Belle...10/17/11

We spent most of the day at MDA, but I did get home in time to work Belle today.  Started out with the basic groundwork, we want her to have a good foundation for her future.  She is a calm and pretty steady mare and has adapted well to the groundwork.  Once I felt like her mind was ready I took a saddle blanket and started rubbing her all over with it.  This eventually led to waving it around and slapping it lightly against her.  At one point I was twirling it above my head walking away from her and she chose to follow me around, even though I gave her the option to leave any time she wanted.  She is steady as a rock and looked at me as if to say, "is this all you got?"  She is still going according to plan and should be ready to saddle tomorrow, but she is a horse.  They are living breathing animals, with a mind, so you never assume that everything will go according to "plan".