A couple of steps back

     Jellybean is my first baby. And naturally, there are going to be some hiccups. We coasted past a pretty substantial hiccup last week. One of the challenges with the baby horses seems to be knowing when to move on and when to back up. Jellybean has been progressing well under saddle, we rode in the cutting pen twice with minor incidents. I decided I wanted to ride her in the pen again the other day, and she said not yet.

     Jellybean has a reasonably short attention span on a good day. She was especially impatient the other day. She didn't want to move in any direction, she just wanted to sniff the ground and try to eat. I tried to move her forward with the dressage whip, and she didn't pay any attention to it. Then she decided she was really bored and wouldn't move towards one corner of the arena. She jumped backwards/sideways and wouldn't move forward. 

     I had a moment of clarity. 

     With all my supposedly careful planning, I had jumped a few steps. Jellybean was excelling in the round pen, and instead of building her skills there, I tried to switch tracks and move forward too fast. Lets be real, if your horse won't move forward, you don't need to move to another arena. The dressage whip (unfortunately!!!) is not a substitute for learning to move off leg pressure. 

     In order to salvage the day, I decided to move back to the round pen and practice something we were both comfortable with. We lunged in both directions and called it a day. I think I will spend some time outlining our next steps. I'll keep you posted.

Bonus pictures from before the rain:

Jellybean being social... not

Hey!

Nom nom fresh grass!

 And after the rain...

What are you looking at!

I'm hungry and my stall is wet >|