A day of ups and downs......

Cece just a couple of months old!

 

 

 

Well, today was a bit discouraging- and it wasn't even Cece's fault! We were having a great and relaxing grooming session when I reached over and touched her nose and shocked her with static electricity. She startled and snorted at me and I felt terrible, but I continued to brush her out. Well a couple of minutes later I touched her nose again and the same thing happened again! This time she jumped and it took some time to get her relaxed again. After the third time I shocked her, I decided that this was no coincidence and decided to tie her up and change out of my fleece sweatshirt and switch her halter to something not padded, but as I tied her, I shocked her twice more. At this point she was quite unhappy about me being anywhere near her face.
After I removed the static causers, I went back to grooming her and tacked her up. However, she wouldn't let me approach her head or reach out and pet her nose. To fully understand this, you must know that Cece in particular gains confidence when you touch her nose. When she is nervous or unsure she reaches out and offers her nose to me and the moment that I touch it, she relaxes. Reaching out and nosing me is also how she displays affection. So having betrayed her trust this way, I lost a fantastic tool for her security.
Despite this setback,  she lunged beautifully for me and I tightened the girth up all the way for her saddle. I desensitized her back area and even put my full weight in the stirrup on both sides! If it weren't for her expecting me to shock her the whole time, today probably would have been the day that I practiced fully mounting and dismounting. She is such a quick learner and very willing to please. My original plan for tomorrow was to do some line driving and practice mounting and dismounting. I'll have to read how she is feeling tomorrow and I need to back track and re-earn her trust again (amongst apologizing up and down to her). :( I refuse to rush her and will wait until she tells me that she is ready to move on. An elephant never forgets. Enjoy her foal pic!