Hard Headed Woman

Later that day, I went to see Regal in his new digs at Wynn's. When I got home I emailed Greg and will share some of that with you.

Hi Greg,

Went over to Wynn's after I left your place yesterday. There was nobody around and Regal was standing quietly in his stall, looking out the window. They've put him in a lovely huge stall with a Dutch door so he can poke his head right out and keep an eye on the goings on in the paddocks, etc. He seemed genuinely happy to see me when I showed up and was even a little, dare I say it, snuggly.

Catherine came along and I took him out and walked him around the barn a little. There was no sign of him having done any damage in his little wipeout. We had a chain on him, which makes him a bit of a different horse - he walks with his head down a lot more and even looks a bit relaxed, though I think that's pretty artificial. I will use the chain, but only as a safety measure and only when I have to and never gratuitously. Ditto the stick. But I am not taking any chances and I will be very, very careful.

During our session, Catherine brushed him in the breezeway and I tapped his legs with my stick (and I do mean tapped) if he raised any of them while she worked, which he did more than once but managed to keep at least three on the ground at all times. If he turned in to bite at me he knocked his head into the handle of the stick so he stopped doing that pretty quickly.

Anyway, we got through a walkabout and a quick two-person grooming session and I decided that we'd end on a good note and call it a day - baby steps. I thought that given all the excitement and change thrown at him on the day he did pretty well. He was very calm in his stall, not pacing or fussing at all before or after we had him out, which I took to be a good sign.

I helped Catherine and Rhonda (I'm bad with names, hope I got that right) with the other New Stride horses and then headed home. I didn't get to see Wynn but I called her and made plans to meet this afternoon after work.

Regal was turned out in the indoor when I arrived today and was again very happy to see me and quite cuddly. He approached the gate in an almost gentlemanly fashion, at a nice brisk walk and a little sideways rather than barreling straight at me and facing me down. No mouthiness or shoving me around with his head either- he even let me scratch his forehead and rub his cheeks?! He was very calm and relaxed and there wasn't any evidence of him digging trenches in the sand pacing the gates while he'd been in there. I left him for a bit and went to find out if anybody else was around yet.

I was a bit early so I spent some time chatting with Sian and then watched Darrell ride one of Wynn's horses and work with Wynn and Sian in turns on the same horse. I thought the horse went very well for a green horse with Darrell up and he was very good with Wynn and Sian as well. Darrell seems to have done a nice job with him from what I could see. I guess I'll be seeing lots of Darrell, and maybe he could help me with Regal too. I'll have to pay him, of course, but I think a trainer would be a good investment - it couldn't hurt, and Darrell's already going to be there. We'll see...

After the lesson Wynn showed me around and we talked about Regal and his rascally ways. Wynn showed me her special stick and then moved Reg from the arena to a small paddock behind the barn to show me how it worked. Who knew that a plastic shopping bag tied onto the end of a riding crop was so amazing! Horse comes running at you and crowds your space - wave the plastic bag at him and he backs right off. Lead the horse out of the arena with the stick in your outside hand and he focuses entirely on you and the plastic bag. Want his attention when he's losing focus, wiggle the bag and he zones right back in. Incredible. Regal walked from the arena to the paddock and then from the paddock to his stall like a perfect gentleman. Wynn and her plastic bag are my heroes! I'm definitely going to borrow that tool or make my own.

I helped bring in all the New Stride horses and then groomed Platinum and Nash, my two favourites. They are both wonderful to work around and very easy boys to get along with. Nash was actually dozing and drooling when I was brushing him - very sweet. I suppose if I'm going to be out so often I might as well work with everybody a little bit while I'm there. If nothing else they'll all get some extra attention and a bit more grooming which can't hurt.


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