The Beginning

Home safe and sound in the Palouse pasture

After a long road trip from Grassflat, PA to Thomasville, NC, we arrived home around 8pm on Saturday evening. Candy was stalled for the night with Ray's other horses due to the ongoing storms. The day broke with beautiful, sunny weather this morning, and we started with her first groundwork session in the arena.

We are all impressed with how quickly Candy learns. In less than an hour, she was disengaging her hindquarters, backing up with the slightest wiggle of the rope, and sending in both directions. I was even able to get her to flex a little in both directions.

She is definitely more protective of her right side, which is relatively common at the beginning of training, but she quickly relaxed with a rope and stick/string swung over and around her body on both sides.

We ended her session with a much needed bath and a face clip, neither of which she was comfortable with in the beginning, but again she quickly learned, through approach and retreat, to trust and enjoy the process. After her beauty treatment, we turned her out into her new pasture with my horses, Cherokee (half appaloosa) and Nellie (leopard appaloosa). There was very little drama, and it's clear that the pecking order is Nellie (#1), Cherokee (#2) and Candy (#3). It will be interesting to see if that changes at all in the next few days as Candy becomes more comfortable with the new surroundings.

I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to train and work with Candy. I believe she will make an excellent horse for whatever Ray would like to do with her (mostly trail riding). I believe the 18 hours of driving were definitely worth what we came home with!