Belle's Progress: Training Chronicles

Belle is up at Mike's place, having "spa" week. She's been up there for three weeks now, and she's doing very well. She obviously loves Mike, and he loves her, although I bet he doesn't run across too many horses he doesn't love... he's that kind of guy. Belle was resting her head on his shoulder and snuggling with him, that is, until Kathryn, Mike's wife, stuck a needle into her chest.

Apart from the veterinary stuff, she's doing great- he's riding her around the round pen (just walking) and working on building up her confidence, little by little. She's working at liberty in the round pen, then turning and "hooking on" to either kathryn or Mike, which is pretty cool to see.

I actually think I'm going to buy a round pen here in the next few weeks so I can work with her properly. I have a square pen, but there's too much junk and corners and so forth--it all gets in the way of concentrated work. If I buy a round pen, I can also start to long-line Baleno, which is another project I've been meaning to do. He's so bad on the longe line, kicking out and bucking and generally misbehaving, I think a little round pen work would probably do him some good.