Thank Goodness its Friday

  Today was a pretty crazy day!  I got to the ranch at 3:30 and took out Phoenix to lunge her.  I started off lunging her on a lunge line out back, but she was a little wound up and eventually she got loose (it was my fault).  It scares me a lot when Phoenix gets loose with a lead rope dangling around her legs because I'm always scared she's going to injure herself.  I caught her in about 5 minutes and decided to lunge her in the round pen first to get out some of her spunk.  I tied Phoenix up and went to go switch the Warmblood and yearling that were in the round pen into a stall.  While I was switching the Warmblood, the yearling ran out the gate and got loose, which alarmed me but I decided to focus on putting the Warmblood away first.
  90 minutes and a best friend later (Melissa had come out to help me catch the two loose horses), the horses were safe and sound in their stalls.  Melissa stayed for awhile and helped me lunge Phoenix out back on a lunge line because she was being a bit ornery.  I worked with Phoenix on the lunge line too so I could learn how to better handle her and then Melissa and I took turns lunging Phoenix over the some of the taller jumps out back.  Phoenix went over them nicely and it helped give me confidence when I jumped her over smaller jumps later.

  After I was done with groundwork I tacked up Phoenix and we worked on jumping in the mini cross country course out back.  We jumped the 1 and 1 1/2 ft jumps which were logs (like the ones above), hay bales, and cavelettis.  I worked on trotting, cantering, and going over the jumps that made me a tad nervous because we had mostly been walking and trotting over jumps due to my nerves.  We also worked on not rushing and Phoenix did great and listened mostly well.  There were a few times when I had to emergency stop her to calm her down, but besides that she was being pretty calm and safe.  

  This really helped me with my confidence both in jumping and in Phoenix and helped us to work on my fears and have fun.  Phoenix and I continue to get better and learn every time we are together and I am so proud of her progress.