Day 2- First Full Day
Despite our best wishes, we did not make it out to the barn at 7:30 am.
This saying may seem pointless now, but read on and you will understand.
What became evident pretty quickly was that Sharlie was definitley an introvert- and a Left Brain one.
When it came to just playing with the grass, she was pretty good about it. It was once we brought out a bucket of grain- and then later two buckets- that Sharlie really started doing as little as possible to be able to eat the grain. After finding a good stopping place for that morning, Emily pointed out something very important to our little herd.
Sharlie has a lot of respect for me, but not enough rapport. She would rather be with the feed than with me- the feed is the better deal for her at the moment. We want her to be more like Casper in the sense of she prefers my company and being with me than to being with the food.
Once done with the WHR, we did some work to do some small range circles with Sharlie at Liberty. After working with it a bit online and practicing keeping my 'sends' small, we were able to do an entire circle at close range circle (still with disengages.)
Next was teaching her to lie down. Emily took over for this one for the most part because it is physically hard. I was having a lot of trouble just holding onto Sharlie's leg whenever we had tried in the past, as well as keeping my own balance. Sharlie did amazing and Emily is pretty confident that she will lie down by Thursday. The most important thing to remember is to never release on a brace.
Then came riding! Originally we planned on riding with a saddle but then changed our minds.
Now I don't think I ever posted about it on the blog, but back in the summer of 2010 shortly after returning from camp in Atlanta, I was riding Sharlie in the round pen at the trot and my foot got caught in the railings. It was just sort of a freak accident- Sharlie just came in too close on the turn and then BAM. It only took a few seconds, but I was seriously shaken and had a huge fear of it happening again.
So when Emily asked me to drop the reins while trotting and just do a passanger lesson, it was rather frightening at first. It seemed like Sharlie was getting intentionally close to the fence, just to scare me. That of course was not true.
I don't even remember when exactly but at some point I found that I had tears in my eyes. I was so so scared of getting my foot caught again that I was crying. Also I was crying because I was very dissapointed in myself at how little I trusted Sharlie.
Emily pulled me in and we talked about it and discussed comfort zones and phobias. I wasn't afraid of Sharlie running me into the fence- I was afraid that any horse would run me into the fence. It was just much more extreme on Sharlie because it actually happened on her and actually happenned in that round pen.
However once I can get past that fear, the reward will be spectacular. (Does the photo above make sense now?)
Looking for a change of scenery, we moved this party to the arena where surprisingly Emily said I looked a lot more confident and relaxed. Hmmm... Also, one of the main reasons why we were trotting in the round pen in the first place was for me to practice my fluidity. Once out in the arena, I had it down pretty well.
Hmmm....
By this time it was already noon and everybody was hungry. After packing both horse & tools away, we went up to Ooltewah/Collegedale to eat at a new cafe that opened up- the 4 Corners Cafe. After a delicious lunch, we decided to go driving and explore the countryside that is Tennessee and Georgia. We drove...a lot.
We made our way south into Georgia and headed eastwards (Varnell area?) with one rule. Don't look at a map. (Something hard to do when 2 out of 3 people have iPhones)
At one point we stopped at a gas station and Emily bought the three of us a lottery ticket each. Both Emily and Kara won 30 dollars each! And I? ...nothing. :(
We were probably driving around the Georgian countryside (All roads lead to Georgia around here) for 2 hours before heading back to stop by Earthfare to spend EMILY AND KARA'S winnings. (As they pointed out throughout the day, they weren't mine. *rolls eyes and laughs* )
We got some cheesecake and salmon before returning home and chilling. We looked at Emily's photos from her Fast Track and other things such as when a friend's foal was being born.
After a delicious dinner (that was for you, Mom) we took Kara home where Emily got to meet Kara's horses and see just what an awesome place it is out there. (I concur)
Then we headed home and pretty much hit the sack. *yawn* It was tiring!
