The horrors!

 Happy Halloween!

Today was a little emotional. I'm trying hard not to get sucked down the rabbit hole and feeling sorry for myself, but... it's hard. I'm tired... flat out just tired. I worked a lot this week... including today. Yesterday was 11 horses and a 12 hour day. And next week is going to be extra long too. And there are a multitude of things that are bothering me... but it's all little stupid things. Things that I shouldn't be upset about. But I am. And my friends are showing at the Ashland Halloween show... that I was contemplating going to. But I decided not too because we aren't ready and then I had to work.... and maybe it's still the better choice, but.. it's hard... not being able to show. And I know... first world problems. So then I feel awful for feeling sad. Sigh.. But anyways... I'm just struggling today. But after I worked I came home and had just enough time to get to my lesson. Mostly on time... except I had to get gas or we wouldn't have made it home. So I was only a little late. 

Today we worked on the canter. And that's it. Just trying to canter... like a normal horse and rider... straight. Sigh.... It wasn't a bad lesson at all. It was kind of fun. Kind of entertaining. Enlightening, but... damn, it was frustrating and humbling. We've gotten soooo crooked. And part of me is so frustrated that we're this far along in life and still can't get our hiney underneath us and canter like a proper dressage horse. He's happy enough to go around like a hunter and fast. And I'm happy enough to let him because it feels good, but... he's so strung out and not sitting and pushing... and not really through... and definitely not straight. Which means he's never going to strengthen that weak left hind and get off his right shoulder. And if we can't even canter straight... how the heck are we expecting ourselves to do changes??? Sigh. So yeah... It was a battle. It's a battle to keep him cantering... He's not responsive to my leg or my seat... and probably because I'm shutting him down some too. Then my stupid left hand does some crazy shit and goes down and backwards and turns in and... totally blocks him. Going to the left he feels like he's spiralling into a tiny circle yet his right shoulder is flinging out to the east coast... thus I feel compelled to pull his nose in to the left otherwise both of us will fling off the circle and out of the arena... yet that just makes it 20 times worse. And going to the right isn't much better, but different. And then when I can somehow manage to get all of my body cooperating..... which basically takes me actually yelling no to my left hand.... then it's hard... and he won't keep cantering. And at this point my legs are up to my ears digging my spurs into him. Sigh... I even rode without stirrups in an attempt... but it still didn't really solve the problem. Although I did laugh because at one point I asked if I needed to be doing X or Y... and she said "Yes... it depends". She said that riding him was like playing Whack-a-mole. Sometimes you had to do X... then he'd get smart and do something different and then I had to do Y. But the imagery of me whacking body parts that he was popping out randomly made me giggle. It's a perfect analogy. Especially with Dan because he likes his beatings! Which is another problem. A tap with the whip really means nothing to him, so to get a response, I either have to smack him 6 or 7 times, or really wail on him... which then throws me off balance... sigh. So yeah.. it's not his fault. I've created this and allowed this...  

Which is depressing. It's just depressing that... I don't feel like we'll ever be good at anything other than just beebopping around and having fun. And while there's nothing wrong with that... and we enjoy that... I'd also like to do well and progress and... accomplish ...things. So yeah... just a little bummed today. 

But.. yesterday morning was a beautiful morning... and the moon was amazing... and my horse is getting stronger and we are having fun (mostly) and we can do fun things too... and I'll suck it up and get over this little hump and we'll keep moving forward and hopefully get better and better and fix the holes and straighten up and eventually the dressage will be there. And we can get our bronze. And if we don't, well... I'll be sad, but... in the grand scheme of things... I love my pony. I just sometimes forget that THAT is the most important thing. 

Shenanigans again!! Free rodeo viewing....

Oh Daniel!! So this morning this popped up on my FB feed and it made me giggle and think of Dan, so I jokingly posted it and basically pretended he hacked my fb post and put it up there. Well darn if that didn't come true. I was able to get in a ride but wasn't really feeling the need to do dressage again. I just wasn't feeling it. Although I wasn't necessarily feeling a neighborhood hack either. What I really wanted was to go to Ashland and do some fitness hacking and a gallop, but I didn't have enough time. I actually was only really able to ride because of a cancellation. So... I tacked up and debated. We started out to hack the neighborhood, then I changed my mind and went into the arena, and then I changed it again and we headed back out for neighborhood hack. Sigh.... poor life choice Holly... poor life choice. 

