Went to the clinic today. I am going to redefine Ava under the catergory "buddy sour". When everyone was out in the arena she was fine, when I went to go turn away from the group, about 1/4 of the time she acted up a little, but not bad at all, just resisting. She was actually very good. She got through the ground work fine, we did well for that, and also did fine when we were doing mounted excercises.

I'll give the trainer credit that he is a decent, solid horse trainer. He does need improvement in the clinician department though. He talked a lot and demonstrated a lot, but when he (finally) turned us loose to do our own stuff, he was still working on his green mule and didn't really keep an eye on everybody, just the people that were not getting it at all. I didn't feel that we did a whole lot either, for our money's worth. I got to talk to him about Ava, and he saw (only one of the times) when she acted up. His advice was to keep on with ground work, let her respect you. When you go to get on her, to MAKE her go away from the gate, let her pick a direction at first. If she won't go forward..."cowgirl up", if need be grab the horn and as much leg as needed to make her go and be prepared for a buck or a leap or something, "but at least she won't be rearing and she'll be going forward". I'm not sure about that, I guess it wouldn't hurt to try..but maybe it would? I have a couple other tricks up my sleeve though.

I asked him also about the bitting thing (she won't take a bit) and he tried after the clinic. She pulled all her tricks about putting a bit in and he wasn't able to. He attempted to put a lead rope in and she almost came down on me, she reared and almost toppled over. He did it again and again and she eventually was able to get the lead rope in, so I was happy with that.


I don't know...I don't think I really learned anything to help her other than I what I have already heard. Like I said I have a few more things to try before I'm close to making a decision. The more I look at her the more I think she would be happier as a group lesson horse.