You might be an adrenaline junkie if...

You volunteer your time at local rescues so that you can be drug around in ankle-deep sand by disrespectful horses.

Don't be fooled by that adorable face - this mare has a 'Caution - Do Not Handle' sign on her stall door.

This is Angel.  A few weeks ago, I spoke to Jennie and told her I was going to start volunteering at a closer rescue.  Now, that doesn't mean that I'm not going to still do things for Jennie - I went to Jennie's earlier this week and worked with a new-to-her mustang for a little while, but I can't be there on a regular basis because it is an hour drive one-way.  The other rescue, however, is less than half a mile from Heather's place making it the better option for me timewise.

Angel is a 9-year-old mare of unknown breeding that came in to Dani's a couple of months ago.  She was actually brought to Dani from another rescue because they could not handle her.  She was used to getting her way and was defensive and aggressive.  Dani has put some time into her, but she needs a lot of ground work in order to get her ready for undersaddle training. 

Enter me and my apparent adrenaline addiction.  Dani has several horses that need work, but I offered to work with the dangerous mare because...well, she's a mare.  There's just something about mares isn't there?  No?  Maybe it's just me.

Today was my first day, and also a test of sorts...obviously Dani wants to make sure that the people claiming they have some experience (disclaimer here: I do not consider myself a horse trainer, but I am attempting to learn all I can in that regard so that I can be a better horsewoman) aren't, well, full of it.  I armed myself with carrot stick, gloves, and 14-foot lead then led Angel into the round pen while Dani and another observer settled themselves into chairs in the shade.  Then I asked Angel to move off and the show began.

She immediately hit the end of the line, running as fast as she could (thank God for rope halters with nose knots!), while I planted my feet and held on, pulling to get her on a circle.  She continued boring around me, full speed ahead while I waited for her to tire a bit.  When she started slowing down, I gently jiggled the line and asked her to walk.  After telling me just how annoying I was being with the line, by nodding her head up and down while speed-trotting for a few minutes, she finally came back down a walk.  I praised her verbally and let her walk for a minute, then asked her to change direction.  This mare is sassy!  First, she decided to run through my request while I tried to find an effective way to make her change direction - I didn't trust her not to run me over so I had to yank severely in the opposite direction, walk quickly towards the round pen wall, and hit the ground in front of her with the stick.  It was a struggle but I got her turned around.  Rinse, repeat for nearly an hour.  A few times she tried to take off and I would sand-ski for a few seconds before I got my weight back far enough - it's a good thing she's a small horse.  We rested a few times, because she is very out of shape and it was ridiculously hot.  I asked her to back a few times, no problem.  When she finally gave me an easy change in each direction, we called it a day.

Angel's first reaction is to run full bore into the pressure, but she's actually very sensitive.  She has a lot of mare-tude, but enjoys scratches.  By the end she was giving me soft eyes, instead of stink eye, pinned ears, and swishing tail - and she didn't try to kill me which is always a plus.  Dani's schedule is pretty crazy but I'm hoping to start working with her regularly as early as next week.  She has it in her to make someone a very nice horse. 

It took all of her will power not to drop and roll during our session, lol.