Dealing with Distractions

Yesterday, I had the good fortune to have two friends come by on their horses. I was prepared and had Lady tacked up, and got about two hours of work in on her lack-of-focus and go-crazy-about-other-horse things. I learned a lot about energy, thanks to my special trainer, and drive versus draw. Draw is very important to keeping Lady "with" me.

My head was exploding by the time we finished, but I was very very proud of Lady. Yes, it helped that she was on her home turf, and that she wasn't dealing with a lot of hormones this week, but she still did better than she has the last few times we've dealt with something that is distracting or exciting. Much better. I was, and still am, very pleased.

Today, I did very little, but got Lady out for a walk, and rode her for a little while - bareback in a halter and lead rope.  :)  She did quite well, although she was rather distracted again and a bit pushy. I ended when she gave me a nice soft yield.

I'm still playing with different methods of getting her attention and focus back on me and have yet to figure out exactly what works, but we'll continue working at it.