Camina

I think this was the 5th day I worked with Camina, the Andalusian. She is doing really good. The first thing I did was saddle her, she stood fine for that. Then I took her through the paces of flexion, backup, disengaging, moving the shoulders etc. I worked alot on flexion and disengaging because that will help when I start riding her. We kept going back and forth through various exercises with frequent stops and relaxation times for her. I flogged her with kindness with the lead rope, slapped the stirrups around her to desensitize her to that. When I was doing that I was also moving her sideways on a circle. This showed her she could still move when something scarey was going on but that when she relaxed the scarey thing stopped. So we did that several times from both sides. Then I flagged her out sideways on a circle and that is when she came unglued for a few minutes. She bucked and bucked and then I wouldn't let her stop until I was ready for her to stop. Then I disengaged her and let quit and rest. Then we went back at it in the same fashion and she didn't try to buck again. Needless to say, this made me a litte leary of getting on her back today. It also made me do a few more exercises to check for calmness and control of her feet before I got on. Yes, I did get on her back several times on and off from both sides and bumping her on the butt and sides with my feet as I did so. She was just fine. Then I had her hooked on to me and following my leadership all over the arena from the ground. I threw the lead over the saddle and I had her disengaging, backing, stopping, moving her shoulders all without any connection to her. She just followed my feel. Then I sat on her and moved around and got her to take a few steps in a circle disengaging her hindquarters. That is where we ended. It seemed like a good stopping point and time run out.
So this was really her first ride.  Thursday we should make even more progress.