Mane Taming & Picture Day

Saturday was a lazy day for me and Halo. As you've probably seen in all the most recent pictures of her, her mane sticks straight up. I was hoping it would lie over eventually, but no luck yet. And it looks awful. I decided to wash it out and band it on Saturday in hopes that letting it dry that way would help it lie flatter. Plus, I need banding practice for when I show her later this year. Although I am the master of hunter braids, I've never banded a horse before.

I longed Halo for a short time, but she was so good that I only worked her for about 15-20 minutes. I truly feel that it's important to keep training sessions short and sweet with young horses. Work 'em until they're good, and then be done whether it takes five minutes or an hour. That way she is rewarded for good behavior. Also, by limiting the length of a training session, you're limiting the amount of time in which things can go wrong. The longer it's dragged out, the higher the probability becomes that the young horse will get ADD and start causing trouble. The only exception to this is when training to tie. Once they don't set back, it will not hurt a baby to learn patience by standing at the hitching rail for a good length of time, preferably with the companionship of an older, quiet horse who ties with no fuss.

Anyway, off the soapbox and on to the pictures!

Punk poneh!




She found banding exceedingly boring. When she wasn't fussing about having her mane messed with, she was persistently yawning.




Here's mom's finished work (nowhere near show quality):




I let her pick for about 15 minutes and then we went back into the arena to get some pictures. No real work was done here - just goofing off!

Invisible cow:




Big trot!



If only she were clean...



Flaring nostril of disdain.



One of the nicest headshots I have of her:



And last but not least - Halo's giraffe impression!



Look at the difference that food, exercise, and a year of growing makes.