May 21 - first time in big pasture

Today was the test: Maia + 40 acre pasture + me calling her = what??? Well, I was pleasantly surprised. She wasn’t terribly far away and after a few calls/whistles, she started walking toward me, which turned into a trot to me. :) Her new buddy is a Paint mare named Callie, and what is funny is that when Maia was first sniffing noses with all the horses over the fence, I wondered if those two would be friends, as they sniffed for a long time and never squealed at each other.

I had no agenda for today, being the first time we’d play in the big pasture, and didn’t even have treats a lot of the time (no tack, either). I spent a lot of time chasing the big herd away from her/us (who got very interested in me) as well as getting Callie out of our way. We did a lot of leading from behind that merged into reciprocal movements and companion walking across a big chunk of the pasture. It is so great to have such a big area; we both get into the rhythm of the walk and it seemed totally natural for her to be walking by my side as we checked out the pasture.

Her attitude has changed, however. She is far more opinionated toward the other horses than I thought (a lot of pinned ears) and that transferred to me, too, with some grumpy faces when I asked for trot, when she came up, etc. Depending on what seemed right, sometimes I had her stop until her expression changed, or a few times drove her away when she did that.

We also spent a long time hanging out, me scratching her, as I talked to one of the boarders who had come out. She got more connected to me there, started offering jambette and stretch, and I was even able to keep her halted at my side at liberty for a while even when she wanted to run over and greet the boarder’s horse. The boarder complimented her on how well she stood at liberty! :D

She also wanted to come out the gate with me.