Update and Award

First the update...

I got some advice from my wonderful dressage trainer. I sent her the same info I gave you all, and since she's seen him do this in person I figured she's a good place to start. She said he's not using his left hind. She said he needs to get rounder and over his back so he can use his hind end. She told me to slow him down, get him over his back, get his belly swinging and keep him at the trot. I will see her on the 29th and she can do some body work with him then, too. In the mean time I'm going to do exactly what she said. I started tonight.

I did about a 25 minute ride. His neck seemed very stiff, probably from the lunging yesterday and the very damp weather. I tried to massage it and did our carrotless stretches before and after the ride. I only felt his leg go about twice. His attitude, though not excited about the work, was fine. No defiance or arguments. He did what I asked, had a soft wet mouth, and I could see him licking and chewing (in our shadow silhouette) so I don't think he's hurting or anything.

Found out I can do the Alpha Stim with a gel instead of water so we might do some of that, too. Of course the next five weeks is going to be my busiest time of the year at work, so I have some juggling acts to do about going to the barn as often as I feel I should be, even if it's just for stretches and massages.

Anyway, my dear blog-friend In2paints, over at R Lil Bit of Cash has awarded me the "Stylish Blogger Award."

As with all of these little awards, there are 4 duties to perform to receive this award:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

I'll be honest that I don't even READ 15 blogs! So I'm going to narrow that down to 5. Sorry for breaking the rules, but that's just the way it is.

1. Thank you, In2paints for thinking we are stylish! Your award was a bright spot in my recent overanxious worries! For those of you who do not follow Becca, Lilly, and AJ, you really should. There are great pictures, and though they've been having a bit of a rough year, their journey is fascinating and heart warming.

2. 7 things about myself...

• I just bought what I consider to be my first "grown-up lady" purse and I'm 31 29 years old!
• I almost completely stopped cooking when I began living alone about 4 years ago. I wascooking AND eating for 4 and I couldn't make it stop. So now, sadly, I eat a lot of "food-in-a-box" otherwise I'd weigh 200 lbs. I'm trying to cook more... but there's also that little issue of time...
• When I moved to Ohio there was a washer and dryer in my apartment. It was an old rental unit. The apartment managers clearly did not know it was there so when I moved last September to another unit I took it with me... and they never said a thing about it. WIN!!!
• I have 2 unfinished quilting projects I started in the summer of 2004....
• When I'm stressed and have major work deadlines I will clean and organize my house/tack box/car, anything but actually do the work. This is the worst when I have papers to grade.
• My recyclables really need to be taken out, but they keep moving the drop-off locations and now it's a place I never go.
• This morning I ordered 3 custom-made lime/black zebra print biketards (leotards with bike-short length shorts) for 3 college boys who do not yet know they will be dancing in them in front of the entire campus/community..... bwahaha.... sometimes my job rules.

3. Award 5 great bloggers!

1. Bexley Chickens is a blog about four urban chickens and their family. Since raising chickens was a very big part of my life for a few years, I find their pictures and videos to be a slice of home. It has also been very educational about the increasing trend in "backyard" chickens in urban environments.
2. Welcome to Joshland is a blog by a very active member of the Cystic Fibrosis community. Whether or not you know someone whose life has been affected by CF, Josh's blog is full of honesty, reality, and hope that you won't find very many places. I knew Josh in the 5th grade but my family moved away that summer. We found eachother many years later in the blog-o-sphere. It's a small world.
3. Eventing A GoGo is a blog about a girl and her extremely stylish and beautiful mare, Gogo. They focus on eventing and the barefoot horse which I as a barefoot showing horse person enjoy. And NOTHING is as stylish as Gogo's most recent clip job!
4. Musings From the Judge's Box is a blog by an open horse show judge. She is extremely kind in her answering of questions (including a recent slew of my own!) and gives honest and useful answers. I think I would like to show under her someday!
5. Side Saddle Girl is across the pond! She rides side saddle on EITHER SIDE and has lots of posts about side saddle habits and tack which really appeal to my clothing history addiction.

4. Here I go!!!

And here's some pictures from yesterday of Junior's buddy, Little Red. SOOO FUZZYYYYY! I cannot resist petting him. I want to put him in my pocket and take him everywhere with me.