Wednesday lesson

I rode without lunging again, and though he was a little hot and snorty for a good 20 minutes he didn't do anything scary. It was very windy and the arena surface was blowing into us at the far door which neither of us appreciated. Ow my eye.

Because I didn't lunge him it took a while for him to slow down to a real jog. Using a leg-yield towards the rail before asking him to lope off has really been helping. He seems less like a scattered mess at the lope and actually slowed down nicely at one point when my path was obstructed by a jump so I had to get behind a trotting horse to go around it. He doesn't usually "pace" that well behind another horse but that time it worked really well. It does NOT work well when he's behind Paris the little red roan filly. He'll speed up to get to her and then gets all excited when we pass her. She's 14.2 and a LOT slower than my boy. You'd think he'd stay behind her and slow down to enjoy the view, but nope. As soon as he sees her ahead of him he hits the gas. KAT was riding her one day and we were standing and talking and I let Jr get close enough to sniff noses with Paris and she tolerated it for a bit and then squealed and struck out at him with a front hoof..... women.

Not sure if I'll ride tonight. The temp is rather low and it's supposed to snow all day and I have to work a little late tonight and tomorrow. I don't like Friday nights as much as I used to. I like the solitude and the ability to ride with the arena to myself, but I don't like the (though improbable) possibility that if something goes wrong there's no one around to help. I did just finally ask the barn for emergency numbers, though so I can put those in my phone.

I bought a new Mountain Horse Inferno jacket off of www.tackoftheday.com and I think it's too big for me. I followed the measurement chart and got a Medium, but I had to cuff the sleeves and it wasn't nearly as fitted as was shown in the pictures. It's not returnable so I went ahead and wore it to try it out. I think it'll be GREAT when it's super cold out, but because it's a bit big I was annoyed by it. I like to wear fairly fitting clothing when i ride. Not super tight stuff. I tend to ride in a few thin layers of thermals and performance fleece and top it with a down vest. If it's too cold for that I've been wearing an older Columbia jacket that is at least a size too big. I'm dissapointed that the jacket is too big because I REALLY like the style and the first time it was on the site I didn't buy it and then wished I had. So when it was offered again I jumped at the chance. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll list it again for even cheaper and I'll get a small. They're on Ebay listed new for at least $100 more than I paid so maybe if I sold it for the same as I paid I'd at least break even. We'll see. It was warm and stylish, but a little too big. The link to the jacket is $50 more than I paid (without shipping) and they're out of smalls, too.