Training can test your PATIENCE!

So, withing the last 2 weeks, I have fallen off Lilly 3 times. This spooking nonsense is getting quite old! The last incident happened on Sunday. I hacked for 45 minutes. She was fine for the first 20 minutes, then she started spooking at nothing. She is really good at making me think I got the spook out of her, then in a nanosecond, she shys to the side, and there I am lying on the ground! My trainer and others agree, my horse is the smartest on the farm, and there is about 100 horses there. She is a mare and wants to be with her girlfriends, so she figures spooking is the way to get out of work...After the fall on Sunday, one of my trainers had me ride in the lesson right after my hack. So we rode for a total of 2 hours that day. I am not quite sure if I am sore from falling or from riding for two hours! During the lesson, my trainer had me really work her mouth the hole time to give her something to think about.

I am having my other trainer work Lilly tomorrow. She is a professional rider. The best I have ever worked with! She will give me an update tomorrow on what happens. Then Thursday I will have a private lesson with her. Lilly acts up more when she is alone, so this will be good for her! I have also started Lilly on a supplement called RelaxHer. We will see in a few weeks if it works on her.

I spent the day today at the barn doing some major grooming on Willow. We got rid of most of the feathers with scissors. She isn't used to the clippers yet, so I got as close as I could. She looked so good, I had to take some pics! I grabbed on of the girls to help me, but Willow didn't want to stand still!! BABIES!!!

Here is a BEFORE picture of Willow when I drove to Kentucky to see her. She was quite skinny and had a big fluffy coat.

Here she was TODAY looking like quite a lady.

And here is a pic of her top and bottom line. I couldn't get her to pay attention...

I feel like she is looking so much better. It is hard to completely tell in the pictures! When she arrived at my farm you could see her ribs and backbone. She was shipped with 1/2 inch thick dried mud on her from head to toe! The woman I bought her from did not take great care of her. She bought the horse last November from the Amish to flip (retard...) for $5000, and couldn't because of the economy. So Willow's condition went down hill. The food she fed this horse looked like it was for cows! Willow had trust issues with her back end as well as her ears from being ear twitched. The woman lied to me and said she had the horse for over a year, however, on the coggins dated November 15, 2008, another owner was listed, and Willow was listed for sale on the Internet on November 18, 2008.

I haven't figured out if I should email this woman and let her know I figured out her lies, and also to email her an updated picture to show what great shape she is NOW in.

It is truly amazing what food, water, a brush, and some LOVE can do...