Lots to write about Annie! She is doing great!! She is now off the lunge line and walking and trotting in the big arena!
Annie, our little hotheaded redhead, is doing amazingly well. One thing that is clear about Annie is that it takes a while for her to trust people and she is really looking for one person to bond with. Right now, that person is Andrea’s assistant, who has been her main handler and rider. Annie LOVES her and I guess it is very sweet how much she has latched on to her new person. Andrea had her doubts about Annie at first because she was so distrustful and reactive at first and with new people and being in a new place she reverted at first to some of the aggressive reactions to something she didn’t like or scared her. Now that she is comfortable with her handlers, its completely gone. She’s still reactive and sensitive, but she’s also a lot more brave than you would think and very easy to train under saddle. They were dropping hay bales in the arena from the loft today and she did one little spook and that was it. She has also gotten way better about having her mouth handled and Andrea came up with the coolest idea for getting her over her bridling issues. Normally, for hard to bridle horses (like my horse was), she uses sugar cubes as an incentive to take the bit. But Annie HATES sugar (thinks you are trying to poison her), so she was having none of that. So Andrea tried wrapping fruit roll-ups around the bit. She LOVES it! I would never have thought of that, but it lasts a while and she has to take the bit to get it because it is wrapped around the bit. Her bitting issues are now completely resolved. What flavor does she like best? I asked Andrea. She said, any flavor is fine, but she likes the kind with the tongue tattoos. 
Anyway, as soon as the weather clears I am going to get up there and take some video of her. Andrea really likes this mare and thinks she has natural ability for dressage. She describes her as very supple and she goes naturally on the bit with just a slight close of the fingers. I can’t wait to see her!
