Brrr.

I went out at mid-day and did my duty. I cleaned his stall and his buckets and let him out in the all-weather turn-out while I worked. There were no other horses out at all so he had no one to run with so he just nibbled on whatever grass he could find, which isn't much in Ohio in late November. Only a little dusting of snow on the ground. The temp was about 29 but the thermometer in the barn was at 32. I used a rake and pulled a ton of icky old cobwebs down from the rafters in his stall. I HATE spiders so that is not my favorite job. I figured today they were either dead or at least slow enough due to the temp. I watched Princess Skittles the barn kittie torture a mouse. She's kind of evil about that. No one else was at the barn and I hate riding when there's no one around to hear you fall, PLUS I realized half-way there that I didn't have my cell with me, also not the safest of situations So he got another day off. Spoiled brat. I wonder what he thinks about this weather. It's only his second winter north of Texas.

Tomorrow is supposed to be 49 degrees so hopefully there will be some more activity and he'll feel like working. I am almost done writing my final exam. I have a few more images I need to get off of my work computer on Monday morning and it'll be done. Then that final is Monday afternoon, one more final to give on Tuesday afternoon and I'm off for the long holiday weekend. Hopefully it warms up a little. Is it spring yet?

Showoff.

I just love the end of the quarter when I get to sneak away from work and ride during the daylight!

His ground manners were not up to par today. He's been bobbing his head around when I try to bridle him. I'm not really sure what to do about that. I'm warming the bit up and everything! I think he's just telling me he's not interested in working. Should I just keep after him until he makes the realization that his fussing does not prevent work and hope he gets over it?

He lunged really well until KAT brought another horse into the ring and it was like he wanted to show off for her (or the filly she was riding) and he started fussing and stopping and backing away from me, but it really only lasted a moment. Then I made him walk and stop tight circles around me until he was listening and then got him back up to a normal circle at the jog. He was fine then.

The ride was pretty good. Just more of the same. I'm trying to be consistent and remember all the things from my lessons. I'm getting better at feeling what he's doing underneath me....I think. But it seems each lesson she tells me something new to do. I'm totally on board with the philosophy that you start at the basics and once you master those you move on, and then you move on, and then you move on. I just hate it when I feel like I'm starting to get it and then there's something new to try to figure out. Oh well. I know we've got a long way to go and there are many, many new steps ahead.

I'm loving my fleece-lined jeans and my Mountain Horse boots. I sure hate winter, but when you're dressed well it's not that bad. Sadly, though, it will get much, much colder in the next few months. :(

Progress.

I ran away from work early and got to the barn while the feeder was still watering the horses. I succeeded in getting him tacked and out the door before the feed/hay started. I knew I'd have a fight on my hand if there was grain in his feeder and I led him away.

I lunged him for almost 20 minutes. He did pretty well. Still working on both his abrupt stopping and his out of control take off, but he was quite obliging to my commands today. I even got him to stop IN LINE (not turning in) and to walk off again a bunch of times. I don't know if he'd ever been taught voice commands for lunging, but I've been using them. He does what I say sometimes, sometimes not so much. He almost always listens to whoa but I've been trying the gaits, too.

The ride was good. A little distracted at points because a few other horses came in and there was a horse making noise outside. Overall he did really well, though. Towards the end when there were two other horses working he was really stubborn about bending properly so I made him counter bend for a while. Then I made let him cool down at a walk and we practiced our neck-reining.

We walked long enough that he was totally cooled down. I kept him tied while I groomed him, put his blanket back on and put all my crap away. He was totally cool so I figured it would be safe to let him eat.

Now I have a headache that started just as I finished the ride. I'm planning to ride tomorrow, but I have plans on Friday so he'll get a day off.

Day 71...really? Yup. 71.

I got to the barn last night in the snow. I really hate snow. I moved AWAY from Minnesota. I wore my new fleece-lined-frumpy jeans and my new Mountain Horse paddock boots I bought last spring on clearance. I was only chilly when I first got to the barn, but after grooming and mucking I had to take my gloves and a layer off the top. I got chilled at one point during the lesson, but not bad. I think I'm going to make a weekend project out of making a liner for my helmet. I'm sure I've got some spare polar-fleece lying around.... And perhaps a reusable bit warmer....

Anywho. I took him out to lunge him as soon as there was some room in the arena. Only 4 little kids in a lesson and they were using 1/2 the arena. He did pretty well. He still stopped a few times but I made him continue. I'm still really uncoordinated with a lungeline. I know the principles of keeping the line free and how to let it out and bring it back in, but when he stops short and starts walking towards me it all goes to hell. If he just slows down I can send him right off, but when he fully stops, if I move him away too quickly he can come back over the loose line - that's how he ended up with it between both sets of legs and WTF do you do with THAT? But he has been moving off more calmly now, so that's good. I think he's figuring out that I actually mean it. Maybe I'M figuring out that I actually mean it. :)

When I finally asked him to stop and led him over to the mounting area he was still acting fresh, but I think it was because the other horses were coming into the arena and he was anxious to see them. He hasn't been turned out in a while because of the wet weather.

He mounted fine and moved off fine. I started him on flexing and lifting his shoulders...and realized very quickly that I had forgotten to switch my spurs to those boots. Boy did THAT make a difference! They're just little English POW spurs, but they work. He was still okay, I just had to work much harder to get him to respond. I've only ridden him without spurs one other time and it was the same way. Now that I'm much more stable with my legs we're going to get me into some western spurs. I have a big phobia of hurting a horse (mentally and physically) with spurs so I was not going to use them until I had my seat back and could use my legs effectively. I know the type of spurs I'll use are not very severe, but it makes me more confident to know I'm able to spur only when I mean to. No accidental bumping to confuse the horse.

Two of the lesson horses were having fits of terror on the lunge line. One was just zooming around and roaring. That one is one of Jr's turn-out buddies so he was very concerned about him and was picking up on his energy. I've found that if he can watch what's going on he's not upset, but when his back was to the horse he was very agitated. I stopped him and let him watch and he relaxed while I talked to him. I know he can't understand me, but I do believe in the effects of a soothing tone of voice. He doesn't do as well with silence. If I'm working alone he's more relaxed if I talk to him. When there's other people/horses around I don't need to.

Once he got over the two crazies on the far end of the arena he was fine. The lesson went pretty well, even without spurs.

I had planned on riding tonight, too, but I had a migraine this morning and went to the chiropractor for the first time in a year and a half and I'm REALLY sore. I've been using lots of muscles that forgot they existed since I've brought Jr. home and decided that I needed to have things put back where they were. He did a very weird stretch on my lower back and I'm really feeling weak there. He told me to ice it so I took that as a recommendation to relax it and not go make it work by riding. Tomorrow. I'll go back tomorrow. WITH my spurs.