Having animals that folks compliment for their smarts and beauty never sucks. On Saturday I had a body worker come out for Tarma, as a second and slightly different opinion (the first one a few weeks ago was a full vet with a focus on chiropractor work, and this second lady was more focused on massage and general bodywork). The vet was Dr. Sammons of Lavender Equine and the bodyworker is Amanda of Horse by Northwest, and I can now firmly recommend both of them!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Having both opinions was super helpful, as they both looked at slightly different things and gave me different exercises to work on, all with the focus of slowly building up Tarma’s strength and balance. Both awesome woman loved Tarma and she enjoyed them. They pointed out how smart, sensitive and expressive she is, how hard she tries to understand things and that she does look to me for reassurance.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Today my best friend came to my side of the river (9 times out of 10 I just go to her place as the majority of friends and horses live in Washington) so we could hit my second favorite store (Duluth clothing) and try again to get our dogs to play together, both of which were hugely successful and I didn’t have to drive. I brought Tarma to the indoor to lunge before dinner, which wasn’t hard as she just blasted around us and the dogs for a good five minutes, clearly momma felt fine! Then we just relaxed together, while she tolerated the dogs playing around her and I worked on touching her, trying different areas and pressured to find what she likes.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

So, no rides this weekend but the weather was wretched and we did some solid relationship work instead. Tarma and I will conquer mountains together in time, I no longer doubt that.