The weather was weird. It was post Hurricane Zeta and almost hot, but with a cool breeze. Lots of dark menacing clouds and... it just felt eerie. But then it would almost got hot. So, we headed off. We got to the lake and as we were going past the beach area Dan tried to spin and bolt and ALMOST dumped me. Like I was an inch within falling off. He spun a few times and I finally got him going. He was all freaked out because just in the trees going out of sight was a golf cart... I let him watch it, but then when it disappeared, I guess that was scary. The horizon ate it or something... so he tried to go home. So, after fighting a minute, I finally got him walking forward again. He tried a few times to stop, which isn't real fun on the top of the dam/road and on the edge of the asphalt. At least this morning Freddie put in some tiny road studs for us. Dan said "thanks for the extra traction for spinning Freddie!". ha. So then... we were almost to the end of the dam part and I heard a truck far behind us. I looked and almost panicked! It was a big tree removal truck. Eeeks. Luckily at this point Dan was going fairly confidently forward. I was just hoping we were going to make it past the dam and onto the flatter section before he realized the truck was coming. Luckily we did. Just barely. And then... he saw it. And spun and bolted. And almost dumped me again! You'd think I would have been ready for it this time! Then he tried to buck a few times... then spin... the back up... the buck... then spin.... the rear... then back up. So then I spun him... then we backed up a bit. Finally after about 30 seconds, during which (Thank God!) the truck driver had stopped and was just staring and waiting, Dan stopped. We took a second... thanked the truck drivers and waved them on. They looked a bit worried... hee hee.. And gracefully crept super slow past us. And then just before then passed us, I saw Rob walking on the other side of the road. He turned away as I glanced his way. I could just see him thinking "I didn't see ANYTHING.... nothing to see... nothing to see...". ha ha.. Jeeze!! I'm definitely not getting invited to ride with Jean again now. :) So then we carried on and I decided to be smart and turn around before we got to Jean's other property since that tended to get him all geeked up on a good day.... so we turned around and headed home. He was a little on the muscle, but... not as bad as the day before. Ugh... we created so many divots by the lake. Oops! At least that is "public" property there. Ding dong!

                                                                The divots!

Naughty pony, naughty weather

 There is bad weather brewing... I don't know if it's a hurricane again or a tropical storm, but Zeta is heading towards Louisianna. And with her she brings cluster migraines. Ugh. Luckily the pill took care of it today. I finished early! YAY! I would have tried to add more patients, but since I'm working 6 days this week.. I'll happily take the short day. I got home and met Jean and Juanita for a ride. Dan was sooooo bad. She may never invite me again. :) We started off on our hack, expecting the rain to not hit til this evening. Of course as soon as we got on it started sprinkling. But it quit quickly, so.. we carried on. Of course with the barometric changes (or maybe just because) Dan was rowdy! He was bouncy. Then it started raining... not just sprinkling. But we just kept going. Dan was bouncing... and because he's wearing slide plates and it was wet and he was occasionally bouncing into the road... it was a little unerving! I managed to keep him under control... until..he reared straight up!!! And hung there for a second or two... Um... huh.... It was long enough that I had time to wonder if his hind end was sinking in the mud or if we were about to flip or.... and then he came down. Wisely Jean offered to NOT go on the 1080 stretch... good call! Because I was going to politely bow out and head on my own way since he's turned that into a racetrack lately. (Ps.. the scarecrow was still up and none the less for the wear! phew!). I managed to mostly keep him together the rest of the way. Of course he was jigging and spinning a little.. hopefully not tearing up anyones yard too much. Eeeks! So when we got back, I decided that regardless of the fact it was now raining harder... someone needed a work out in the arena. So in we went! 

And like I told Jean... he was perfect! Well, maybe not 100% perfect... as a few times he turned to look at them or at Fleck. But he was pretty darn good. He felt super and we had some great work! We did some half pass even and if I can figure out how to use my left leg on him while half passing left, we'll be golden! He does it, but... I need to wrap him around my left leg better. We did our shallow serpentine at the canter with no issues. And he's really learning my seat aids. Like.. bending around my seat even and softening and going into the bridle. :) :) :) Then we did some lengthens and some leg yields. Then I decided there wasn't much more to work on, but... he was still fresh, so.. we did some transitions, rapid fire. Trot to walk to trot to walk to trot... then we did trot to canter to trot to canter to walk to canter to walk. The downward from the canter to the walk is tougher, especially on the right lead. But... good practice. 

Goober!! But I love him. Now to go get stalls cleaned and prepped and the barn clean because the bad weather is coming, but also Freddie is coming in the am! Good thing because those toes are getting long. 

Riding at Home! Playing with the Pivo

 Today is a short day in a long week! Luckily the weather cooperated and I was able to come home and ride. I almost ran out of time thanks to the pest control people taking forever and then the electrician, but... we had to get things done, so... again, I'm glad they finished in time and the weather cooperated and we got to play. And I got to try the pivo. It's pretty awesome! 

