Workin with Willa

Ok, so we have an 8 year old Mustang mare. She was given to us last year and we have slowly been getting to know her. Lately I've been working with her a bit, after my neighbor loaned me some Pat Parelli DVDs and have been amazed at how smart she is and how quickly she picks up on things. Last week she had an accident with some fencing and got a couple cuts. I bought some wound spray and some fly spray (to keep flies off the owies). Now, Willa (short for Willamina) does NOT like being sprayed with anything. I discovered this when we tried to spray her last year to keep flies off her. So, having to get the wound spray up close enough to coat the cuts was, well.. not easy. It took both Mike and I to hold her and get her sprayed. She was NOT happy with us, and since then has been pretty distrustful. She loves apples, but was very hesitant this past week when I would offer them. So, today I took a folding chair and a book out to her pasture, sat down and started reading. Within minutes she was right there lipping my coat and chewing on the arm of the chair. Eventually I was able to reach up and scratch her head. After awhile I walked out of the pasture and closed her gate. She came right over, reached over and started lipping my shoulder and whatnot. The brush was right at my feet so I picked it up, let her sniff it and she let me slowly start brushing her. It was nice. Im excited to build that trust with her again and get to where I can start working with her and playing games. My neighbor brought over more dvds for me to watch, and Im learning so much! Willa's wounds are healing well, and I hope to someday be able to ride her confidently! I will post more as we make more progress.