Ebony continues on in her classes

Wow! Two weeks have flown past. Where does the time go? In this case it went into a BIG project at work and the Christmas season. Just lots and lots of things to do. I am not complaining. It is nice to know I have a job to come to tomorrow and I love the Christmas season, so no complaints at all.

So, Ebony and school. The first week after the lesson Kira was not with us at Westernaires but her horse was. It was cold and snowy. Lots of both. While Kumi was in class, I took Ebony for a walk around Westernaires. She did really well. When she started to get ahead of me I swung the whip in front of her face and she back right up. She stopped when I did and walked when I did. Progress! Which is immediately followed by a reality check.

When we go back to the trailer, she had some significant snow balls under her front feet. Her feet rocked each time she took a step not to mention that it is really slick. So I decided to pick her feet. She bit me in the butt for my troubles. Okay, it wasn't exactly a bite. It was more like she used her nose to smack me in the butt. And she knew she shouldn't have done it because as soon as I stood up and spun around she stuck her head up as high as she could and turned away from me. It wasn't enough. She still got disciplined. Sigh, two steps forward, one step back.

So last Saturday we did another lesson with Carly and Kira. The goal was walk Ebony to the arenas and back. About a five minute round trip. It took us about an hour. Literally, two steps forward and ten step s back. But it was a great lesson. I am so proud of Kira. She can get a bit frustrated and I could see it in her eyes. But she controlled her frustration and kept after Ebony and Ebony learned that she cannot get around Kira on the ground. Not perfect yet but we made great progress in improving Ebony's ground manors and Kira's use of a crop and lead rope. And she said she had fun.

So we have some homework to do. Tough time of year to do homework. I don't get home until the sun is setting so its dark and we don't have lights. But Christmas break is fast approaching so we will have a solid week to work with her each and every day. That will be good for both of them.

Tomorrow - The shirt that drove a daughter from her father.