We went up to the arena to practice and... he was pretty good. I felt some hitchyness, but we were able to make it go away. We had a pretty good ride. Nothing too exciting, but some good work. We did some more canter work to try and build him up. So yep... pretty good ride, despite the brewing migraine I had. I had put the pivo on a jump standard in the arena and it did a pretty darn good job of following us. Pretty cool! Now I just need to figure out how to edit it, because... 37 minutes of video!

Quick Hack at home

 

                                                                                          The weather wasn't super pretty today but it never did rain. I went with Mike in the morning to go pick up his car. YAY!! The Jag is home :) He bought a car tent. :) Hee hee. It works though. And on my way home, I listened to church. It basically was about waiting... wait for God to do what HE knows is best for you, rather than forcing. Wait. Yep... I know... loud and clear... except you'll have to keep repeating it God because... you know. It's me. So then I went to Kroger. Ugh. NOT a good idea on a Sunday. Then after lunch Mike and I moved all the jumps out of the arena and I dragged it. Ugh... it is SOOOOO soupy and boggy in the back right 1/3. Like quicksand almost. I created ruts with the tractor too. Sadness. But the rest of it looks great. Then I wanted to ride since the weather was cooperative. But we didn't feel quite like doing dressage, because.. he was so good yesterday. Despite my freshly drug arena...  So we didn't. We tossed on the jump saddle and toured the neighborhood. I found the house where the girl is going to be bringing her horses... so maybe we'll have a friend to hack with. Then we went to Jean's other house again. She had scarecrows on the mailbox so I let Dan go up to say hi. Oh My Goodness... I about peed my pants. In about 1/20th of a second he grabbed that scarecrow by the head and shook it so hard the head popped off! Doh!!! His face.... #victoryismine! ha ha... So then I had to get off and put the scarecrow back together again and stick it back up on the post. Then climb back on Dan... Then we carried on our trek... I did NOT let him touch the other scarecrows! He was bouncy though. We managed to sort of canter (with some bouncing) on the path.. got it back together in parts.. then another short little sprint to the end. Then we walked home... and then since he was still so sproingy I went back to the arena and cantered. :) Only once he was in the anena, he wasn't so bouncy anymore. It's just not as much fun in there. ;) 

 

 

 

Maybe I don't suck entirely....

 Ahhh... I needed today. Yesterday was super stressful... and I'm still hormonal. But... I was able to get a little bit of sleep last night. I woke up to the dogs barking and coyotes going crazy... then woke up again in the wee hours of the morning to Dan attempting to flip his water bucket out. Like, last night after dinner, he was literally grabbing the edge in his teeth and attempting to pull it off the wall. Which resulted in it slamming against the wall repeatedly. Of course. :) The perils of living in a barn. (But I still love it!).  Anyways... I got up and helped Mike finish his car tent! Which will hopefully keep him happy until we can get his real garage done. Then I headed to Ashland for a ride. AHHHH..... 

I got there before Kelli so I went ahead and tacked up and was about the put his bridle on and just do a quick loop around the small lake before I hit the arena. She pulled in right as I was about to so I stopped and worked on her horses head and neck for a little bit because he was super stuck. Well... Dan apparently got bored because he turned and looked at us... shot us a look like "Ahem... I'm ready... LET'S GO!!!!!"... and then pawed a few times. I told him to be patient and he rolled his eyes and turned his butt to us.. and then untied himself. Ha ha... Ooops! Once I finished with Marvin I got on and we went for a quick spin. As soon as we hit the path between the two small lakes... Dan froze! The heron was in the path. We all froze. I had already pulled my camera out so I just videoed and waited. Finally I urged Dan forward and as he took a few steps, the heron flew out to the lake. Dan stopped so quick his hind end slid up to his front toes! ha ha.. Then we carried on. We just rode around that lake to the arena. 

 

 

 

So then we headed to the arena and did some dressage. It was actually a fairly lovely ride! We did our homework and then did some trotting and cantering. He was good! We had decent leg yields and shoulder ins. We even had the three loop serpentine to X (not the actual 3 loop), although the arena wasn't set up so we may have been wide. We did our canter lengthens...  overall, pretty darn good. :) Of course he may not have been truly in the outside rein...  But he was so good that I let him lengthen down centerline. BOY!! He got SPROINGY :) Hee hee. I know, I'm creating a monster, but it's so fun. :) 

So then we went for a nice long hack. We stopped at the lake and had a drink and a splash. Then we did a long walk. And he got bouncy. I told Kelli that he needed a bit of canter so she was nice enough to sit tight and let us have a canter. He didn't gallop though. Which was better. Then we headed back...  And then we went to Taylor's farm and he got a massage by Kathleen. He was a little naughty but not as bad. He enjoyed it and is making progress. :) :)