Wow.  the week has flown by.

Nothing of interest has happened in the past 4 days  :-P.  Miss, Cook and Patty all ended up staying at the barn for the week.  Cook and Patty are supposed to come back tonight, and  Miss will stay through Saturday’s show and then come back.

Miss was a pill on Tuesday.  I thought that bringing her pasture mates would make her happy - however, it back fired by making her herd bound.  She stepped on my foot and invaded my personal space several times.  She did the whole screaming-mare thing, and 3 of her buddies - Patty, Cook and Apogee (who she used to go out with) repeatedly answered her back.

Quite annoying.

Not to mention I was irritated to begin with so we ended up feeding the bad vibes off each other.  It took a while under saddle but finally I think she relented and got to work.  We ended on really nice canters, which Lindsey’s mom took pics of but I haven’t gotten those yet.

At least there is good TV tonight.

fun fun fun.

rode alot this weekend.  actually, I’m a lil sore. 

I rode and piddled around the barn on saturday.

Then on Sunday, we trailered Miss Cook and Patty over to school in the new barn ring.

Miss rocked.  She jumped everything, looked at nothing.  She hadn’t been ridden since Tuesday, so she was a little fresh…. but definitely nothing too fresh I couldn’t handle.  We were a little fast in some spots… (ok ALOT fast in some spots…  one line we galloped down at mock speed).  Mere raised the jumps on us to back her off the jump.  HA!  I was choking down the vomit at the back of my throat, but I trust Miss, so I sucked it up, and went over anyway.   The first big jump she overjumped and we were in the air FOREVER (in reality, prolly 1 second).  But after that, I got the feel for it and we were fine.

 So I’m very very happy with the Miss.  Good good girl.

I forgot to blog on Saturday that Cook and Miss had their teeth floated.

Cook had a broken tooth that had to have some extra work done to it…  she was un-sedated at first but when I realized that she was getting REALLY uncomfortable, I stopped and had her sedated.  It doesn’t take much sedation for Cook … shes’ a lightweight.  After she was sedated, things went pretty fast. 

Miss didn’t have any sedation.  She just hung in there and put up with it.  (Although I did chuckle to myself when the horse dentist stuck his fingers in her mouth to check her back teeth and she bit him.  HA!  So “Missy”.)

BTW, for non-horse people reading this…  teeth floating can be hard to watch for those unexperienced.  It’s not a pleasant sound.  or look.

I went out at lunchtime and rode miss around.   we only jumped ~3ish jumps, just to see how she was.  she was still awesome.  The next 3 days are filled with rain, so I may not have a chance to ride again before Sat.

I did shorten my stirrups a hole so my leg doesn’t swing so far back.  It seemed to help immediately.

I’m terribly sore.  Not only did I fall, but I rode on top of being sore, since the next days are raining BUT I also got a flu shot in the arm I landed on.

Something has to get better. 

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Thanks, Rachel for calling and checking on me after u read I fell.  Rach has to be the most awesome 14 year old I know. 

well today sucked.

I went to the dentist, only to find out I have cavities that I have to get filled.

I went home and fixed dinner.  Then feeling guilty about not riding Cook, I went out at sunset to hop on.  Bareback, halter.

When we were done, I tipped forward to get off and the cat ran out and spooked cook.  I was off before I even blink.

It’s not falling I mind… the hitting the ground part is what hurts.

So I have two nice strawberries, one on my arm and one on my stomach.

Sigh.

I’m glad I was wearing a helmet.

Black and White 8×10.

So Nikki, here is what I decided.  Committing to riding both on Sats and Suns.  I have the time, I just have to make sure that I have the motivation.   Cook will be Wed-Sat-Sun.  Miss will have Weds off and prolly Monday (whatever day rains, or I’m too tired).

I am making a pledge to be more dedicated to the horses I am responsible for.

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I hopped on Cook tonight.  I didn’t get very far.  We mostly walked for 30 minutes.  She was being very fussy when I tried to pick up the trot.  She was going into this weird combo gait of a trot-canter.  I don’t think she is hurting - I think it’s just been forever since I have been on her and she wanted to GO.   I didn’t feel like getting after her so pretty much I just let her walk, stretch out, and then made her do a bunch of listening at the walk - leg yields, serpertines, circles, bending.  She doesn’t have any particular place she has to be - so we can go slowly.   I may try and double ride her on Thursday night, just because I didn’t like how she was being so fussy.

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Funny how things change.

Then:  The barn used to be crowded.  way crowded.  Cross ties would be hard to get into and getting in and out, was a jigsaw puzzle.  Alot of people in the ring.

Now:  I’ve ridden by myself for 4 weeks.  Before the 4 week spell, I rode only with people on the weekends with Rachel.   I have been riding on the weekdays alone for even longer (~6 months).  Even more surprising to myself, is that I deal with it.  I wouldn’t go so far as to say I like it… ’cause I don’t.  I don’t get to jump nearly as much as I should, because I have to make sure the people that live at the house are home and at least, would see me if something happened and I came off.  Plus, I like being social during riding.  But, I have managed to find peace about it. 

Funny from my brother:

“He’s not dating a girl from the ghetto if he can’t do the ‘Superman’.”

LMAO.

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I had planned on taking tonight off as well because I am still tired from the weekend. However, I thought about how Miss is best when she stays in work, so I sucked it up and went out.

Tonight I tried something a lil different. We walked around to warm up, did leg yields, got her listening. Then we cantered. Then we went back to walking. Then we cantered. Then we walked. I totally cut out the trotting transition - upward and downward. I want Miss to RELAX about walking after the canter, which is an issue in our flat class right now. She was pretty good about the whole thing. She was very very relaxed at the walk when she figured out that I wasn’t asking her to do anything… but walk.

I think Miss’ issues at the very core - she gets worked up about what ur gonna ask her to do. When she trusts you and figures out that what you want is simple and easy, then she’s fine. So in the past few months (since June), I have tried to approach her differently and I really believe I had made significant improvement. She FEELS alot different.

At the same time tho, I have neglected Cook. I really really need to ride her to keep her in shape and going. She has lost muscle and gotten fat from all the time off. It’s hard for me to double ride on the weekdays, and I feel like I need to ride Miss to keep her going ’cause that’s the horse I’m showing. UGH! So I need to really commit to riding Cook at least 3 times a week…

I forgot to blog that I took Montgomery in the leadline class at the State Fair.

here is a pic that is too cute.