Day 82

It's so good to be riding again. After only a week on vacation, I've missed my horses so much. I could've easily traded my vacation in Hawaii for a week at the stable.

Harry was so full of it after not being exercised for a week and a half. It was refreshing, a nice little mental challenge for both of us, having to work to be on the same wavelength. Normally it would probably annoy me, but it was nice after a week away. We went out to the round pen, which was extremely muddy after some storms, and worked. He took off speeding when I sent him out after I took off the line and he slipped and fell on his rear. All I could see in my mind was him snapping his legs if we kept it up so I called him in. Paco, who was watching, told me to keep working in there and that the mud would help him with his balance. I sent him back out and he lifted his tail, using it like a rudder. He slowed and started using his back legs more noticeably. After about 30 minutes of lunging off rope outside just using my carrot stick and speaking commands, I went into the arena to lunge. Once inside, he didn't want to go out, he kept his front on top of me, especially clockwise. So after a few good tries we went back out and worked specifically on clockwise for a while off rope. Once he was working well, I put the line back on and he started hanging on me again. I kept after him, waving the carrot stick behind him to push him onwards and eventually he went out. Last step was putting the carrot stick aside and just using my arm to push him out. He went well and after using just arm signals and speech to get him to reverse and go out we went back in the arena. No carrot stick.

He was fantastic! He walked! He never tried to pull out on me. Such a good feeling. He was a little excited when I first got on to ride, but he calmed down and we even managed to go outside in the arena and one of the paddocks to ride. The only problem I'm having now is getting him to ride on the rail. No matter how I push with my leg he won't move onto the rail unless he's walking, never while gaiting. Suggestions? I have a month to work on this before the State Fair, no pressure for next week because I'm pretty sure we're not going to the Ohio show anymore.

Never ever get to ride Nina!! =[

I was so proud of Brie today though. We rode outside and I got her to go through a big scary puddle!! It had to be the scariest puddle she ever saw AND there was a frog sitting next to it that we didn't even squish. I also found out while getting her to step in it that she responds soooo much better to leg pressure than bit pressure while turning. When we first saw it and I used the bit more to turn her she was sidestepping. As soon as I eased up for a second and pressed my leg, boom, turned on a dime. We had a good romp outside and after marching back through the puddle, we headed back in for a shower. I really need to wash them all tomorrow. Just looking at them makes me feel all dusty and gritty, no matter how much we clean them.

While we were gone, a farrier from Florida came up and we had our horses trimmed. Nina didn't even need to be sedated! I'm so happy that our work with her has been paying off. Either that or she doesn't like girl farriers. He fixed the huge cracks in Harry's hooves that he got from riding outside. Now we need to put some Rainmaker on his hooves when we're out so they get stronger.

Day 81

One word to describe today: phenomenal.

Gary and Georgina were out today. It's been such a long time since we were united! We talked about the Youth Mundial, which is the kids' world championships, in Puerto Rico last week. Georgina sadly didn't place but they said the USA team didn't really do so well anyways compared to the Latin countries. Figures.

Lunged Harry like yesterday. While lunging him, it occurred to me that he has a big horse body and tiny little horse legs. You don't notice it at first, but it's kind of funny when you do. He's cute in that way. He worked amazingly on his own and did an great board. I took him in the outdoor, which in the walk on the gravel from the indoor to the outdoor led in a huge split in his hoof. He worked well out there though and didn't want to take off. Outside we worked on our largo and he's got it pretty down pat. He never broke into a canter. I think I'll put him in pleasure the rest of this year, maybe one performance class in Ohio in three weeks, but we'll continue working on largo control until next year.

After the outdoor, I took him into one of the grassy paddocks next to the outdoor arena that had some decently sized trees and we walked. I didn't want to just go out in the open yet. We went back in and he worked very nicely, better than ice expected, riding next to three other horses. All in all, he had a great day and I am so proud of him!

Brie was giving my brother a bit of a hard time, but that's probably because he doesn't ride her often and didn't know how to handle her since before I started working with her. She was great for me. We went around the property again, raced up "the mountain" in back and zig sagged around the hay field in front.

Life and weekends are so much happier now that I know what to do with Brie. She's just fantastic outside and in good moods most of the time now. Win win situation!