Fourth Ride

Tini had another wonderful day! For her third ride (yesterday) and her fourth ride (today) we had to work in the outdoor arena, a new place for Tina, due to some construction in the indoor. Once Tina got a chance to look at everything, she was a rockstar. She picks up things so fast. On only her fourth ride, she is walking, trotting, stopping, and backing beautifully on cue. We've been doing a lot of different figures, her steering is wonderful (always a plus!). No one who sees her believes that she has only been undersaddle for a matter of days.
Recently I have added pool noodles to Tini's stall, it hangs near the center of her stall. She was not happy about it at first - I got the evil eye for a few minutes - but now that she is used to having it there she doesn't even glance at it. When she walks around her stall, her ears will bump against it or it will blow in the wind when the doors are open and she doesn't even notice. She's so brave about new things. So long as you take your time and don't rush her, Tini will do anything for you. She loves to be praised- her ears perk forward whenever you tell her "goood girl!" and you can tell she gets proud of herself. As soon as you show her the difference between what you want and what you don't want, she is happy to do things your way. It's quite refreshing!