Slate: October 7

On top of a shorter week with much-needed rain on Monday & an unexpected trip to O'Neill on Wednesday, everybody had a bit of an off week with the cooler weather.

We've continued to work on Desensitizing to the Lead Rope & Stick & String, Yielding the Hindquarters & Forequarters, Backing, Lunging Stages 1 & 2, Flexing, Sending, & Circle Driving. Slate has a tendency to want to muscle through things versus taking the time to think through what I'm asking with my body language. Changing directions during Lunging Stage 2 really brought this out, so we went back & spent some time on getting two eyes to receive rest to overpower his desire to do an outside turn & really lean on the halter.

We introduce Jeffrey's Method yesterday & while he wasn't sure about me being up above him at first, he did well. I held off on the first saddles this week as I like to have three consecutive days once I introduce that, so we'll likely saddle on Monday, at the latest, Tuesday. If that goes well, we'll do the first rides on Saturday or Sunday. We're also working to schedule a trip to Knotty Equine for dentals & first sessions.

I've unfortunately received word that Jennifer with Knotty Equine is taking some time off from working on horses to deal with some family matters, so I will be reaching out to another trusted equine dentist & my chiropractor to replace the Knotty Equine portion of my horse health program until she's accepting horses again.

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Next week's update will be posted on Friday.