Eden's Horsemanship Journey

 This past Thursday Mom and I went on a road trip up to Riner to Terrie's farm. We went up to a) visit Sassy again and b) look at and get information on her fence (Horse Guard). It was a beautiful day, and once Sassy saw us and we whistled to her, she came right up. All the horses were shedding their winter coats, so I rubbed Sassy's some to get some hair off her. She was very interested in interacting with us, and didn't get an ugly look on her face at all. I was very pleased with her and her attitude.
We then went to the car, got the camera, and a bag of carrots I brought with me. When I returned to the field, though I shook the carrot bag once, when I called her, Sassy turned and cantered up to me. It was so awesome! I haltered her really easily, gave her some carrots, and played with her a bit. We just did walking and trotting, stopping and backing up on the halter, but she responded so well, and went forward and stopped without ANY tension in the rope. She had a nice soft look on her face the whole time, and I could tell she was feeling good.
At one point I asked her to go out and around me, and she had some trouble with getting her shoulder out and away from me. I had to get strong a couple of times asking her to get out of my space, but she finally understood to get that shoulder out there and walked and trotted fine. She came right back to me when I softened and stopped, too. She was in a really good mood and I could tell that she really enjoys her life now. Hopefully with Summer coming up I'll be able to get out there more often and play with her more regularly, and if I do decided to go to Tech in a couple years then I'll be just minutes away from her everyday and she'll be getting much more attention from me.

On another note, my family and I have begun planning an expansion of our pasture. We have marked off where the new fence will go, and I believe we are adding about 2 more acres. We are looking into different types of fence, but we are leaning toward Horse Guard because it is very reliable, sturdy, and it looks very nice, also. It will be a permanent fence, with real gates, and wooden fence posts. I am very excited about this new addition, and on top of that we are looking into a separate hay storage building, so we can have our stalls back. I will update with pictures and plans as they develop!

~Eden