Off to Reform School

Paloma leaves next Thursday, for an overnight at Barbara Washburn's in Wilton, then on Friday the 15th, we load her up and take her to Steve Bauhr's, AKA reform school. She won't have to wear a uniform, but she will have to show up on time and behave herself every day. It will be good for her. I'm sure she will learn a lot, and I bet Steve and Carolyn fall in love with her (everyone does) because she is so pretty. And if she is as good for Steve as I think she'll be, then she will make a lot of progress.
How long will she be gone? Everyone wants to know. I say "as long as it takes." maybe a month, maybe 2, maybe 3.
Of course, since my Epiphany (see December post), I've been having a good time with Paloma, and will be sad to see her go. She will look at me with those big brown eyes and... well, I'll feel like a jerk for sending her away. But, back to paragraph 1, it will be good for her. I've been riding her and working on managing her feet. She seems to be a lot happier and I am pleased to say we have very few blow ups. Sometimes something outside the arena scares her, and I don't feel it coming, and she gets away from me with a few leaps, but I quickly shut her down. In fact, she's kind of shutting herself down these days. We get back to whatever we were doing, and life goes on. Sometimes we make a project of just getting on and off and not going anywhere. Sometimes we walk around the parking lot, and there is always something that gets her going so that she wants to stir things up. All I do is turn turn turn, redirect her and get her to relax, then we sit and visit, or we go on, or I get off. No big deal.

Here is the link to the 15 minute video of Steve working with Paloma.
http://gallery.me.com/jenniferruffolo#100015
I think it's very clear that he will be able to help her out. One of my favorite moments in the video is when he says "I'd guess she's pretty sensitive to the leg?"
And when he says she needs to learn some patience for us humans.
Yup.