All roads lead to home

It always blows me away how quickly time passes when the weather gets nice out! Longer days, more sunlight, and before you know it it's 9:00 pm and I'm still riding! It seems like just yesterday we were unloading Miss Ava in the snow and now she is on her way home with fresh skills and ready to be adopted!

In the final weeks Ava went above and beyond what I could have asked of her.  I continued to throw new things her way and she took everything in stride.Creating trail blazer Ava was our first order of business. I would begin by going down our driveway away from her friends just until I could feel her get a little nervous and turn around and come back home. I did all of this on a lose rein walking at an enjoyable pace. After a few days of back and forth Ava was feeling good and I decided to see how far into the woods she would go. Tromping along she continued to go where I asked. She didn't even bat an eyelash when a little fox ran across our path. I'm pretty sure I came out of those woods beaming ear to ear. Proud? That was an understatement!

I even felt confident enough to pull out my phone and take a short video of her in the woods!

Ava is one of the more brave Thoroughbreds I've met. While my OTTB spooks when the wind blows a different direction I can't say there was anything that truly spooked Ava. Ava's biggest struggle was keeping her mind on her work and off of her friends. (Sounds like most teenage girls in school!) The more Ava progressed and was worked, the less of a problem this was. Occasionally she would have a moment and I would work consistently with her until she gave up her attitude and we would move on like everything was okay!

I also decided to take Ava over a small fence to see what she would think about a jumping career. As I suspected she didn't even think twice and hopped right over the jump. Flower boxes and all!

Ava's last ride was one that truly showed me how far she had come. It was pouring rain and we had to complete our whole ride in the indoor out of sight from her buddies. She began a little tense but spent the whole ride in the ring without a melt down! Although that sounds like nothing to most people, from where we began, that was a huge leap for Ava!

Ava is currently back at Lollypop and looking for a home! If your interested in more information go to their website and schedule a time to go out and meet her! http://www.lollypop.org/site/c.clKUI9OQIoJcH/b.7792273/k.8CFC/Adoptable_Animals.htm#.VYrB4EYe0ZM 



In other news, I am happy to report our superstar and former student Kory has been adopted!!

This is him in his new home with his pasture buddy! We wish Kory all the best with his new owner!