I am delighted with how Dawn is settling in to her new barn - today was day 7, and day 5 of turn out with the mares. No more dings or dents, which is good news. When I was grooming her in the barn aisle, she insisted on doing the "nose rest" several times, which means she is contented and relaxed. She likes her stall and seems quite comfortable in there. Today when we worked in the arena there was one horse being lunged and then ridden in there (one of the alpha mares) as well as a horse being led around. She coped well with the other horses - some ear pinning at the alpha mare - and with the overhead doors going up and down. She insisted on going over to the window to the viewing room, and sticking her nose way up to inspect it. I put out some cones, and we did some lungeing and also some ground driving. She is still more relaxed tracking to the left - to the right she's inclined to put her nose out and occasionally scoot. We did quite a bit of trot work on the lunge and while ground driving, and then I bridled up and got on.
We did lots of walk work - shortening/lengthening and figures, focussed on getting some relaxation. We were able to do some stretching down work, and some lateral work at the walk. At the end of our ridden session, we also did some trot work, and although she was extremely forward, she was responsive and well-behaved. I was delighted with how well she's doing after only a week at the new place - and I've ridden three days in the row (despite a very bad cold)!
The neglected boys got their feed picked, and they get some grooming every morning before turnout. It'll be March soon and they'll be off to boot camp in Wisconsin . . .
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