May 8th,  I headed out to the desert again with a couple friends of mine.  RuthAnn Ensley and Sheila Combs.  This was great for a couple of reasons.  Diamond is leary of other horses with riders so we all rode together and she was familiarized with being in front of the other horses and also in the back of the pack.  Also RuthAnn took my camera and snapped off a few pics so you can see where we went.  We did the walk, trot, lope for consistency and we took my dog "Banjo, cause he strums to a different beat and it also desensitizes all my horses to dogs" with us and he is always helpful.  I was able to ride up to RuthAnn and have her pet Diamond while she was sittin on her own horse.  We are gaining on the confidence every day and the trust factor is going through the roof.  Toward the end of the ride, I peeled away and rode back by myself as RuthAnn and Sheila continued and made a big loop.  On the way back to the trailer, I pulled my stock whip out and started to swing it around to make the woosh noise that a rope makes and this didn't even phase her.  Since she took it so well I began to crack it lightly and by the time we were back to the trailer, I was able to crack it as loud as I could.  It was water under the bridge.(No pun intended)

When I arrived home I washed her and put her up she is getting used to the bathing as well.