I got so much dirt and dust and hair in my sinuses. I spent a good hour brushing her and I didn’t even come close to getting everything off. The deeper layers haven’t even started to shed yet.

I tried to put her bridle on with her new bit, but she threw the biggest fit. I gotta work with her with it so she understands what she’s supposed to do with it. The bit I got for her looks very different than what she’s used to, so I understand her being confused by that part and her confusion is okay.

What wasn’t okay was her trying to bite me three times while I was trying to put the reins over her head. The reins are also new and are split reins and each side has lil leather bits on the end. I think she was beaten with something similar in the past based on her immediate aggression. It was very unlike her. So it’s going to take some training to get her used to the reins. I did get them over her head without trouble eventually, but I had to really prove they weren’t gonna hurt her.

I decided to call the session there to end on a good note but then she decided to just rush forward on the way to her stall and pulled the lead from my hand in the process. So it wasn’t the best ending, but it was better than it could have been.

I think that next time I go to work with her with the bridle and reins (hopefully on Sunday), I’ll exercise her a little first to get excess energy out and save the grooming for last. I honestly should have done that today, but I got ahead of myself because the new bit and reins are exciting. Lesson learned on my part. Sandy didn’t seem upset or anything after we ended training and she nudged me affectionately in her stall when I said bye, so she was over it all by the time I got everything cleaned up.

I also learned that apparently horses go crazy for fruit roll ups and that a common way to teach a horse that bits are okay is to put lil strips of fruit roll ups around the bit. So I got some fruit roll ups on my way home lol. I was gonna get molasses or honey to paint on the bit, but then compared the sugar content to fruit roll ups and decided the roll ups were better because they have way less sugar.

I’ll update y’all after our next training session. Hopefully it goes better than this one did. :)