Lexi's lesson with Meg

Lex was fabulous today. Went right into the trailer, travelled quietly except for a couple of pawing moments at stoplights, and got to our destination with hardly a ruffled hair.  Then she saw signs of the Apocolypse across the road through the trailer window: a whole herd of carnivorous goats, a horse-hating Pyrenean Mountain Dog, and the dog's best friend, a cow -- which is just wrong. Cows and dogs aren't supposed to be best friends, and if they are, clearly the cow is seriously abnormal and can't be trusted. So Lexi, who doesn't mind cows normally, had a moment. Head in the air, dancing in the trailer, wanting to rush out. But I asked her to step forward and be calm before I opened the back doors and the ramp, then asked her to relax again before dropping the butt bar, and she was good, came out pretty quietly on command and stood at the bottom of the ramp to think about mouthing a treat. 

At that moment, the carnivorous goats and abnormal cow with her dog-sidekick decided to approach the fence on the other side of the road, so Lexi got a little marbles-in-her-nose attitude and danced around to warn me that we should really be running rapidly from the vicinity. I had to do a little light lunging to settle her before I rode, but once she figured out she really was OK, she was excellent for our lesson with Meg. 

And afterwards she loaded without any need of help from others (she took a couple of false starts because she was busy making sure the carnivores on the other side of the road weren't heading our way, but then went right in). She didn't budge a foot the whole way home and was calm and polite when unloading. And not sweating. And not in a panic about getting out.

I love having the time to take our time and do it right. :)