So Far, So Good

It's felt too long since I've updated. Between the funeral and the holiday, I've been too physically, and mentally, drained to post. That, and there was nothing really to post about until now.

Kachina has started her training under saddle, and she's doing really well! My trainer really likes the way she moves both with and without the saddle, and how easily she took to it (I've never saddled her). But what really impressed him was how she carried her head. She drops it very low when working, something he calls "bird dogging." When she was younger, I showed him a short video of her doing it while herding Odin, and he liked it then but said that it may not be consistent once she's working under saddle.

Apparently it is.

He also said that he often let the rope drag when he lunged her, and every time she stepped on it she gave into the pressure on her halter. This may mean that she'll be very soft with the bit. We'll have to wait and see.

I like to think that he was as excited as I am about her potential, but maybe I'm just being an overly proud parent. I don't want to set my expectations too high. Still, he was impressed enough to ask me how much of this stuff I'd done with her before he got his hands on her, to which I assured him that I'd done nothing but sack her out, teach her to flex and disengage her hindquarters. She's just a natural.

Pictures soon, I promise!