My Horse Journey: Grooming On a Lead Line

Yesterday, I did some more lead work with Phoenix. I was taking one of our mustangs, Rainy, for a walk when I noticed that Sam's dad, Mickey, was in the pasture with Phoenix and Raven with a lead rope in hand. I stopped walking, which lazy Rainy appreciated, and asked Mr. Mickey what he was doing. He said he wanted to catch Raven. I remembered the day that Nora and spent two hours trying to catch her to no prevail and decided to help him. I finished Rainy's walk and turned her back out into the pasture. I grabbed a lead rope and tried to catch my girl, Phoenix. Raven was so worked up that Phoenix was harder to catch than usual. However, as soon as I got her interest with some food, I had her.

I thought if I had Phoenix, then it would be easier to catch Raven. Raven just kept running away. Eventually, I was able to catch Raven on a lead line. I had handed Phoenix to Mickey and I grabbed a food bucket. I sat the bucket down, crouched, and looked away from Raven. When she stuck her head in, I latched the rope to her halter. It certainly took a few tries, but I finally got her. I handed her to Mickey and did some lead work with my girl. Sadly, about ten minutes later, Mickey sneezed. Raven freaked out and escaped from Mickey's grip. For many hours she was running around with a lead rope still hanging from her halter. I caught her again a few times but she pulled me so much that I had to let go. Eventually we stopped chasing her because if she kept running then she would trip herself on the rope. We had to wait until dinner time to unlatch it from her halter.

Phoenix did great with lead work. At first, when Raven would freak out and run past her, Phoenix would freak out and try to run as well. But it only took the slight pressure of me holding the lead line to stop her from running. After a few times of this happening, Phoenix stopped freaking out and just watched Raven as she ran past. Phoenix is certainly calmer than Raven. At one point I sat down in the pasture (not a recommended thing to do) and Phoenix bent her head for a kiss on the nose.

Later I decided to do a little photoshoot. There hadn't been any pictures of me with Phoenix on a lead line and I wanted to fix that. I just walked up to Phoenix and latched the lead rope to her halter without struggle. I walked her around posed for lots of pictures. While I was working with her, Cynthia suggested that I groom her. Usually I groom Phoenix while she's eating, but Cynthia said she wants me to do as much with Phoenix as I can without food. Phoenix did just fine. I groomed her all over and she hardly minded. She's such a good horse.