Mares are awesome!

I did the same ride again today and she behaved much better! She was still a little sticky and unsure when we headed out, but I stayed really patient and she did just fine. On the way back, on the nice deep trail, I let her gait. Bumped her back when she'd get excited and try to rack or trot, and I got some really nice fast walking. And I forgot a story from yesterday...

When the hay truck showed up, Dixie thought maybe it was a monster. I waited til the guys unloaded the hay, then led her over to see it. The driver was at the house writing up an invoice to leave for S, and the driver's door was open. There was a guy in the passenger seat who leaned over to let Dixie sniff his hand, but she wasn't sure about him. I thought of Haiku Farm's helicopter story and gave him a frosted mini-wheat (from my pocket, of course - doesn't everybody carry crispy cereal treats in their jeans?). Dixie saw it, wasn't quite convinced it wasn't a trap but couldn't resist, and ate the mini-wheat. Then she let him scratch her and relaxed quite a bit about the hay truck. Yay! Perhaps I should hide some mini-wheats in the garbage can next week...