Toad hops.

So to spare you of all the details I worked Mags this morning and Spade tonight. Magpie did fine this morning. She really retains well. I started working her with the cues from yesterday. She came right back to doing things the way I left her yesterday. Tomorrow I will work her more. She just started eating tonight. She seems to like grain and cubes. I left the food in there and I have been checking every feeding to see if she has found it. Tonight she did. She did really well this morning. She will sneak up behind me to get a sniff. I would stand like a statue and let her smell. The minute you move she runs two strides and stops. The "join up" method has totally worked minus the fact that she still won't let you touch her. It is almost a game to her. There is no fear. She is very confidant. Saturday I even slung the string on my stick around her back end to test her to see if she was a kicker. She raised her legs and kinda jumped but wasn't worried enough to kick. What a nice change.
Today after many touches and rubs with the stick and lots of game playing  I was done. I had a client standing at the gate that was convinced he could touch her. So I allowed him in the pen. What could it hurt? I was pretty sure that she wasn't going to hurt him and I was also pretty sure he wouldn't get to her. So I stood by the gate and talked to his wife while he tried to work with her. He was actually doing a pretty good job. The cool thing was he grabbed her lead and reenforced the halter work that I did yesterday. She did really good with him. The neat part was she would avoid him and almost walk over me to get away from him. I just stood quite as she passed me. If I wanted to I could lift my hand and touch her. She was less then a foot off me. I was so surprised that she would come that close to me without fear. Again she is alot like a butterfly. As she would walk passed I watched her ears out of the corner of my eye. I will be honest I was waiting on her to nail me. I am so used to Spade. She wasn't worried at all. One time he stopped her right by me. She would face him which meant her butt was uncomfortably close to me. I was worried the first time but then I realized she wasn't worried about me back there. So I relaxed and then just hoped that she didn't decide to kick. In the long run what little "playing" this guy did. It taught me more about my mare. I was pleased. There are a lot on the Facebook page that are already touching, brushing, and even saddling but this time I don't feel the pressure to hurry. I want her to trust me and have fun that is the only way she is going to love what she does.
Spade had a rough day. We worked in my obstacles area. I worked with all the required elements. He did "ok". I took him to my tractor tire and got him to where he would step in it. All was great until he backed out once and hung the tire on his foot. He jumped and kinda spazzed for a second. Thankfully he was controlable. After that happened twice I had a hard time convincing him that the tire wasn't going to eat him. After fussing with him awhile I decided that the tire wasn't a required element and if he was that worried about it then I couldn't use it in my free style so I left it. It wasn't a battle that was worth the fight. We did a lot of other things. We side passed over a timber and backed in the V. Then we came to the Scary thing on a barrel. I put a jolly ball on the top. I figured at least he won't freak out to bad at that. WRONG! I side passed up to the barrel and started moving it around on the barrel. He was worried but still. So I figured he is good. So I grabbed it and pulled it toward my saddle he stepped sideways. I figured he will stop in a second. He took off. I had the ball in one hand and trying to one rein stop with the other. I am sure it looked hilarious from the outside. I refused to let the ball go. Since he is so broke in the mouth he easily disengaged his hind end and stopped. I started rubbing him with the ball and he relaxed. When I looked up I realized I was 50 ft. from where I started. He tried to buck but it was like little toad hops. I couldn't help but laugh. I tried to loosen up on him in my body. He had spooked me pretty good so my legs were a little shaky and my heart rate was up. I didn't want that to scare him so I settled down. We went back and he did really good. So I did some other things and waited 20 min and went back. This time he did the same thing only he only jumped three hops. He is SO broke in the face. I am really proud of him. Just got to get through the boogers.
So I was thinking today, I would like to take tonight to thank everyone that has supported me in this journey. It was so wonderful going to the barrel race yesterday and everyone cheering Spade on. Everyone has been so helpful and encouraging. People look at him now and they think it was easier then it was. But those that follow him on the blog understand how far he has really come. Ya'll are truly great. I can't tell you what God has done through all of this. I have been able to reach out to so many through this journey. Some of you know that I have been in ministry almost as long as I have been barrel racing and my goal is to reach out to others. This mustang means so much to me but this competition isn't for my glory. It is for what God can do through me and through my talent with horses to reach out to everyone else. All through out the Bible God has always used the outcast to do great things. I didn't understand the purpose of doing this mustang thing. The mustangs have been the outcast for years. I feel that I can use them to do great things. There have been many doors open in the barrel world due to my little 14 Hand mustang and I plan on using these for the Lord. So when you hear me ranting about my mustang please don't take it as me boosting. I am honestly super excited at what God is doing in my life through these wonderful horses. God has promised me some crazy stuff in the future and I know that these things are a step toward that. People that want the glory for what they do will step on others to get there. In my case I want to bring all my friends along. I want whoever wants to be a part of these things to jump in. I love you guys and wouldn't trade this for the world. I have many really cool plans in the works Mr. Spade is just the first step. That is why I say he is "Breaking Ground"