on. Silly boy)
So i just decided to do a little work out with her. She did not trot once on the way to the arena, and she's being a lot calmer and waiting for me to open/close gates.
I started with the yo-yo game and she was doing quite well. I also started backing her up between two cones and making them smaller. This was also testing if she'd be able to back up straight. But she did  She usually turns right or left and rarely goes straight, but I am just so proud of her. 

And that's when things started to get funky. It was windy and there were 2 people walking up with horses. And i guess the fact that she didn't see them, but heard them startled her. Instead of bolting or bucking, like she'd normally do, she got tense, so i sent her backwards, where she raised her tail and snorted. I thought she was done but as soon as i took a step in the other direction, she started prancing and doing little rears and bucks. So again i sent her backwards, and she really started to get the hang of "if i act up, i go backwards"

Since she had lots of energy, i did the circling game trying to get her more LB than RB. And she was doing good. She'd have her little flip outs, but i understand why now. (Tom recorded with his cell phone and we were reviewing it yesterday and today. She's stop/rear/buck if as i'm circling her, i take a few steps towards her. If i let her go in front of me and I follow her, she's good) 
But then she went back into the "OMG they're going to whip me if i don't move" (from how her previous owners "lunged" her) So she did this weird type of canter, where her hind legs would like hit the ground at the same time. I'm thinking it's because she's highly unbalanced and she does that to make up for it. Does anyone have any ideas on that? So after she knew it was me in the middle and not some witch, she quit her crazy canter and started to calm down. And then i switched to only doing a half circle before changing directions. She really responded well to that. I then finished the training with the yo-yo game through the cones.

I really think she's making wonderful progress, compared to where she was at the beginning of the month.

Thanks for reading!


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

April 3

The shirt order was finally done, so i was able to escape from the office and go spend time with the ponies.

Vega did alright. I think she's extremely bored with what we usually do, and boy was she telling me that today. She'll canter for 2 steps, stop, turn her butt away from me, buck twice, and she'll do that like 2 or 3 times. So i decided to do some half circle games at the fence and it went no where. She was confused, i wasn't doing it right. We were a mess :? 

So then i decided to just practice on leading. She normally walks kind of in front of me and when i'd stop, she'd keep going. So i took the end of the lead and would swing it in a circle ahead of me. If she walked to fast and got in front of me, she'd hit into it, and pause for a second and then continue. I was able to walk all over and she's be behind me, and if she ever got too close to the end of the lead, she'd pause and then continue. Since that was going so well, i decided to work on the stopping aspect. OF course the first couple times she's stop out ahead of me, but she'd get hit in the face and back up ((to clarify, the ends of the rope that i was twirling in a circle was hitting her. It wasn't my hand)). So after a while we'd be walking and then i'd stop and she'd stop right where she was! I was very proud of her  

To end on a good note, or a better note, i backed her up throw a gate and she did so good!  At first she was a little unsure, but i told her that i had confidence in her and that she'd be fine, and then she started going!


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