Environmentally Conscious

I do try to be!

Further to Emma's post, I thought I'd turn it into an informal blog hop and outline how I try to keep my horse's environmental impact to a minimum.

The area I live in is super green and environmentally conscious. It's a beautiful part of the world that has sadly seen more than it's fair share of destruction from the past century of resource based economics. The positive though, is that I think (I hope) we've learned from those mistakes and the research is showing changes made in my lifetime are adding up to things like returning fisheries stocks and forest cover.

This post brought to you by scenic pictures from last week's hiking adventures. This is the Pacific and as you can see we look at a lot of islands here rather than open ocean.

The local residents are unlike anywhere I've ever lived. I got called out by a stranger a couple of years ago for buying a plastic bottle of water, and we'd better not get started on my organic veggie farmer neighbour's opinion of those pressure treated fence posts I bought that one time.

While there are a few things I can do to minimize my horse's impact, there are others I kind of struggle with.

My least favorite walking trail because it seems to be always flooded and it is closest to our house so I have to start the walk in wet shoes. First world problems. It was very pretty this weekend, though.

Feed:

- I try to buy local hay whenever possible. It's cheaper, the farmer I buy from doesn't put any chemicals on it, and it hasn't been trucked for hundreds of miles. it comes with baling twine, though. I reuse bits of it for all the horsey hacks and repairs we all know and love. I use some in the garden to build  'trellises' for the peas and beans. The remainder goes back to the feed store for recycling, but I have to admit I'm in the dark as to what's actually done with it beyond that.

- Grain bags. I buy the stuff that's made on Vancouver Island and comes in 100% paper bags. I reuse the bags in the garden instead of landscape fabric and also re use them for my super thrifty stash of wood shavings from the local sawmill.

Bedding:

- I use fir shavings from the local mill, so they compost well for gardening and keep the manure pile small (vs cedar, which no one will take for their gardens and is better as a mulch). In the winter I am guilty of buying the pelleted wood bedding to mix in, and so although I use them sparingly, I have about 10 plastic bags from this winter that are currently enjoying a second life as garbage bags.

Dewormer:

- Like Emma, I try to keep it to a minimum. I have no clue what to do with the empty tubes, so I throw them in the trash. Bad me. I wonder if the place that takes expired human medications might be worth looking into?

Trail to the beach.

General Horse Gear:

- I have way too much, and after reading about how bad even synthetic fabric waste is in our world, I've been feeling pretty guilty. I've been giving away things I know other people need, and trying to buy good quality items that will last forever rather than cheap, replaceable stuff. I have much room for improvement, though...in general I previously purchased a lot more than I really needed.

Water:

- Every place I've ever boarded has been on a well. And so, it's second nature to be aware of what you consume and what is going into the soil. I'm thinking of setting up a rainwater collection in B's paddock...her lean to is attached to the barn and it's all metal roofing. If nothing else, it would save me hauling out the hose to fill her bucket a good part of the year :)

Beach and pier near my work.

General Horsekeeping Considerations:

- Sacrifice paddocks are my friend in the winter. There is no point in trashing the fields. Picking poop all winter to compost for spring and spread in the fall makes for happier fields too.

- I don't ride off the trail or on trails I might damage. I know that might sound weird, but given our terrain, erosion (especially in winter rains) is a thing. Given the large numbers of people out there mountain biking and hiking too I want to keep the trails nice and I want to keep horses welcome on them.

- Keeping Bridget's fields mowed and weed free. Not only helps the fields stay healthy, but helps curb the spread of said weeds and invasives. If left neglected, not only do they spread on their own accord but if Bridget eats the weeds and poops on the trail, boom, potential for spread there too.

- Participate and support local events like Trash Bash (we have riding club team that marks places in the backcountry to clean up)

- I have no idea if this was a good thing or not, but after reading about how in the UK a lot of synthetic footing from arenas is essentially classed as hazardous waste if you ever need to replace it, I've mentioned to our local groups that maybe we should explore that topic further before decisions are made regarding upgrading our existing sand footing.

Lake on my drive home. I had to stop for the rainbow! Off topic: the camera so I can have nicer pictures on this blog is coming! I had a last minute doubt or two about which to order so I decided to look at them in person when we are in the city next.

