An Exciting Update...and I'm not even home yet!

The princess had her first day of training yesterday!!!  We'll see how her leg holds up today, but Laura said she was sound and that the puffiness had receded considerably.  She was even able to use the mounting block in the scary goat corner!  Laura said she wouldn't go forward through the gap between mounting block and goat pen, but she did back up quietly and turn around without any fuss.

The one thing that Laura said was interesting, was how quiet Tessa was.  She said she lunged her but she was so quiet on the lunge that she just went ahead and rode her.  She was a bit spooky about the sunshine dappling in the arena and had a hard time with her left lead canter (she had to give a kick/buck before going into it) but was otherwise well behaved and very, very quiet.

Which is very interesting because she's been on stall rest now for a solid week and a half.  That's with zero outside turnout.  She gets turned out in the arena almost every day, but she has gotten MORE quiet instead of crazy.  Has anyone else experienced this?  I'm chalking it up to her being an insecure anxious horse.  See, when she lived outside, she was next door to other horses but she didn't have a buddy living with her.  We tried her with one horse, but the other mare was so dominant that she wouldn't let Tessa in the shelter.

So now she's inside and she has a buddy on each side all day.  The barn rotates which horses go out, so there's always horses in the stalls next to her.  I'm wondering if she's just soaking up all the other horses quiet energy and maybe getting some much needed rest.  She's on stall rest, indoor turnout, until her scratches heal up completely and then we'll decide what we're doing.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying my last day in sunny Arizona where the forecast is for 84 degrees.  I didn't realize how depressed and sunshine deprived I was until a few days into this vacation.  I'm pretty sure I need to make this an annual event.  And maybe next time, I'll bring some riding clothes and check out some Scottsdale barns!