Days 240 & 241

Saturday

First thing when I got there today, I was bothered. Let alone that it was almost 100 F, but I show up and Paco is riding Taco. And then, to add to it, Samantha's dad is now learning how to ride on Taco. Taco is not an easy horse to ride and aside from the fact that he is not the starter horse, I was upset because I didn't want a complete newbie doing anything to screw up Taco. I never got the chance to say anything, and wasn't quite sure how to, but it stayed with me.

I tried to ride Harry, but it was a total failure. I'm not sure if it was because it was hot outside or because he was stiff or because of my sour attitude about Taco going into riding Harry, but he was just not behaving. He was bad, like trying to buck me off bad. I didn't want to give up, so when I finally got him to just go around without being terrible and make a nice pass across the board, I got off. I wasn't in the mood to fight with him today. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Sunday

I went in wanting to say something to Jane about Paco and Samantha's dad riding Taco before the show, but again I never got the chance to because Paco was always with Jane and I didn't want to just call him out in front of her, even if he does undermine me quite often in front of other people. I just can't be that confrontational. So Jane rode Taco and then Samantha's dad got on for a lesson while I was riding Brie. I made the mistake of taking her outside before she calmed down in the arena first and that set the tone for her whole day, with me and my mom afterwards. She's also hiking her back right hip up and I'm thinking it's because of her arthritis. If it keeps getting worse, I suppose we'll have to give her another shot or talk about other options with the vet, but I hope that it doesn't get worse...she's only 11. I would hate to have her unrideable at this young.

I plopped around on Nina while I was waiting for Samantha's dad to finish, and I love her more every time I do! She has such a relaxed walk and she's so focused on what she's doing. She's like a little steam boat. If we make it to State Fair (as now that's up in the air as well), I would really love to do a Pleasure Stakes class with her because I know we could win some money =]

Also more excitement! My dad rode for the first time since he was thrown off of Harry right after we bought him. That's about two years ago! He rode Nina and I knew that he was trying to look like he knew what he was doing as far as making her gait, but she's so automatic that even if he was doing something wrong, she just went on about her business and gave him a really great ride. I think it definitely made him feel better about coming out to the barn with us all the time.

Jane hopped back on Taco after Samantha's dad and so I got on Harry. He was so much better today. He had a wonderful largo and a great board. I think he's super sensitive towards what attitude you have when you get on him, because I was feeling much better today, even though I was still ticked at people other than Jane and I riding Taco. But rather than try and kick everyone else off, it would be more of an accomplishment if I could overcome the obstacle of having other people screwing with Taco and still place...that is, if certain people don't try and take credit for my win, saying that it's because they rode that Taco did so well. Taco might not even be going to the show, because he has to wear pads on his front hooves and that's against the rules, so if the farrier can't put shoes on the back feet or doesn't clear him to take the pads off, then he can't go.

I finally got my chance on Taco and had a bit of a hard time getting him to gait and he did try and pull me into the middle, but after those hiccups had passed, he settled into a wonderful, slow corto and really listened to me. He's even doing better on the corners and isn't cantering as often as before. After he worked (and he was sweating!), we went and walked outside around the pond to cool off. I went with my mom and Brie, and I couldn't believe that Taco was so good outside! He was very relaxed and calm and Brie was the crazy one. I had just anticipated that he would be a handful, but it was a really pleasant surprise to both enjoy the ride and cool down.

I'm really excited for this Friday because the kids that I babysit during the week are coming out. They're little ones, all under the age of 7, and it'll be so great to spread the love of horses with them! Of course, they're only going to ride Nina =]

Day 175

Didn't go out yesterday because I went to our rivalry football game. We lost =[

Yesterday, though, my mom told me that Harry was working super well next to Brie in the arena and that he's finally getting his speed and coordination down in his largo. My mom wanted to warm him up today, so I rode Brie, who is getting along just fine. She really does hate the double reins though -- she thinks they're for babies!

When I got on Harry, he tried to take off. There were a couple other horses in the arena, so I was not having that. Suddenly he got scared of the sunshine, that goof. So after a couple of halts, circles, and tugs, he calmed down and settled into a really collected corto. It was magnificent to ride. It could almost be Fino, but he could never compete against, say, the stallion who just won Nationals. I would put up a video, but it's not on YouTube yet. He was mindblowing. But to compete up here in shows, Harry would be great in Fino. And when we let loose into a largo, he never tap danced! I'm so happy with him and how my mom's been working him to get him like that. Now if we could just keep this up until the Spring when showing starts again!

What I thought was really cute was that he really wanted to go outside. After we went across the board indoor and outdoor and came back in to cool, he stopped in front of the door and looked outside all sad-like. So my mom hopped on Brie and my dad got on Nina (!!!) and we went out into the trails in back of the property. My dad's starting to ride, since he really doesn't, and I think it's great!