Just a Trail Horse

I'm pretty sure our arena is the last frozen, snow covered place in the entire region. That's both a good and a bad thing. Bad because Bridget's got energy to burn and is reverting to her pushy pony ways. I find it easier to problem solve those things in the arena where I have space to work on it. On the other hand, being forced out of the arena is a positive because Bridget is easily bored and I should get her out on the trails more than I do.

We got out a few times this past week. A couple of times solo, once with my husband hiking alongside, and once with an unexpectedly big group of people.

The ride with a bigger group was a bit of a challenge for many of the horses, Bridget included. Everyone has a different "normal" when they're out, so while some horses were used to the loose dogs accompanying us, some found that new and exciting. The mini that tagged along caused a few horses to look twice, and couple of the overexcited younger horses had a chain reaction effect on most of the others.

For us, we spend a lot of time hacking solo or in a small group, so B was a bit intimidated with all those other horses. (She's a funny thing...antisocial and independent so she's brave and happy on her own, but gets anxious if she feels crowded in a larger group) As a whole, there was some pretty big, chaotic energy going on, and the experience in handling that was varied.

B is a really solid citizen, and even though she didn't put a foot out of line, the feedback I was getting from her was that she was stressed and unhappy. She felt claustrophobic and wanted to be out in front, away from it all. Unfortunately circumstances meant we compromised on staying behind in our own space, but we still ended up waiting and being crowded and bumped more than she'd prefer. And so, I was super proud of her for listening, keeping a lid on it, and being the good girl she is. I love that she's cool with expressing her opinions, but trusts me enough to keep the conversation a two way one, even when the situation I've put her in isn't as fair to her as it should have been.

Second thought...Everyone who says "oh he's JUST a trail horse" or "I'm only a trail rider". Give yourself more credit! Beyond all the training they need to be solid citizens out there, I'm not sure there is any other riding activity where your horse is going to have to deal with quite so many random things, usually completely out of your control.

Whether it's wildlife, loose dogs that aren't horse savvy, other horses acting up in close quarters, people on motorbikes zipping by unexpectedly, trails being blocked, whatever. I take my job of keeping Bridget confident and happy very seriously and as much as we love the trails, it's the most common place we go where the normal expectations don't apply, usually either due to random bad luck or unintentionally ignorant shared trail users.

I'm glad we have a partnership that allows for us to successfully navigate it all, but I'm not kidding when I say there are days when hitting the trail is a far bigger challenge than eventing or dressage ever was or is for us.

Blog Hop: My Favorite Event

Thanks to 3DayAdventures for the great blog hop!

Participating in this feels a bit cheat-y since I evented B for about 2 and a half years at the lowest level, and all at venues within our province. I'm not sure I'm a 'real' eventer and certainly don't have a super long list of places to compare to! Still, I feel like the awesome venues and organizers here deserve a shout out, even if it's just from lowly old me!

I went to Rebecca Farm a couple of summers ago to cheer on my barnmates, and I loved it. It was a bucket list thing forever for me to compete there, and if I was more local I'd be making sure it happened. But when we finally drove out there the reality set in. While the venue is of course stunning and everyone loves it, the logistics for us to travel and show there are pretty challenging. It's a long way and a lot of $ for us coastal Canadians to get there!

So, my all time favorite event remains the Campbell Valley Horse Trials! This one is unique because it's actually held at a regional park located in Greater Vancouver. While there are equestrian trails and historic farm sites, it's not your typical eventing facility - there is no permanent stabling and no resident horses. The Metro Vancouver Parks website says the following:

"Sunlight-dappled forests, grassland vistas and wetlands make this regional park great habitat for wildlife, from songbirds to salmon to squirrels and more. The network of trails provide lovely routes for walkers to explore the variety of landscapes, the heritage features and a Nature House. Horse riding is also popular here."

If that description is anything to go by, horse riding is the afterthought :)

Part of the cross country area, which is a hay field too. Photo found here

To the best of my knowledge, there is only the one event a year put on by volunteers, and that's the only time of the year you can camp or keep horses in the park. It's a really lovely park and the volunteers do a fantastic job keeping the XC courses and corrals maintained.

Beautiful trails.Image from here.

Bridget appreciates her tent and grass filled pen, is less impressed with the neighbour behind.

The format is to have dressage on Friday, XC on Saturday, and show jumping on Sunday. So, a full three days. I enjoy the relaxed pace a lot more than the typical events that fit it all into 2 days. 

