So I went out allll the way to the back of the mare pasture today to find Rhapsody. And it started marvelously. I had the little rope and she trotted right up for a carrot and a scratch; then I started where we left off, but was able to move a lot faster as she easily accepted the rope all the way up her neck to her poll on both sides. So I took the end and looped it over top of her neck and rubbed it up there, slid it off, tossed it gently up and rubbed some more, and again she was fantastic, relaxed and easy going. Needless to say I piled on the scratches and carrots and was thoroughly happy.
Then something happened. I have thought and still can't figure out what it was, but suddenly she was not interested any more. She came up several times for carrots and scratches, but when I started working with the rope again, she'd move off. Not spooky any more, and not skittish; just kind of a "I don't want to play that game." In fact the one time that I accidentally popped her with the end of the rope and she spooked and jumped off, she came back almost immediately. So being quite exhausted from the week and not wanting to fight any "battles" just on general principles, I settled for asking her to let me approach her softly for a carrot treat (actually rather a big deal for her, she prefers to make the choice to come up herself rather than have me approach her), and made my way off. Next week I shall have an alternate plan if I need it.
I found Fringe afterwards and got a bit of a walk-trot ride in--no canter as she is still sore on the footing and the grass center of the little arena is really too small to canter well in. She was nice in walk-trot though, and afterwards we did a bit of groundwork at liberty before going up, getting cleaned off--well, getting her cleaned off, don't know about me--and scrubbing the mud fever on her pasterns. It's really sad we get mud fever in the summer here, that's all I have to say!
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