Frigid

I'm in the middle of both panicking about not making any progress with Stella and avoiding riding because it's too bloody cold.  I did feel a little better when I realized I've had her barely 3 weeks but spring will eventually be here and thus the start of show season and we need to do things like cantering and jumping.

Stella has been getting turned out daily now so she's getting some exercise and she's struggling to find her place in the herd. She's also struggling to find her place with me.  Who's in charge?  What can she get away with?

She refused to pick up a hind foot last week then a day later not only picked it up before I got to it, but waived it around in the air.  One night she was cantering around me in tiny circles while I struggled to attach the lunge line, the other night I had to pick up a whip to get her to keep going.

After having no success getting her to stand still in the crossties I have started carrying a metal shedding blade which makes an excellent TWONGG!!!! noise when you smack her with it.

To Stella's credit she is a quick learner and doesn't appear to be going back to any of the bad habits she's been running through.

In other news, she's now the proud owner of two blankets!  She's currently wearing her midweight, and her sheet arrived Friday in the mail crammed into a teeeny tinnny box.  Not that it's warm enough to wear it!