Show jumping is on grass, B always thinks that's pointless- fields are for grazing.

Camping and amenities are pretty rustic - there is just a big field to camp in. They organize porta potties and a food truck on site, so you can quite easily survive, but quite honestly the park is within a 10min drive of everything so there's no reason you can't head into Langley (a city in it's own right, and also a suburb of Vancouver) for a shower or a nice dinner.

A good part of the reason this one is my favorite is because it's pretty easy to convince my husband to come along and the proximity to everything combined with the easy schedule means we can usually fit in a dinner and movie night and a couple of fun outings elsewhere in the city. One year we went to an afternoon football game downtown after my early morning cross country time.

Our first event! I was sure I was going to die, B looks like she might be starting to figure it out. If I remember right that year we had refusals at the first and second jumps when she was like "Wait!What?" :)

My very favorite part of this event, though, is that pretty much everyone goes. The divisions are usually huge for our area and it's a lot of fun to chat and catch up with everyone you might not regularly see.

Finally, they don't have events, but they should. My favorite 'real' show grounds is TBird. They won me over with the hot showers and laundry even at the off season events we attend, and they won Bridget over with the lovely stalls, all rubber matted with huge banks of shavings included. The grounds are always immaculate and the service is amazing. Surprisingly, for the shows I attend, the fees still are in line with other local venues with far less in the way of amenities.

Actually, checking the schedule,  a person could theoretically attend both Campbell Valley and T-Bird's Summer Fort Classic 4* Grand Prix.

22 minute drive between the two is doable.

Sounds like a road trip to me!

Trail Riding, Farriers, and Having an Actual Job Too

We had a beautiful sunny weekend. It remains unseasonably cold, but the sunshine and dry paddocks are a gift given our normally rainy and muddy spring weather.

The flip side of the sun and cold is that the outdoor arena remains snow covered and icy, and the footing isn't ideal right now in the indoor either. So, I haven't been doing much in the way of proper work with Bridget for the past few weeks. Both girls are shedding like crazy so I'm hopeful warmer temperatures and better riding conditions are coming again soon.

Bridget leading the way on the sunny section of road. The black mare on the left is only just 4 and already super solid - fingers crossed Sophie is half as good next spring!

 We've been hitting the trails a couple of times a week, but again, the shady areas are still quite icy, so it's mostly walking and letting Bridget pick her way carefully through. I'm grateful I don't have any big goals or shows this season...I do miss that and look forward to a return in a year or two, but it's really nice to just make the best of each day without any agendas and to not stress too much about us both being out of shape and out of practice with the spring show season rapidly approaching.

Same ride. It's still quite dark and frozen in the forest!

Across town at the full boarding barn, Sophie continues to be Sophie. Full of life, slightly sassy, impatient, opinionated, yet still so sweet and genuine.

Not Sophie, but how could I resist sharing this picture of Bridget and her adorable bestie? The winter paddocks were redone on Thursday and these two are pretty pleased that they now have a shared fenceline.

I'm learning to trim Sophie's feet thanks the guidance of a couple of more experienced mentors boarding there. One of the drawbacks of keeping horses in this town close to my home is being a ferry ride away from any regular professionals, so it's equally empowering and frightening to take on trimming her. I am learning so much and hope to eventually feel confident enough to do Bridget's in the interim as well. I'm lucky that Bridget is doing OK with the available care, so she's less of a priority than Sophie, who wasn't coping well.

Sophie showing us she has big girl teeth growing in too.

I do have access to an excellent farrier on southern coast, so at whatever point I move one or both ponies back to EC's to resume training and lessons I'll most likely be back to hiring professionals for everything. I think I can learn to do an adequate job, but I'll always defer to a trusted pro if one is available. I like to educate myself as much as I can so it's fun for me to learn to do a basic trim, but I very much like having resources available so I don't need to feel like I have to know everything.  Farrier J who frequents EC's barn is one of those excellent farriers we all wish we had, so it would be silly to not hire her! 

I think the biggest benefit to all of this is that Sophie is currently learning a lot in regards to being saintly with her feet. I'm pretty much her worst nightmare as far as needing to be patient goes - it takes me longer to do one foot than could normally be expected for an entire trim. Pretty sure she'll never complain about the real farrier (or standing tied without anyone bothering her) ever again!

