Settling In...

We made the trip to Florida in 18 or 19 hours. We left at 3:00 in the afternoon Monday and arrived at 10:00 in the morning Tuesday! Sophie travelled like a champ. We stopped every 3-4 hours for gas and I checked Sophie at every stop and she never sweated once. It was in the mid-30's until we got to Georgia, then the temperature started rising.

I drove from 2 am to 7 am and Craig did all of the other driving. I like driving in the middle of the night because there are hardly any cars on the road. Once we got in we unloaded Sophie and she looked around a bit before stretching her legs in the arena. She trotted a few laps and then started looking for grass so we put her in a paddock where she trotted over to make friends with her neighbors. She drank some water and ate some hay after greeting the other horses.

Craig and I went home to nap so that we would be awake for the Spacecoast Arabian Horse Club meeting that night, so we weren't there when Sophie was brought in for dinner. Apparently she got a little upset when they started taking the other horses in, but she calmed down and was fine by the time we stopped back at the barn before going to the meeting.

Yesterday I went out and turned her loose in the round pen, she trotted around a bit and I worked on just having her move a bit and turn in response to my body language. She was nervous about being out in the round pen while the other horses were inside. After a bit of work I just led her around the round pen, stopping and backing a couple of steps every now and then to get her focusing on me. I also worked on asking her to lower her head when I applied pressure to her poll with one hand while pulling gently downward on the halter.

Today we went for a walk in the big arena, doing lots of walking, stopping, and backing to get her focusing on me and ensure she was walking on a loose lead. We did a little jogging too, but I just can't handle much physical activity right now, which leads me to doubt what I'll be able to do as far as long lining until after the baby is born!

She does have some kind of issue with her neck, so I have a Bowen practitioner coming out next Friday to work on her. I'm really excited, I hadn't heard of the Bowen Technique before, but after doing more research on it I think it will help her a lot and can't wait to see the results! I may longe Sophie tomorrow, just using the cavesson and letting her stretch out, no side reins or anything.