October 2006

October 3, 2006
After Nova had his feet trimmed today he once again was tied up as Kaila was trimmed. I am happy to say that by the time she was finished he was resting a leg and just chilling out. Looks like he might be getting the idea of this patience business.

I did work on lunging a little bit while waiting for the farrier. He hasn't forgotten everything, and we actually did both a walk and a trot. Next time though I will take him down to the arena, because our yard does not have a spot that is good for lunging (between the gravel of the driveway, and our bushes/trees isn't much room).

October 22, 2006
Nova went to his very first lesson with Diane today. This was Diane's first look at Nova, and I like to think he made a favorable impression. The two of us decided to start long-lining him. I think Diane was expecting Nova to behave in what she would consider a 'typical' way - eyeballing the lines - even though I'd told her that wouldn't bother him a bit. She was impressed and complimented me (and I told her as well this goes more so to his previous owners than to me) on the wonderful work I've done with him. Though, he has been such an easy baby to deal with, I haven't really had any issues with him. Anyway, she first had me toss the lines back along beside him while standing at his head, three times on each side. At which time I think he almost fell asleep. Then we had him drag a line on one side, and then switched them - again, no reaction. Then of course, we had him drag both lines - still no reaction. And then we finished off with Diane walking by his head while I held the lines and did a bit of go, whoa, and a couple turns. At this point, of course, he's still following Diane more than anything, but he was still really good! I'm quite happy that he did live up to my word and was an absolute angel for this.