Skeptical that tying skills and patience are real things.

I'm heading back Monday morning for a short work week on the south coast. Home again late Wednesday night, so no barn time until Thursday evening...such is my standard winter schedule.  I know May is still a couple of months away, but now that I have my revised summer schedule planned and approved I'm beyond excited for May to arrive and to have 5 days a week with time to ride. I'd never complain about my current 4 day work week though! I feel a little guilty modifying it further for summer. But, I guess this is a good reminder that it never hurts to ask for what you want. My work was more than happy to accommodate my wishes to allow me time to  be a part time amateur horse trainer for the summer ;)

At least the winter sunrise ferry rides are always scenic.

I Have A Plan

I'm planting as many seeds for success as I can right now.

I think I mentioned here before that I'm unsure about backing Sophie myself. I know technically I've done it before and could do it again, but mentally I am not as brave as I once was and my fantastic little horse does not need that baggage.

Plus, sh!t sometimes happens despite my best efforts.

I've been waffling back and forth on it for a bit now, because sending her away involves finding someone I can trust implicitly, and eventually there is always going to be a first ride with me up there! In a perfect world I'd send her for 30 days under saddle this fall, then turn her back out a the big farm for a winter of light (20-30min walking) trail rides before getting a little more serious when she turns four. That plan means I'd have to book her spot at the trainer's soon because the good ones are booking several months in advance and the person I have in mind is away wintering in California every year. I worry she might not be mature enough by fall and I'll regret booking it. I also worry that she might be, and might be super bored if I don't plan ahead and book it.

Mentally, she is more than ready to have more of a grown up job. Physically, she's got some maturing to do.

Sometimes the simplest option is the way to go.

I'm going to move her back to Bridget's barn in May so I can work with her more easily. May also coincides nicely with when the horses at B's barn go out to their summer paddocks, so I won't need to worry about Sophie not having enough space to run and play and causing the barn owner angst with her energy levels. As an added bonus, moving Sophie back to self board with Bridget decreases her monthly bill to a fifth of what it is now. (So I can save more for future training and lessons!)

Sophie having a sleepover at Bridget's last fall. Bridget actually sharing her food is an indication she thinks the kid is alright, but this winter paddock situation didn't last too long before Sophie was chewing fences and digging holes and generally being bored and destructive. I moved her to her current farm with 20 acres of year round fields to preserve everyone's sanity!

Part two of my plan: I have quite a bit of vacation time and my work will let me take it in hourly increments. The summer ferry schedule also works in my favour. So I've booked all or part of Wednesday afternoons off for May through August. That small change in my schedule gives me four months of being able to ride 5 days a week and also makes my weekly commute a lot more bearable.

The instant we discussed it, I knew this plan felt right.  This way I am not committing Sophie to any schedule and can do as much or as little with her this summer as we both need. Worst case, she's too immature and I have extra beach and gardening time and 5 days of riding Bridget a week all summer while I pony Sophie - a pretty solid option! Realistically, it would be pretty cool if Sophie simply got to go everywhere with Bridget all summer and got a ton of exposure to all the things.

Besties. I think they'll be happy to be reunited.

As a stretch goal in the back of my mind, I am hoping the transition from ponying her everywhere to popping on now and then for a quick trail loop closer to the fall won't be a big deal for either of us. If I'm still not feeling it, I feel pretty confident Sophie will have enough of an education and have seen enough of the world that taking her down the coast to EC's for a baby under saddle boot camp next winter wouldn't be too stressful for anyone.

She keeps Bridget more active when they live together, too. 

I like that taking this route gives Bridget an important  job again. She actually enjoys showing Sophie the ropes and they work well together. I know I joke about Bridget's lack of a work ethic, but she is a very people oriented pony and does like getting out and about more than she currently does.

Now that I've (finally) come to a decision, I'm excited!

Talk To Me Of Cameras

I've been blogging for years with media provided by my cell phone. The results have been hit and miss, at best :)

I do like how this one turned out, despite it being dark.

I know pretty much all of you out there have better media content than me, and I'm envious. I want to up my game.

My awesome photo from my last ride in the indoor. I can choose one: motion or less than ideal light. If there are both my pictures look like this.

