Days 124 & 125

Saturday
Our short day. I only rode Brie today. We worked really well, not just running around and playing. She worked up a sweat just corto-ing around! That's how I can tell that she's pretty out of shape. I wish our days were longer so I could ride Brie every time we go out to ride. No one else really wants to work her, they just sit on her or walk a couple times then stop. Everyone has gotten so caught up with Nina and Harry that Brie is just on te side as a pet now and it makes me kind of sad.

Brie's so smart too! Her intelligence shines through more and more every time I ride her. I need to keep learning things to keep her occupied because when she's learning, she's happy and listens. It's when she's bored that she starts being silly. She's looking for things to do even more now that cabin fever is at it's height.

I can't wait for next weekend! It's supposed to be warming up to 56 (downright balmy!) on Thursday and I can only hope that it'll be that warm come Saturday. These horses need a good scrubbing, and it'll prolly take all day next Saturday.

We were talking to Paco about a horse that is supposed to be coming up to the stables from Florida, a National Champion Fino mare. We were talking about how expensive she was and how her owner doesn't let her go outside in the pasture because he's scared she'll get hurt. I can understand why it's a concern because of the money spent, but come on! What a horrible life for a horse =[ it breaks my heart to know that some horses never get to play outside for just a bit. I also don't believe in the "in training, no playing" attitude, where horses in training don't get to go outside because of the belief that they'll get distracted. If you send a kid to school and only make them do schoolwork and never let them play, they'll get really defiant. Plus if horses go out regularly, they don't act as crazy every time they go out.

I'm also kind of upset by some comments made about what I've been doing lately, focusing on Brie rather than Harry. Brie might no longer be our only option for showing, but she still deserves attention! And it angers me when people say that I'm just interested in playing around with her. They have no idea of what I'm trying to do that day, so they should just keep their mouths shut! If I want to play, I can, and if I want to work, I can. What seems like work to one person may not seem like it to another--that's just how it is.


Sunday
No one comes out now that it's cold! I saw Gary today for the first time in forever. I haven't seen Annie or Jane in forever!

I rode only Brie again today. She worked well, and while I wanted to ride Nina, I ended up not because I was upset. Remember the work thing? Yeah, that became an issue today. I was cooling Brie and I asked my brother if we could switch and I could ride Nina and he could cool Brie, because all he was doing was standing with Nina in the middle of the ring while she was huffing (he does this often) and he told me he wouldn't because I "already made Brie crazy by running her". First of all, I didn't even canter her, we corto'd. Second of all, she was perfectly calm, walking like an angel! And thirdly, he didn't even want to listen to me say those two things! So I just finished cooling Brie and then brushed her off.

My mom said I need to start riding Harry. I have been! Just because I took two weeks to work with Brie anyways?! If we would get up earlier, we would have more time to ride, but it's such a hassle waking up my brother to go. It's like a surprise every weekend that we have to wake up early!

I've decided that during the summer, instead of getting a job, I want to learn as much as I can about training. I want to read, watch, train. I want to stay down at the stables. I wonder if it'll happen. I hope so!