It's Colt Starting Season

Between blizzards, negative 50 degree (Fahrenheit) temperatures, and downpouring rain, we have had some of the most fascinatingly strange weather here in western Wisconsin! I'm not going to complain - God knows I do too much of that already. However, it goes without saying that none of those conditions make it easy to visit the barn. 

Flooding at my school

Totally worth wading through pond-sized puddles

I was impatiently waiting for the water to subside so I could begin spring training when I contracted the flu. I was sick in bed for the entire week of spring break. Not ideal, but when I dragged myself out to the barn the snow was (mostly) gone and so was the flooding (again mostly). And with that Avalon is back in work!

As I've mentioned before, Avalon holds on to her training way more than Gambler did. I've barely worked her all winter and she hasn't regressed at all in her training. She is herd bound, due to months of rest with her buddies, but I expected that. The first day I spent refreshing her circling game/longeing. I brought her to the outdoor arena (which is the scariest place ever due to wind and a lack of horse buddies) to work on respect and focus. 

Ava is an incredibly smart horse. She has figured out that she can slowly move the circle away from the side of the arena she doesn't like toward the gate. When I refused to let her do that she started stopping in the circle and backing toward the gate. So clever. Whenever she tried that escape I either kept pushing her until she moved forward again or made her back up faster and farther than she wanted to. We ended the session on a good note, calmly walking and trotting on cue on her least favorite side of the arena. 

The next session, we spent time in the round pen. When I stopped training in the fall, Avalon had developed an annoying vice in the round pen. While I was asking her to circle in one direction, she would only move in half of a circle and then when she was facing away from the gate she would roll back and change directions to the outside. She would travel half a circle and then do the same thing again. Every time she would get faster and listen to me less. Thankfully, that vice has completely disappeared on its own. At least she hasn't tried it yet this year (fingers crossed!). She does sometimes decide to switch directions on her own or turn to the outside, but I correct her and move on. Most of the time she gets it right. 

She is such a dork.

I'm way behind in posting (typical), so there will be more Ava updates soon.