Samantha Thorning with Aspen, (On Line, 15 mins) Aspen's leg is looking so, so, so much better! The wound is really filling in and all the bubbly proud flesh seems to have ceased growing. I've finally begun alternating the caustic powder with some wound salve every couple days to really promote healing.

I played with her on-line for just a few minutes today. Would have played longer but with the cold temperatures and biting wind I was starting to go numb. Had a few nice (and sound!) circles and some great, great, great figure-8's. I didn't ask for them at the canter but she offered and did flying changes in the middle!!! Wow!! Certain things are really coming together for us - I'm sure it's a combination of all the undemanding/friendly time we've spent together since her injury and my developing awareness of accepting what she's offering to me and then shaping it into a desired outcome for both of us. Today we got 3 steps of Spanish Walk too!! So cool! I have to be careful with this one because she wants to offer it whenever she's unsure of what I want... which is cool but I don't want it to become a habit to default to Spanish Walk all the time. :) Silly girl.

11/28/2011

Samantha Thorning with Aspen, (On Line, 60 mins) Played with STM on the 12' line, had some great figure-8's on the 22' and some really nice changes of direction and circles on the 22'. She's offering to sidepass over everything and to put her feet on anything she can - with such a sweet expression as well. Wonderful girl!

Samantha Thorning with Aspen, (Freestyle, 15 mins) Had a short ride on Aspen today - first since early October! She was really good, even remembered what we'd been playing with regarding stretching and keeping her head down. Boy, she's such a fast learner! :)

Samantha Thorning with Aspen, (Liberty, 15 mins) Had just a couple circles at liberty today while I took photos and some really nice changes of direction at the trot and canter.

 

Below are some photos I was playing around with editing.  Thoughts? :)