What camera would you recommend a noob like me? I've been looking at point and shoot ones for a while now, and the specs and reviews are often contradictory and confusing. (Is it actually better than my phone, or no? Does reviewer grandma not understand USB cables or Bluetooth,  or is it really that hard to get the pictures off the camera? Your guess is as good as mine.) So, I haven't pulled the trigger on anything.

My cell phone makes my horses look so muddy! Oh. Wait.
Seriously tho, this is as good a picture as I can currently capture of a moving subject on a cloudy day. Unfortunately, the majority of our west coast days resemble this, and my horses do tend to move around! For every 10 pictures I take, there will be one barely usable one like this and the rest are garbage. It'd be nice to be able to take more usable pictures of my horses. Mud remover filter would be a bonus :)

Basically, I'd like something that can capture crisp images of a moving pony, preferably even in low light (for example, riding in the indoor, or outside on an average winter day here). Which reminds me, it needs to be somewhat sturdy to survive life on the raincoast with horses.

Nice quality video is great, but less of a need for me. I'm not fussed if I don't have a huge zoom or I can't record an entire lesson. Short video clips are fine with me.

So, fellow bloggers, what are you using?

Growing Up

I'm terrible with dates. For some reason I thought Sophie's 3rd birthday was this weekend. A quick check of her papers informs me her actual birthday is May 12th, so the birthday pictures I took yesterday are a couple of months premature!

Happy non birthday Sophie! I brought cookies just because!

 While I had the pony paperwork file open, I also realized I've been celebrating Bridget's birthday a month too early all this time too. Thank goodness my ponies aren't too fussed about such things. Not that I know from experience or anything, but sometimes people don't find my failure to mark time accurately quite so acceptable. It's probably a good thing we don't have human children to scar for life ;)

She's getting a round pony bum!

Actual birthday dates aside, I'm noticing that almost 3 year old  Sophie has really started filling out this winter. There has been some concern expressed that she should be growing and thriving more. I am of course listening to that input, but I am not panicking yet. Logic says I should trust in the professionals I pay, and they are not concerned. She's 1. A pony and 2. Of a more refined build. She's never going to be huge and comparing to quarter horses isn't necessarily like to like.

Still bum high! Is it just me, or do palominos look extra rough in winter? I feel like I dedicate around twice the time to grooming her than I spend with Bridget, and still Sophie never looks tidy. Perhaps once I start clipping and blanketing? For now, I like her darker shiny summertime coat color a whole lot more!

I'm not denying she looks a bit awkward currently, but I have faith she'll grow into herself and be nice enough with some time and patience. She's grown three inches in the past year, and she can have all the time she needs to finish growing up.

Same day. Its all about the picture angle right now...she looks a lot more balanced in this pose!

Independently Wealthy

Yep, all your posts where you gave yourselves extra cash for Viva Carlos' Ideal Day got me thinking. (We all know horse poor people are particularly susceptible to fantasizing about money, so fellow dreamers, this post is your fault :)

Honestly, the truth of the matter is that I'm pretty happy with my financially mediocre existence and I half suspect nothing about my Ideal Day would really change if I had a big bank account. That's boring though, so here's a few things we've been discussing in real life that would probably just happen if we had a huge pile of cash on hand.

- Real life: A baby cob. Maybe breed Bridget, maybe just buy. But we need our own space or better boarding first.
- $ Life: Baby ponies, all day.

Would have the cutest foal.

- Real life: Currently saving for a trailer. Plan is to buy one when Sophie is ready to be started so I can travel to outside help easily.
- $ Life: Buy the damn trailer already. If a little extra cash came my way tomorrow, it's the first thing I'd buy.

Logan Crossfire. Been saving for this one...I don't think extra money would change that. 

- Real life: With that trailer, the plan is to bring the horses down to EC's once a month for a few days of lessons or showing.
- $ Life: Ditto.

- Real life: Struggling to find enough riders to have trainer travel to us consistently for a day of lessons.
- $ Life: I'd just book the thing. If I had heaps of money, it wouldn't matter so much if my fellow riders were no shows now and then.

- Real life: Researching and discussing my much needed future car purchase.
- $ Life: Buy a car I love, practicality and fuel mileage be damned.

Totally appropriate daily driver, no?

- Real life: Struggling to align vacation days for our dream trips. I'm going to take a leave of absence to make it happen.
- $ Life: Every day is a potential vacation day :) Plus, now I will have time to go to Blair Castle and Badminton, too :D

- Real life: Wishing I could do "more" for those in need.
- $ Life: Volunteering and donating a lot more, especially to child and animal welfare.

