Vet Students! I Found the Perfect Ranch Externship! (continued)
March 11. My gift today was the progress that I was able to make in getting Bella to stop and take that step back and praise her for it. 
The progress she made, too, with me as a team. The vocal cues – I’ve always heard people use them and I kind of used them myself when riding, but I didn’t truly understand the deep significance behind them and what each one means. I like the consistency thing – after today I noticed so many things my family is doing wrong that they should change, that we could change, like changing the way we cinch up so we don’t pinch the horse, and rein management in general. It’s almost like I need to go back and do groundwork with my horses all over, start over, clean slate. I also have to get a pug Chihuahua – one that makes those Gypsy-the-dog noises. Working with horses is a lot 
like working with a 1200 pound dog – putting the lead rope behind the ears and having control is what you do with a big dog that’s not listening and pulling you and trying to get away and throw your back out – it’s a lot of the same stuff.
March 12. Well, I always come back to this: We are talking about control, don’t over-think it. Respond immediately. For me, it all comes back to working with dogs. In my job, I work with dogs and I’ll apply what I’m learning here with horses to my work with dogs. If a dog is going to attack… if a dog is going to fall off the grooming table… you
have to respond immediately. I’m connecting with my horse so I have more control over her. My gift today… (continued)