Stephen Gowling I’m so sorry! I know that’s hard in so many ways. Hopefully your mare is faring okay. 

She’s doing really well! We’ve been riding in the arena and using bending/circles and one-rein stops any time she gets a little looky or nervous. We have our first trip off the property at the end of the month so trying to build up her confidence as much as possible!

Lucas Truax they are 3/8 double braided, I do like how soft they are.

All I’ve done is focused on asking as soft as possible using the drive lines, and releasing as soon as she backs. I’ve increased the number of steps she takes back before releasing each time we’ve worked on it, and now am basically doing the same thing under saddle. 

This is my first time ground driving and have never thought to use it to work on backing, but it makes way more sense than how a lot of other trainers teach backing with groundwork! 

Lucas Truax thank you! She’s come a long way in a short time, she’s 12 years old. 

Thank you! I sure did! 

Haha Richard Boatwright  you are fine!! I appreciate you remembering, thank you so much. And thanks guys for the well wishes.

Stephen Gowling I’ve been spending this week trying to get a hang of ground driving myself 😵‍💫 it’s been a humbling experience to say the least! Very challenging in a great way.

Here’s the mare I’m restarting using the ES20 series on softening the older horse, waiting on me to get her rig set up, likely questioning if I actually know what I’m doing 😂 

Stephen Gowling yes, it could be due to previous hard handling with riding in a bit and nothing physical- will just have to rule things out. Thanks so much for the ideas and encouragement! Will maybe try to get some videos of her progress. 

Stephen Gowling definitely a good question! Dental problems were one of my first thoughts too. Neither myself nor the vet have been able to check her teeth yet, she is pretty reactive to her mouth being touched. I’m planning on having her sedated next vet visit so we can do a thorough assessment of her mouth. I’ve only had her about 4 months and was given limited info, so unfortunately don’t know much. Just hoping to give her a better chance at being a productive equine citizen! 

Thank you so much! We’ll give it a try and see how it goes. My goal is to ride in a bit so that’s definitely helpful.