Happy Super Bowl Sunday Everyone!
My lunging lessons continued this weekend. R worked with me yesterday while K was helping out at Sweepit's barn. I worked on walking and trotting and building my confidence in moving out on my circle without a lead.
K was back today and she brought more equipment for me to try. She put a saddle pad on and then, instead of a saddle, she fitted me with something called a training surcingle. It's got a padded top side that fits over my back and sports all sorts of rings. This top part stays on with a girth-like piece that goes around my belly.
K had me walk and trot in each direction wearing the surcingle. I didn't find it too distracting. In fact, K said I was doing well. When we stopped, I thought I was getting off early for good behavior. But K had other ideas. Instead of early dismissal K added another level difficulty by introducing me to side reins.
The side reins run from one of the sets of rings to my bit. K attached just one side at first, on it's longest setting. She explained that the side reins are meant to help me stretch out my back and neck. K called it strengthening my top line. She had me walk my circles just a few times with the side reins on to get used to the lowered position of my neck. We ended on a good note, following up with some brushing and dinner!
Dinner consists of alfalfa pellets and grain soaked in water. I wasn't so sure about it at first so K sweetened the deal with a little Karo syrup. YUMMY! I get one scoop of alfalfa pellets and one scoop of my grain. This sounds like a lot, but I get this only in the evenings. The rest of the day I have grass and hay to munch on.
K and R were talking about human treats today. I hear there are special treats that are prepared for the Super Bowl. One of the more enticing treats they talked about is something called beer bread. I like the smell of beer, so I bet this beer bread stuff is pretty yummy. I wonder if K will bring me a sample.
~Polo
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