Day 232

Sunday

Didn't make it out yesterday, but today we were out super late, so that kind of annoyed me. Either way, I called dibs on Harry first and got really discouraged with him. He was all freaked out in the arena, so I did circlework and it didn't seem to calm him down, so I went in the outdoor where my mom and brother were riding. He was still being uppity and pacing so I tried to longe him in there and he turned into the fishtailing brat that he was a couple of months ago. So I walked over to the round pen and made him longe in there. He was much better and ran like there was no tomorrow! Finally he calmed down and I rode him in the round pen. He didn't want to collect and kept pacing, so when he finally got it right a couple of passes, I got off and walked back into the indoor and my mom wanted to ride him.

Then I got on Taco. Jane said that he was being a little nicer this weekend, but he was still pulling her into the middle. I put another rein on him and got on to try for a pass around the arena at a walk and he did the same thing to me, so I brought him back out to the round pen. After a couple of bad passes in there, he was much more cooperative. He kept breaking into a canter though, so I had to keep slowing him to a walk and starting again. He finished nicely and I figured that we should try to go around in the arena for a bit. 

He was just as horrible as he was when we left. He is so spoiled! That's because Jane is scared of him a little and gets off when he starts acting up, so he does that in order to stop working. I was working him the same as he was outside and he was getting better walking, but then I wanted a pass for a corto (which I probably should have just settled for a walk), and he kept trying to canter and take off into the middle of the arena to stop. 

During all of this, Nick saw. He came over with a different jaquima completely on his own and changed it. This one had a steel bosal with bolt nuts on it, whereas the one Taco was using was a soft rawhide one. Nick told me that I can't use it all the time (nor would I want to!) and that he should be better once I changed it. He also commented on the size of the bit. I didn't change Taco's bit to Nina's today because Jane had already started riding when we got there, but hopefully I will be able to two weeks from now. Taco was a lot better with that new bosal and I was very light with my hand so I wouldn't hurt him. He was cantering a little, but I kept pulling him back into gait and we had a couple great passes on the board. I finished and got off, when Paco made a remark about how it was a terrible ride and how I let Taco win because at the end we just walked after he cantered. I was not in the mood for fighting with anyone, so I just got back on, corto'd a little without him breaking and then got back off. 

People and their opinions. Gotta love them.