Day 73

I'm going to try to work on those encyclopedias for you, I promise! I've just been so wiped out after work and was not in the condition to sit down and write this afternoon after horse training and while looking forward to Eclipse.

Making good progress Parelli-wise with Harry. He doesn't quite get the Porcupine Game yet, but he's getting really good at the YoYo game. I'm also trying the Friendly Game a little differently. Today I make like a sideways helicopter with the carrot stick and the string and he kind of got nervous hearing the string hitting the ground each time around, but he didn't do anything about it.

Boy was he a pistol lunging today. He keeps fishtailing out on me! I lunged using the pole, but he would still pull back and slam me into it. Everytime he did that, I started snapping the rein that I was lunging him with, making him back up since that's what he was doing. Paco intervened and said that I was just making him angry and "You have to act like the horse is stupid". He went on to lunge Harry pretty well. Harry doesn't like going one direction though, I forgot which right now, and I'm not sure why, but we have to work on getting over that. He rode beautifully after being tired out from an hour of lunging. He sounded phenomenal, like a little wind up train, on the sound board.

Didn't get to pay attention to Nina. =[ My mom and brother said she was amazing as well and that her gait is coming along really well. Now if we could only get her to keep her head set without using draw reins when warming up, then we'd be set!

I got really fed up with Brie today. It was definitely the disappointment from showing carrying over. She was going really well in the indoor arena. My mom asked that I stop with the cantering because Brie wasn't wanting to gait for her so I gaited around for a while and went to walking before I tried to get her to canter. She took off galloping so after two laps around the arena of trying to make her slow down I got her back to a walk and attempted to do a slower canter. She did pretty well one direction, I forgot which, and kind of okay in the other going back and forth between gaiting and cantering which isn't that great. I walked her around after that for about 10 minutes before I decided that all I wanted to do to end the day was to walk outside to the round pen and back a couple of times and then call it a day.

She wasn't having it. After trying to crush my leg against the side of the barn, I got off angrily before either one of us got hurt by our rash actions and walked her all along the property by hand. She was perfectly fine! It was about a 20 minute walk and by then my mom and brother were done washing Nina and Harry so they came out to watch. We walked back to the barn, I got on, and immediately she starts crowhopping. All I wanted her to do was calmly do once to the round pen and back before quitting but she would freak on either direction until she melted down. I never kicked her before but after having to kick Jimmy to trot at lessons, I kicked her. She was not moving. My mom had to get her on the pisador and lunge her in order to make her move. I was upset by then and we all called it a day after she lunged.

After crying about how Brie isn't good at showing, trail riding, or even being a pasture pet because she's insulin resistant, my mom starting telling me about diabetics and how they get cranky and how Brie might not even be happy most days. It made me feel even worse. I don't know what to do. We had her on that calming supplement, which helped a lot in the indoor but pretty much no where else, so now we're going to look for some insulin resistant medicine/supplement. I'm so upset because I can't do anything for Brie. I don't know what she's good at or what she likes, still, this far into having her. She hates showing. She hates trail riding. All she really likes to do, or hasn't protested about, is riding around the indoor arena. That's nice and all but...I don't know. I feel like I'm failing her. Mom suggesting jumping. I jumped her a couple of times and she didn't really object...I don't know if that means she likes it or is just going along with it. Maybe I'll build a little X jump for her or two and set them up in the outdoor arena and we'll try it.

I just want to find something she's good at that she enjoys and for her to not be cranky.