And finally, a couple of "crazy" things I'd be highly tempted to do:

- Have a person on call to drive or fly me places sometimes. I think I'm a bit claustrophobic, so big airplanes and public transport sometimes take the fun out of adventures. Wealthy me will likely want to travel a lot more than current me has time for!

- Help with the horses. I'm very hands on, but it would be pretty cool to have someone to exercise and muck out every once in a while! Help at shows sometimes would be awesome too.

Sunshiney Day

Nothing much to see here...except I went for a ride after work AND IT WAS LIGHT OUT. Bring on spring! :)

Viva Carlos Blog Hop: Ideal Day

Thanks LWilliams for the blog hop!

I've sort of cheated and just used my current average "Ideal Day In The Life". Depending on the time of year, what I want to fill my day with can change. Some things remain consistent though:

Ideal Days DO NOT include:

- My job
- Drama
- Schedules
- People I don't like


Ideal Days consistently DO include:

- Horses, preferably 3-4 hours of uninterrupted time.
- Time with my husband (he works shift work and I work away from home several days a week - so we can go a couple of weeks at a time without a day off together)
- Outdoor time. Hiking, swimming, gardening, riding,depending on weather and season.
- Time to myself. Reading, watching online media, etc.
- Time with friends. Maybe lunch or a coffee, maybe meet for a ride.
- Cooking at home. I actually like it.

I'm lucky in that I have three days off a week, and usually am successful in keeping Fridays a 'me' day that almost always loosely follows the above. Husband G is often not available, so sometimes I am doing things solo or subbing in friends, but generally speaking I do get at least one nearly Ideal Day a week. Lucky me! :)

Growing a Backbone (slowly)

The barn has been a bit of a stressful place of late. Its not due to any one thing necessarily, just a bunch of little "mean girl" type things. I'm doing my best to be an adult and deal with everything fairly and immediately, rather than my introvert default of hiding and nurturing hurt feelings. Its hard though...inside I know what I want and am probably stubborn to a fault, but I'm also the person who is just overly nice and then walks away and does their own thing rather than actually just dealing with confrontation and resolving whatever bothered me. Changing patterns is hard!

I'd never say being kind is a mistake, but using it as an excuse to not be more assertive when needed probably is.

Fingers crossed, I've effectively communicated some boundaries, and will keep my head down and mind my own business. I'll do my best to not hold grudges (another thing I need to work on, lol) I love how this is probably stuff every adult human deals with in life, but for me it took people messing with my happiness at the barn to finally get proactive about it :) Dealing with it head on didn't come easy to me, but I feel better knowing I've tried.

The snow is finally melting!

My rides on Bridget have been pretty "meh". She's feeling out of shape and all discombobulated again. I've never had a pony where it was quite so important to keep her working properly...long rides out on the trail are fine, but too much of that and she starts to forget how to carry herself in the arena.  I guess I've always been lucky in that my previous rides have maintained a decemt fitness base even without much focused help from me. The days are getting ever longer though, so fingers crossed we'll get Dressage Bridget back with more dedicated work.

One of the few rides on B where I thought I might actually die. She was feeling very playful, but the snow was icy underneath and honestly she's a clumsy creature at the best of times!

I'm also thinking she's due for another check of those hocks, and a visit from the saddle fitter. We might not have any big show plans this spring, but that's no reason to put off the little things or not try to be our best selves.

B attempting to help me muck her paddock.

Sophie...little Ms Sophie did me proud this weekend. I'm at the very beginning stages of learning to trim her feet, and therefore she needed to stand tied patiently and bear with me working on her (and the two people teaching me) off and on for well over an hour on Sunday. I think she tried to take her foot back from me once in all those minutes of me fumbling around and got lots of compliments on her manners.

Pretty sure I've used this one of Sophie and her herdmates before, but I neglected to take any pictures of her this weekend!

She apparently can be a bit of a naughty girl at times, but I've yet to see it so I'm not sure what I can do about it. I suspect she's just being a baby and testing boundaries. Her and I probably figured our whole dynamic out a while ago, because from my viewpoint she's been super easy and hasn't even hinted at anything really "bad".  I hope the more people she deals with, the more she realizes the same basic rules apply for all humans.