Silly, Spunky, Spirited Curlies of the Day!! :-)

I worked early this morning, much to my horrendous disappointment as it was sparklingly beautiful out today, instead of pouring rain as it's been the last several days.
As soon as I got home I ran upstairs, pulled on a pair of my polar fleece breaches and riding boots and ran back outside. Did a little ground work with Rhys, then hopped on. I love working with Rhys, he just has such a giving attitude about most anything I ask for. Today he was in a rather chipper mood, as such we did a lot of suppleing trot work with me in two point... not sure I'll be able to walk tomorrow, but well worth the work out and serious time back in the saddle! Rhys was fantastic, responsive, light, comfy as always, and a true delight to ride today in the sunshine!
About the time I was untacking him, Robyn arrived, camera in tow.
I wanted to get some pictures of the foals in their winter curls for registration purposes, got a couple of cute ones and I think all of their markings show well enough, we'll see. Included were Sandor and Xandra. So while taking pictures, I decided to try again for some video.
I did a little lunging with some direction changes, it's been a while, so they're a little unpracticed, Xandra was game enough; generally, she seems bored with repeats of any lesson, I hadn't really anticipated doing anything with her today aside from grooming her, which I do most days because we both enjoy it. Here's a clip of her lunging:
Then we did a bit of desensitization, I can not express how much I love this horse. Wish the video was a long clip of the whole thing instead of just the tail end, however her reaction in this clip is how she reacted to everything I did, from twirling the line next to her, to tossing the whole thing over her, to wrapping it around her legs, to whirling it over her head, etc; I'm going to have to step things up and be a lot more creative... and prepared next time. Here is a clip of us finishing up.

I have to say Xandra has come a LONG way since I first met her as a yearling and the trust she has in me is, well, humbling (I seem to be feeling humbled by a few individuals these days, hmm...) I suppose it's good to learn something everyday, even if it's a little introspection. I have to say that when I am in the presence of my Curlies, it is clear to me that they are sentient beings, that through my interactions with them I am a better, more whole human, and that their willingness to be in my life allows me to learn and connect more fully than I could ever hope, my life is truly enriched by their participation in it.
After spending a little time with Xandra we went over to visit Sandor. All I have to say is Holy Smokes!! if last week I was having to remind myself he's a stud, that is not the case today! He was a wild thing!, jumping, and kicking, and prancing, and strutting his stuff! He was a lot of fun to play around with. Since he was feeling so exuberant I decided to try him over a little tiny jump. He leaped WAY over the thing the first couple of times. Here's a tiny clip of him going over again. After each time he leapt into what I can only describe as a totally impressed with himself victory dance. What a character. :-) And, turns out, he's a pretty descent jumper too! :-) Lucky Me!

After calming Sandor down, doing some desensitization work with him also, scrubbing him all over and giving him a "scooby snack" (what I call all delicious critter tid bits of tender morsels), we headed back to the babies.
During the entire time I was playing with Sandor, Xandra was nickering to Sandor (she's completely smitten with him), Ravyn was raptly watching him jump too though. So, I brought the jump in with the babies for them to interact with, they tried to eat it, terribly frightened obviously. (*snicker, cough, laugh*) Then, since I had the halter and lead with me, I figured what the heck, no time like the present, so for the first time since last March I did a little ground work with Lyra and Epona, with their fillies in tow. I am wondering if by showing them now with their mothers what I'm doing and how the whole thing works in small increments, if it will be one more thing to make their and my life easier when it comes to furthering their training.
So I lunged and did some desensitization work with Lyra (Rogue in tow) and Epona (Rora in tow). Again, their personalities are so different, both love bugs, but wow! Rogue tried to follow me in a tiny loop watching her Mom get lunged, then she bolted out to interrupt her Mom before coming back behind me and back to following. When it came to the desensitization part, she stood right next to her mom, head dropped, licking and chewing and basically falling asleep as the line was tossed over her, on her, around her body, around her legs, literally everywhere and she just could not care less. She seemed to say, hey, if you say this is safe and mom says this is safe, well, it must be safe, so no biggie.
Here's a clip of the two:
Rora on the other hand, was absolutely lovely running to the outside of Epona on the lunge, staying out of the way, even doing direction changes and again to the outside, incredible.
We only did a couple of loops with Lyra and Epona so not too stressful for baby joints or the mares, just going to gradually start working on getting them into a little better shape.
When it came to the desensitization though? Rora wanted nothing to do with it and bolted to go stand a safe distance away watching with the protection of her sisters Ravyn and Rogue. Interesting.
It was about dark by then so we called it a day and after giving everyone a good body rub, brought the jump back outside their pasture and came in for some much needed hot tea. All in all, I am thrilled with the day and can't wait to do it all again tomorrow, if it's not raining, which right this second it is.
I've really been enjoying reading every one else's posts lately, funny seeing some of us doing very similar things this time of year! :-) I hope everyone else had a great Veteran's Day today!
Best,
~Heather