On The Trail

What a long weekend!

Due to computer problems I couldn't post on Friday, but there wasn't much to say. It was still rainy and dreary, so I did more desensitizing with Kachina; I had her walk over poles, tried to get her to step in a tire (still working on that) and, my personal favorite, flung a piece of mylar around her head, rubbing it over her body, hanging it from her face and having her walk across it.

I was surprised by how calm she acted around the mylar. In fact, I think she kind of liked it. She didn't mind me flipping it over her, or around her, or the feel or sound of it rubbing against her or under her, me covering her head with it or wrapping it around her. And when it came to having her walk across it and stand on it, she pawed and sniffed at it like it was water -- very cute!

I also sent her applications to The Son on Friday, so hopefully he'll get them this week, sign them and send them back promptly so that I can get them by this week/next week. Yeah, I'm impatient.

Saturday I hung out with Maverick, Rico and Gypsy, but yesterday I went on a two-plus hour walk with P and Kachina. It was such a gorgeous day (how could anyone spend it inside watching some stupid football game on TV?). Kachina was much more comfortable on the trail this time, although leaving Fancy was still a little stressful for the both of them.

We took a different trail than last time, which ended up being the better of the two. At one point Kachina met two extremely interesting people from Brazil who dotted on her, and crooned about how much they loved her name. The guy actually started chanting and dancing for Kachina, which she found very interesting; I'm sure she was dying to join in.

There were a lot of beautiful desert-like patches on this trail, and we stopped in almost every one of them for a rest...

...and a little work on disengaging the hindquarters before continuing on.


These desert patches were probably my favorite part of the trail. I have an inexplicable love for the desert, even though I've never been to one -- although the Oakland hills are far from a desert area, still it was easy to pretend.

I liked the area so much that I decided we should take the shots for Kachina's registration papers right then and there. P posed Kachina while I dictated and took pictures, and we ended up with some I really liked (I'll post them when I get her registered!).

After that, we found some really cool tucked away places and deer trails, where we marveled at the tracks of a doe and her fawn.

Unfortunately, by then it was time to start heading back. We were all tired, but very happy with the walk.

I was pleased to see that Kachina could go for two hours on some pretty tough trails without getting too tired, despite being a little out of shape. The public arena where I'll be working with her is about an hour's walk through the park, so next time we might try to find it.