Walk 8.4.09

Last night Daisy was great on her walk, she got to walk past her first dog!! It was a corgi, so not a big overly excited dog. She seemed interested been was perfectly ok continuing on the walk. I let the girl walking the dog know that daisy hasn't walked past a dog yet & that I was just going to calmly walk by her. Just like you would with another dog.

She was great. Ever since we stopped in at my neighbors house, she always wants to stop there. Its kinda funny. Its like she's saying 'hey we went in there before, are we going now??'

she got to walk over her obstacle course on the way out & on the way back in, she did great. She got really excited on the first one and almost jumped over it, then veered off around the side. crazy donk. She got her feet cleaned out when we got back, she so good about it. She doesn't do the fast leg jerk thing like she had done a couple times with the trimmer. weird.

Her new bit came today, its a french link full cheek snaffle. I think she'll like it better than the D-ring snaffle. Full cheeks are great for beginning with a bit.

Daisy loves garbage cans

tonight on our walk with Daisy, my BF picked up a garbage can from my dad's house. When he first grabbed it Daisy was a bit startled, but did the slight 'jump in place' thing, then she was immediately interested in it. I suggested maybe he walk in front with it - i figured walking behind might freak her out. So he starts walking, i waited a second so he could get a head start. I circled Daisy around & she immediately wanted to go after the garbage can!! It was so funny, she had her front lip hanging over the lower & it was 'tense' looking. LOL. I almost thought she was going to jump on top of it!! it was pretty hilarious, she was walking behind it trying to get her head over it ( thats what it looked like any how). Steve stopped & we let her sniff it some more. by that time we were home, so i brought her in the yard. I couldn't believe how interested in she was!!

another really neat thing is that we were walking past a side street/driveway and she was really interested in that direction. So I let her look a bit, then a little while later I saw a car coming down the road. She heard it & it was neat to see her almost say 'something's coming!'

she did it again when we stopped by the neighbors house, she didn't want to go out to the road yet & kept looking down the road in the direction we were just coming from - another car! Smart donk.

she was very good, she doesn't try to veer off to eat grass that much anymore - I'm try to teach her walking is for walking - its our 'work' time, not eating time. She was walking pretty brisk tonight, more so than our last walk.

Every once in awhile she'll try the whole - raise her head and try to push me off to the side, and I just tell her 'we're not doing that' and redirect her. then she stops. she'll do that whole thing maybe once every walk. Always testing LOL.

grooming, saddling, bitting up, walk 7.12.09

Daisy was so much better on Sunday about being groomed, she didn't paw, and wasn't evasive, like she usually is. I think we're making progress in that department. She's starting to realy shed out on her shoulders & rump. Still very fuzzy in the middle. It was nice that she was so good, it really let me work on getting her brushed out well.

She was excellent for saddling & bridling. In this session I bitted her up - I'm not sure if thats the correct term. But i adjusted the reins ( leather with a rubber stopper on the end - ran under the stirrups, and up over the seat of the saddle), so that in her normal relaxed standing position, there is no pressure on the bit. Pressure only engages when she drops her head. the idea is to let her figure out on her own what the pressure on the bit means & how to realease it. I let her walk around & figure it out for about ten minutes. I think she was getting the idea of it by the end, in the beginning there was alot of 'oooooh i wanna eat that, gah!! can't reach!!!' actions going on.

Next session i'll be working on the sides, one rein with pressure to teach her to flex & give to the pressure.

I took the reins off & we went on a walk. I think this may have been our best walk yet. She was so relaxed, and wasn't rushing ahead or veering off towards grass. It was a great walk - very relaxing. I think having her bridle on helped - she was thinking about the bit in her mouth more than other things.

People on my road - some of them - dont really understand that they should wait til I have her off the road before they go by. I even had one lady keep advancing towards me even though I had my hand up trying to signal her to wait. This time I was trying to get Daisy off to the side of the road - and the guy just couldn't wait, so he drove by. So daisy had a car come up from behind & drive around her, while saddled & bridled. She didn't do anything! i was pretty impressed, the last time a car came up from behind her she was like 'whoaa!!! whats that back there!!' and picked up her pace quite a bit. This time it least the guy was driving slow!

then back to the pasture, Daisy was unbridled and allowed to graze with her saddle on. Then it was time to unsaddle & clean her feet. She was really good. I could tell a couple times she got just a bit tense - the dogs were barking at something, so I'm sure she was wanting to see what was going on. But no kicks or nothing - got the feet cleaned & hoof maker applied. I know she needs another trim soon.

I get to attend a hoof clinic in two weeks where I'll get to see a couple different donks get trimmed - most likely with the abrasive method. It ought to be fun. Interested in meeting other donkeys to see how much their personalities differ. I have a feeling that I'm going to appreciate Daisy even more - I'm sure they'll have a 'difficult' to trim donk there. maybe. lol
I will def post pics of that, maybe even some video.

Daisy 7.5.09

for some reason my vid didn't render at 16:9, still trying to figure out why. In my editing program it's 16:9 throughout. Hmmm...
anyways, here is Daisy from today!!