The Repurposed Horse

Most important things first - LILY HAS COME HOME!!! I found her this morning - my neighbor's cat actually led me to her.  She was gone for two days, and they have been a very stressful two days.  The main focus of life for the last two days has been trying to find my cat.   However, I was able to pull it together for my second ever and Sherlock's first ever DRESSAGE LESSON on Monday afternoon!  I don't have any pictures, but word on the street is he was starting to look (almost) fancy by the end.  We did a lot of directional transitions and a lot of work on corners - he has a tendency to cut them.  And a LOT (x132984093750487) of turning straight down the centerline. The biggest challenge I expected to have was actually making my circles correctly - at my last (and only) dressage lesson, most of it was spent with Dressage Trainer L sternly reminding me not to turn my head to the center whilst circling, a concept that is basically unheard of in ...

As I mentioned yesterday, today was the day that Trainer K was scheduled to ride Leo for the first time.  We were then supposed to have a private lesson.  One of those things happened. Once she started working with Leo, she didn't stop until the full hour was up.  They did walking and trotting, working on adding leg and counterbending and circling.  She explained every single aid in detail, and the logic behind why she was doing what she was doing.  Unfortunately, my phone was in the car charging, or there would be pictures and possibly video.  They did not jump.  They did not canter.  They worked on the basics, and eventually he 'got' just about everything she was asking him to do.  There was a moment of terror when a giant scary truck dropped off some round bales, and he became a spook-monster (unusual for him these days, but as she pointed out she was a new rider and he probably didn't have a whole lot of trust in her hay-bale-slaying ab...

I work overnights Wed, Thurs, Fri, and Sat, and that is when I'm usually able to blog because work tends to be pretty slow.  So, Sun-Tues I don't usually post because Sundays are for sleeping and I tend to spend ~12 hours a day at the barn on Mondays and Tuesdays.  Also my dad was here this weekend. On Sunday, we headed out to the barn.  My trainer had given the go-ahead for my dad to play around on Pepper, the oldest horse in the barn (approximately 30), and perfect babysitter of all parents and boyfriends, who also doubles as a challenge for small children with tiny legs.  We don't have trails, and Pepper is notorious for, well, walking in a determined fashion towards the barn despite all attempts to dissuade him when in the outdoor, so we stuck to the indoor.  Luckily, my dad thought that this was pretty great; he's actually never ridden inside before.  They toodled around at the walk and I gave a bit of a mini-lesson and by the end of it, my dad was a...

I mentioned a few posts ago that a horse had stomped on me and broken my littlest toe.  I decided that it wasn't bad enough to go to the doctor, and have settled for regular ice sessions, elevation, and trying to remember to tape/vet wrap it.  I've also been avoiding wearing shoes because, well, swelling.  AND IT WAS GETTING BETTER!  Still painful to walk on, and painful to ride with, but it was starting to look like a normal toe again. I just want to mention really quickly here that the horse who stepped on my foot originally is the only saddleseat-shown saddlebred in my entire barn (seriously, we have eight saddlebreds, one is retired, one is saddleseat, and the rest are eventers or training to be eventers), and therefore the only horse in the barn with those monstrous weighted stacked wedge pad shoe contraptions.  Which is probably why she was able to inflict so much damage despite my boots. Ahem.  Wearing close-toed shoes at the barn is importan...