Over the past several months, Veronica has made great progress in her ground work with volunteer Candi. She is a sensitive mare who is eager to learn and please. These changes allowed for another milestone as she experienced her first saddling with Joel Conner in the October clinic/colt starting.
Joel has years of experience working with challenging horses like Veronica. Even with preparation on the ground she was uncomfortable and explosive under saddle. For the next five days Veronica was saddled and unsaddled countless times consecutively and throughout the day.
Joel and Candi spent a lot of time freeing up her feet, working on her bracing on the right, bending and changing eyes. By the end of the fifth day, she was beginning to understand the presence of the saddle as she was standing still being unsaddled.
While this is a significant step for this beautiful mare, she has a very long way to go before she will ever experience a rider. She will continue to be saddled every time she works. Continuing to prepare her from the ground will give her the best opportunity for success in the future.
In the days after the clinic, Terry and Candi were able to work and saddle Veronica. She made great progress in the clinic and those changes carried over. We will continue to help her and saddle her during our groundwork sessions. Our goal is she will become more and more comfortable wearing it and eventually accept a rider.
Veronica is a diamond in the rough who is definitely beginning to shine!
