Days 55 & 56

Saturday

Today I didn't do any riding because the vet came out. We had all three horses' teeth floated and they were given their annual spring shots. I would've taken pictures of them while they were all sedated, but I didn't want to embarrass them any more than they were while they were in our presence. While they were sedated, we clipped all of their ears. This is fantastic because they never let us get to their ears with the clippers (or anything, including fingers) while they're awake. This was especially important for Brie because the tips of her ears were DIRTYYY.

Sunday

It was kind of rainy today. I started off riding Harry in the indoor arena but was easily getting frustrated and upset so I went into the round pen outside to work with him in between rain showers. He calmed down out there while Brie was going pretty berzerk from being outside with mom. Nina looked fantastically calm, as usual, with Antz. After Harry was sufficiently calm, I went back inside.
I started getting frustrated again. So instead of being angry and letting him feel it and then possibly getting hurt and being counter-productive, I just got him to walk around the arena once, even if he wasn't on the rail, and then stopped. He doesn't like the rail because there are flags hanging on the walls. I think he'll get over that as he learns to trust me more because he doesn't have a problem walking next to the rail when I have him on a leadline.
I rode Brie. Immediately angry 1) because she was uppity after being outside and 2) because I HATE THAT SADDLE!! It is the WORST saddle in history in my opinion. Maybe it would be okay if I wore full chaps all the time, but it's for show, and I'm wearing tuxedo pants for show, and I definitely can not be sliding around and compromising my ribbon and safety in front of dozens of people. It's going on eBay this week.

I walked Brie back to the aisle to untack, had a good cry, and went on giving them showers.
In the wise words of Linda Parelli, "Don't get upset at your horse. Cry, let it out, end your session, and the next time you'll have a better day". I'll be watching more Parelli while I'm at work once I've caught up on all my homework.