Update - (Abridged)

I'm a bit behind on updates. I'll try to summarize...

His lunging trouble came back at my lesson last tuesday. Had to get KAT to help. But then instead of stopping he jerked both of us around trying to get away from the circle. Eventually he quit the pulling and just went around in a nice circle until I got dizzy and let him stop. The lesson was pretty good. He's doing a lot better with lots of things. He still gets very tense when another horse is directly behind him. I don't think he's going to DO anything, but he's visibly concerned about it and I can feel his back tense up. Hopefully he'll just learn to get used to it.

Friday afternoon I had a private lesson so my mom (in town for a few days) could get video of it. I wanted to see what we look like. I took him out to lunge him and he took off like a crazy horse and wouldn't slow down. Unfortunately we didn't get THAT part on tape. I think he'd not been out of his stall since Tuesday night so he was a little high strung. It's been so wet here that the horses have not been turned out. He galloped around me and I just held on and tried to get him to slow down a bit. He did eventually. It was a little nerve-wracking for me because he would not listen to my voice command to "whoa" and no amount of my 5'4" 140lbs could physically make a difference. I jerked him once (made me nervous to do so....what if he is thrown off balance and falls?) because it was getting to the point where he was pulling me so hard I though I might lose my balance and fall and THAT would be REALLY bad. I decided to give him a soft jerk in....he lost a little balance and missed a step but he slowed down and I was able to pull him closer to me so I had more control. Yipes. And boy do my arms and shoulders ache since then!

He was good for the lesson though, really listening to me for the most part. A little interested in the chestnut mare in the turn-out next door (Seems he has a thing for redheads..) but paid attention to me quite well overall.

My analysis of the video is that he takes a good long time before he gives in and drops his neck. He'll get *almost* there but doesn't really get THERE for about 30 minutes or so. That's what I thought, but I'm not the best judge yet on how framed he is. I'm still learning what he feels like when he's in frame and I need to spend less time watching his neck and more time feeling his stride. For my part, I didn't look too bad. My feet still get ahead of me but they are WAY better than the last video I have of me. My mom asked if my core was too wobbly...I don't know I guess. KAT has never mentioned it... I know I'm supposed to keep my seat IN the saddle and since his jog is still a little bouncy....or a LOT bouncy depending on how far into the ride we are....that's how I absorb the motion. My shoulders and arms are pretty still so I *think* I'm doing all right. I'll ask KAT about that next time I see her.

Went out yesterday in the rain. Talk about a bad day! He did NOT want to do anything. He refused to take the bit and I mean REFUSED. Very new behavior for him. He just would NOT open his mouth and kept raising his head higher. Took me multiple tries and disciplinary action for him to finally open his mouth. I moved his bit to my english bridle. He opens his mouth a lot so I decided to get a cavasson on him. KAT said she'd ridden him with one so I didn't worry about trying it. Since I had ridden him the day before I didn't start by lunging him. He mounted fine but as soon as we started moving he was snorting and agitated and even threw a pathetic little buck. I did NOT feel comforatble and when I'm not comfortable and confidant I am not helping the situation so I had Mom go get the lunge. I tried to ride him out of it but he was so wound up I didn't like being on him. I stopped him, put the line on and made him work and I mean WORK on the lunge. I made him listen to me and go at all three gaits. He did okay. I still didn't feel like getting on him after all that so I didn't. I hope that's okay. I know that letting him out of work for that type of behavior is not good so I hope making him work by lunging is just as good as getting back on and riding. He did try his stopping thing but I was able to make him go again and none of that Kentucky Derby crap he pulled on Friday. Do you think he gets too much feed/energy for the amount of work he does???

His blanket was filthy and still wet! I took it off him on Friday and it was wet from? Sweat? Water bucket? Pee? I don't THINK he went outside but maybe I'm wrong? Whatever the reason, it was STILL wet on Saturday even after hanging on his blanket bar for 24 hours. This is why I hate synthetic fabrics! I decided to take it and have it cleaned....I'm pretty sure I was robbed on the cleaning bill, but I paid for convenience. The damn thing weighs almost 8 lbs! Next time I'll bring a book and sit at the laundry-o-mat and do it myself for $5.00. First time mistake. I'll go pick it up today and hope it was worth it.

If I can figure out how to digitize my analog video I'll post some of it, but don't hold your breath.

Do these jeans make my butt look big? YES.

So the fleece lined jeans are quite comfortable and I'm sure they are nice and toasty, but holy cow are they the most unflattering things EVER! I'm not really surprised or anything, but don't expect me to wear those ANYWHERE but the barn. I had to order a pair because the ones they sent to the store were only a 32" inseam and I much prefer a 34". I realize I'm only 5' 4" but there is a time and a place for high-water pants and it's at a beach, not on a horse.

