Here's to Miss Kitty

I can't believe it!  I should...Kitty has proven me wrong before....God can and will use the wildest horses to teach us lessons and to strengthen our doubt.  As you know (well as long as you've kept us with the blog), I have 2 horses--problem horses-each with a slightly different background--one unwanted the day she was born and the other unwanted after priorities changed and left to sit.  I'm attracted to horses like that I guess because those are the horses God gave me to work with!  Anyway, Kitty is half arab so she can have tons of bottled up, explosive energy and she forgets how to use it--uncontrollably sometimes.  She needs a soft touch to her training and if one way doesn't work, you'll need to look up another.  I thank her for making me a more patient, loving, and understanding trainer!  So when did Kitty start surprising me with her trick training capabilities?  I guess it was the first big trick, the bow.  I didn't figure she would one day go quietly down on one knee and wait for my signal to get up!  Yes, it took awhile and I'm not saying that she does that trick perfect everytime--I'm just saying she DOES it!  Then it was the rear!  That REALLY was a dangerous trick to teach a horse like Kitty, but again she began to be the perfect horse for that trick!  Then there was the pedestal......Yes, we have mastered many other cute, fun tricks and I was content to stop there...mostly because I doubted that Kitty would ever learn anything more because of the way people trained just wasn't what Kitty preferred or understood!  Finally, I found a trick training video that I watched and thought, "hmm...maybe I can try just one more thing!"  I was very skeptical.  In fact, when I first tried the Kneel--I was not expecting a willing horse--more like a crazy, jumpy horse whose trust I would completely lose due to my "scary" training techniques.  I've only had the pleasure of doing this trick twice with Kitty, but it is looking great!  She is very cooperative and has not jumped or been crazy at all!  She just tries to understand what I want!  Wow!  So without further ado here are a few pics of a trick I thought I'd never come close to seeing her do!  THE KNEEL!  Looks like I won't be getting much more practice that just 2 times with all this rain and lightning, but hey!  I'm inspired anyway! Great job, Miss Kitty

Above:  Kitty is looking for her treat!  ; )  Smart girl!  Below:  Kitty doing it perfect!  Waiting till I give her the que to get up!  That's my girl!

And here's to Missy!!!  She's not one to be left out!