Peaches first lessons

I'm trying to convince myself that when Peaches gets all wide eyed, head up and all rigid that she won't explode.  That we've worked through those issues over the years.  And we have but for me its tough not to worry it will happen again.  Regaining trust is a tough thing.  She trusts me because even though that first explosion was buddy sourness I can now take her away from the other horses at home, at the boarding stable and at this lesson stable no problem at all.  In fact, she's left the other horses to come to me on one or two occasions... but the fear in my lingers.

She's not there because she doesn't know cues, she's there because I want to have someone who is patient, kind and firm work her through stressful situations and teach her and me the cues when things get sketchy.  In our groundwork I will ask Peaches to do maneuvers when she gets tense and it seems to help.  I guess that's simply in keeping with a horse's nature.

Andrea tells me that I actually know what I need to know to be safe, that it isn't that complicated.  But its one thing for her to assess that from the groundwork I've done with her horses and quite another for me to be in the saddle and freeze up because I'm scared.  It's happened and that is NOT safe.

We shall see with time.

Great job!
Peachy is adorable!
Congrats on finding Andrea to help you

Wonderful!!!!!!!!

Thank you for your enthusiasm, it helps me feel better about this.
I went there today and Andrea was riding Peaches as she was giving lessons to some students.  Peaches was huffing and puffing and sweaty as I've ever seen her.  Andrea said she lunged her and that's why she's sweaty.  Peaches is finally in a training program and Andrea is taking her past where I could ever go, so this is good.  But I gotta give myself credit for getting Peaches to where she was even worth going in for lessons.  In truth Peaches never had that famous 30 days and Nov 19th was the first day of someone working with her more than once a month.  So all of this is a big change in Peaches world.  I'd feel sorry for her but... I don't!  Learning can really suck and it's her turn.

Andrea is a pretty clever person.  She had two straw bales on top of each other about a horse width apart with pool noodles sticking out from between the bales into the space between them.  Peaches walked through there without a problem at all.  Peaches is not a spooky horse but for want of a better way of putting it, she's a nervous horse, which doesn't seem to jive with not being spooky.  I don't know, horses are weird.

Sounds very good and very encouraging.

Peaches is taking her cues from her rider Andrea and from you to ....
If you remain calm, so does the Peach.
If you get tense so does the Peach.
If you freak, so will the Peach and we all wish for you not to experience that form of communication!!

Give Andrea some more time working quietly and often with Peach...

Then....

Ask when can you get on and start your lessons handling the Peach from astride, building that relationship of harmony you so desire.
I would actually be utterly surprised if Andrea doesn't say something to you about preparing to ride the Peach....
The goal is a safe, consistent mount for you, and for the Peach to know her rider can be trusted to keep her safe.

Bad news. Peaches slipped and cut her leg really bad on the siding of her shed.  Two pretty ghastly slices mid-forearm between her knee and elbow, right front.  At least the girl who has the pony in with Peaches noticed it and brought her in, washed it off and put her in a stall.  I called the vet when I got there, he came and $464.10 later he thinks she'll be fine.

Poor little girl, she's doing fine, eating and pooping and full of p*ss and vinegar.  No stall rest for her but  2 gm Bute and then changing bandages, antibiotics in some SafeChoice (she loves that!) every day after work.  Stitches come out in two weeks.

Needless to say there was a lot of blood and he really had to scrape it to clean it.  Drugs are a wonderful thing.  What a trooper.  Obviously no lessons for a while, gosh darn it.  I suppose this is what my money is for, boarding her at the most expensive place for a couple weeks and then I'll have to pay 2 more weeks of boarding to get all the lessons I've paid for.

Just perfect

I hear you, I guess I meant the riding lessons, too much movement, they were two big gashes and he had to leave a part open to allow for "weeping" in case there was contamination he wasn't able to remove.  The vet wanted her on stall rest but Peach isn't a stall rest kind of horse, she's quieter in the outdoor pasture.

The bute everyday is training, let me tell you, she's none too happy about handling her mouth.  Obviously with worming and biting we've worked on it, but both her and I are slow studies.

Sorry about the set back but I'm sure this will also be a chance to learn some other things. Continue doing your ground work exercises with her and as you said, giving her bute will be a lesson too. Progress doesn't need to stop, just slow down a bit.

Do talk with Andrea to see if she can help you out some how.