I exchanged the halter for the same kind in a different color. I went back and forth about what one to buy. I ended up with the same one with slightly larger-backed rivets, hopefully this is the "improvement" that Weaver spoke of in their email to me. If this one falls off I will NOT buy the same one again. I almost bought a brown and plaid one of a different kind but it seemed a little cheap with only two-ply nylon and a loosely woven plaid overlay. Instead of the "teal" I got the "sage" so no one will probably notice it's different, but it does look more handsome than his old "my little pony" colored one. I'm keeping it in my tackbox, though so he doesn't wear it in turnout. I think he spends half his turnout time rolling because the last one was really dirty. I'll leave his leather one there for turnout. Probably safer with leather in turnout anyway. I might take the leather one to the shoe repair shop in town and see if they can shorten the noseband for me. That'll make it fit nicely. Of course, if the repair would cost as much as a new halter of the same kind I'd probably just buy a new one. Not sure how much those things run.

Anyway I showered him with treats and hugs and kisses and led him around the arena, playing with setting him up. I was never good at that anyway and he just doesn't seem to want to stand with his back legs square. When I showed arabs we just left one back stretched out so it was okay. I'm not even going to attempt to try to train him for showmanship yet, though. Let's aim for HUS or Hunter Pleasure first. Though at the rate he's going he might just be ready for WP this summer, too! We'll just have to see. I'm not ready to set those kind of goals for us just yet!

I didn't actually feel like riding because of the weather. I was the only person in either of the two front barns and I don't really like riding when noone is around so I gave him the day off. He didn't want me to leave it seemed, but I think he just wanted to go out and not be left in the stall another day. We'll see if I can get out there tomorrow or not. Lesson on Tuesday.

Ow.

I guess lifting all those tubs of heavy wet yuck from the ground up to the top of the honey-wagon use some muscles that have been dormant. I've got all kinds of pain in all kinds of weird asymmetrical places. Guess I won't do that again without help. Riding today is going to be a bit ouchie.

First I'm headed to Rods to exchange the broken halter and try on some new FLEECE LINED JEANS with my riding buddy! They sound awesome! I only really remember one day last winter that I was uncomfortably cold, but I ride a lot more than once a week now so I'm sure there'll be more days. Plus the lesson barn/arena were on the other side of the facility and were connected. Now the barn I'm in requires a 20' walk outside to get to the arena so the arena probably doesn't stay warm at all. I'll be trying for as many day rides as I can this winter. Luckily my class schedule requires me to teach only Tuesdays and Thursdays so I can ride three afternoons a week and spend the dark cold evenings working....getting paid a salary has it's perks!

Here's Jr volunteering to pose with his new stall nameplate. Gee I wish they'd let me repaint my stall..... kinda looks a little jank.

And here he is modeling his jacket and smiling for you!

Stinky stall.

I decided to strip the area of his stall that he usually pees in. He's fairly good about using only 1/4 of the stall for his litterbox, so I didn't feel the need to strip the whole thing. The bad area was pretty bad, though. I took it down to the packed ground and it was about 3" of wet compacted sawdust. I stopped counting after 6 bins out to the honey-wagon, but they weren't all the way full. I can lift a full bucket of poo, but apparently NOT wet sawdust so I had to keep them about 1/2 to 3/4 full. I took as much of that area out as I could. No use wasting the dry bedding. I put two full wagons of sawdust back into the stall. He still has sores on the edges of his hocks. I suppose that's from lying down. I tried to add lots of bedding in the area I've seen him lay down in.

We got tacked up and headed into the indoor. I tried to lunge him for a while and he was back to being uninterested in the idea. After several good revolutions to the left he started being a turkey and stopping and refusing to change directions. I'm not savvy enough with a line and whip to really establish dominance on the lunge I guess. Luckily I got him to get a little buck out so I sort of gave up. He mounted very quietly and he rode very well. I'm not sure how long I worked him. I forgot to look at my watch...again. I worked him long at the lope. One little stumble that made my heart stop but other than that he was good. Nice and slow mostly. I can tell I'm getting better at knowing what to do to keep him balanced and he's getting better at obeying my aids. My balance is getting better and better, too. We worked for a while on jog-halt-jog transitions. He got bored with that so we did tight 3 loop serpentines along the short way of the arena. They're hard for him because he's so tall, but it helps him have to learn to keep his feet under himself.

Just like Thursday he was ever so good. I didn't ride yesterday because I worked late and it was raining and I knew he'd be uncooperative and just want to stay in his stall. I don't blame him. All I wanted to do was put on my PJ's and watch a movie. I'm glad he was still really good today. Makes me optimistic!

The weather was about 46 degrees and damp. I was nice and toasty while I was cleaning his stall and riding, but when I was done and had to scrub water buckets I was pretty darn cold with wet hands. I put his rug on for the night. He rolled in his clean bedding before I got his blanket on, so maybe he won't roll poo all over his rug tonight...wishfull thinking I suppose.