Week One and a Half : Spacial Awareness.

Cross tying like a boss.... countdown to
movement.... 5..4...3

Our first week complete and Bellerose is coming along quite nicely. It feels like she has been around for over a month, not just a week!

Part of my starting process is a load of ground work. Short doses built for lasting positive  impression.
And I mean a load of ground work. If you hate all things ground work you will likely not be interested in my posts for awhile, sorry y’all I’ll try to keep things interesting with some purchase reviews for my recent shopping spree. Whoops...


My initial eval of my horses is always temperament and reaction response. Emphasis on reaction response because this is what can cause the biggest issues and injuries if you’re not prepared.

Temperament wise: Belle is so sweet, a little too in your pocket resulting in slight pushy attitude, sensitive, a thinker and accommodating.

Reaction Response: Belle is not overly spooky but she stops and thinks and has one heck of a spin. She can sit on those haunches like no one’s business, thanks Spanish breeding, spinning away from scary things then stopping and giving it the eye. Luckily very little bolt, or worse kick or rear.

I tend to have a list of buttons I push checking how the horses move away from pressure, establishing I am boss mare followed by enforcing foreword movement, always no question.

‘Ohh... edibles?”

Sometimes I push a bit harder just to see what the reaction is. I  want to know before I’m up there.


Once I know where we are, where we need to be and how it can escalate I develop a plan.


So far this plan consists of quite a bit of spacial awareness exercises including standing still when asked. #marebabies 😒
For instance yielding the haunches with inside bend and inside hind stepping in front of outside hind (important aspect, otherwise they are not actually accepting the pressure), yielding shoulder again inside bend and inside front stepping behind outside front, moving out from pressure (like lunging but I walk along with her driving her forward keeping her on a 10-12ft length and I’m at a 45 degree angle to her haunches - I like this the best out of all. Also toss in a few steps of trot as we go, always using arena to avoid strain), “opening the gate” (where you park the horse between you and the wall - ask the horse to go through the ‘gate’ while you stand still. Etc etc. So many!

Along with ‘sacking our exercises’ with plastic bags, whips spanking the ground or swirling in the air, saddle pads, cones, jumping up and down, leaning on her side, poles etc etc. Anything and everything I do it, mind you never drilling only enough to get a relaxation response, I accept small progressive efforts of licking, chewing, head dropping or a relaxing of the haunches, remove pressure by stopping and turning away with praise. I typically check response once more on the same side before moving into next eye and again never drilling.


While my days are short, 15 minutes of grooming and between 10-25 minutes of ground work - always finishing on a good note, they are very productive. Most of my barnmates also questioning my sanity as they see me leaping around like a fool, snorting like a horse to mimic a relation response of another herd member, or shouting my praise in soprano like fashion. But hey that’s baby horse life!