Sorry for the Delay

So, I really suck at this blogging thing, just like I thought I would.

Life has been crazy and it hasn't left me much time for Shadow in the last two weeks.

We lost Tulsa, which kind of made it hard to go out and not see him there anymore, so when I did get out there, I just kind of spent some time with him, the farm seemed to have an empty feeling and I just couldn't get motivated.

Not to mention getting dark early is really taking my riding time right out from underneath me.

Lessons:

Last week, we really worked on the canter transition and a little bit of "jumping". Shadow is really starting to show that he is willing to canter, he just cannot hold it for more than a few strides. His trot is pretty well there. He looks amazing on the lunge line, if he can just start prancing around all fancy pants with a rider on his back, it will be perfect (almost there). He wiggled his way over some cross rails (learning to pick our feet up still) and plowed through some vertices. We need cavaletti  so that he doesn't learn that objects will move if he just runs into them. By the time I got on him, he was exhausted. He has about 30-35 minutes worth of solid riding time in him before he gets literally exhausted, but we'll get there. I'm learning patience is a must, something I don't have much of. All in all, he did great.

From last Tuesday to this Tuesday I barely even saw him, I stopped out Sunday, but never even brushed him, I was not prepared for the cold, and I don't think I'll ever be. Something I need to get over. Needless to say, I have't ridden my horse in two full weeks. I hate having to tell Dom when she comes out "I haven't done anything with him" I just literally don't even have a minute to myself and I'm starting to feel bad about it.

Dom was out yesterday. We have now moved our lessons up to 3 in the afternoon. This means I can't be there. Dom said he was very resistant and ignoring her leg, which lead me to apologizing because that is my fault. He just sits around and gets ridden once a week, by her! I haven't been able to do any "homework" at all. No transition work, no lunging, no nothing.

We are going to continue the lunge work and do a lot more lateral work. I myself need to start insisting he bends in the correct direction and starts moving off my leg. As I said, he offers such a nice canter but he cannot hold it without coming off the fence.

I did manage to see Dom yesterday for about 5 minutes while she was working with him, and he did seem to have his sassy pants on, again my fault for just letting him sit.

I will ride this weekend if it kills me.


I'm kind of uncomfortable with having lessons and not being there. Only because I feel like I'm not seeing what is being done and I don't want to do anything different when I get on him. I want him to be able to understand what I'm asking and get it done just the way Dom does.

Dom has gotten so busy, so early afternoon lessons are our only option.

I have been  on a steady search for a trailer, we have one, but I am not going to buy tires for it, being that it isn't mine. I have found two really nice ones I am hoping to go look at this weekend and maybe make some progress. If  I am able to get one, William will have to start trailering me to Dom's on Saturdays so I can have her teach me and him from her barn, I'm feeling kind of out of the looped with these early lessons, and it is stressing me out.


I hope this is a short, easy winter because I am over it already!