I Have a New Toy!!

I don't have anyone to come to the barn with me and take pictures for the blog. I suppose I could ask the other horse owners, but that just sounds awkward. I've used the timed camera feature on my phone, but it only lasts ten seconds. It's hard to train a horse while running back and forth from the tripod in ten seconds. I browsed amazon for a quick second and found this. Now, all I have to do is press a button on a tiny remote to take photos or videos. 

Obviously this will take some practice. These pictures are blurry because I had to crop them. Not only was I too far from the phone, I was off-center. To top it all off, you could see the barrel that the phone was sitting on in the lower half of every shot. Oh well, better luck next time. 

It has been outlandishly hot and buggy for the last week or so. Surprisingly, Avalon has been incredibly patient and connected. I'm more cranky than she is. Maybe exhausting humidity wears her out too much to be distracted.

Bug bites mean I can use lots of scratches as rewards!

We kept everything low key because of the weather, just playing with poles and circles at the walk.

We practiced hindquarter and forequarter yields to change direction.

Although I haven't made it to the barn every day, I have managed to make a habit of visiting every other day or every two days. The consistency is paying off. Avalon has stopped running away from me in the pasture. She is settling into wearing the saddle and generally connecting to me more. I'm excited to see where the next few weeks take us, especially once the weather cools down.