Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Ride 9- *YAWN*

I have been sitting on the sofa sick for three days. I am DONE with being laid up so I hauled my sorry carcass down to the barn and saddled Hola. I put her on the lunge line and discovered that I may have made a bit of a mistake... I gave her three days to think about the ass kicking she received on our last work. While I appreciated her "Yes, Ma'am!" attitude, I was a wee bit nervous about her over sensitivity to any kind of pressure. I had enlisted my Mom to come stand as my safety and so didn't have as much time to get her relaxed as I would have liked. I spent a good amount of time hopping around beside her and mounted and dismounted twice before really sitting down on her but apparently I had no cause to worry as she relaxed nicely once I was mounted. Once again I found myself in that bloody round pen with the shitty footing but we did manage to make a little circuit and the second time around she stopped. I asked her to walk on but she wouldn't and she seemed to be thinking about something... You know how babies get a look of concentration on their faces when they are filling a diaper? Yah well, Hola moved her bowels for the first time while mounted. I hadn't thought of that as being an event but it clearly was in her mind. She gave a big sigh, yawned once and then really relaxed.

Another short circuit around the pen and off she went yawning again...and yawning... and yawning. In my experience Hola yawns when she accepts and processes a lesson. I have noticed this as her "tell" since she was a yearling... I just hope I am not being naive in taking all that yawning as a sign. She is such a funny duck!


3 comments:

  1. Hi,
    Am enjoying reading your blog. My horse also yawns a lot and have wondered about it. I just always say to her in a teasing way that I sure have wore her out. She yawns more. :)
    I have recently started a horse and western gear blog. Am really new at it and just learning. Thanks for sharing your horse experiences.
    Judy

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  2. Ah! That's great. :) She looks great. You both do. Hope you're feeling better.

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