Vroom Vroom

Before I start this entry, I just want to apologize for the fact that I am an awful replier to comments. I've been that way ever since I've had a blog, which goes back to 2000 or so! ;p But do know that I read and appreciate each and every comment I get on here, on AIM, on Facebook, wherever. ^__^

Yesterday I had a craptastic riding lesson. I've been riding the same horse for a few weeks now-- Dandy, a cute palomino gelding-- and with every passing week, he kept getting better and better. See, when they got Dandy, he was extremely out of shape, overweight and just not very well trained. The first time I rode him, I literally had to kick him to get him to go anywhere, he wouldn't bend at ALL in the direction we were going, and getting him to canter even a few strides was a literal process. But as I said, every week I rode him, he began to improve. The last time I rode him (before yesterday), we had some VERY nice circles and his cantering work was 290594 times better-- we even made it 3 times around the ring both ways, without stopping!

Yesterday was a different story. I feel like we took a billion steps backwards, and I seriously hope that is NOT the case. I knew he was going to be a "joy" from the moment I brought him in the ring-- I could barely stop him to pull down the stirrups and prepare to get on him, he just wanted to keep walking. And then as soon as I did get on him, he wanted to trot straightaway-- forget walking. His bending was again nonexistant, he kept doing funky things with his head to evade the bit, and every time one of the other horses in the ring passed him he wanted to speed up to meet them. To make matters worse, the ring was very dusty since there were 3 of us riding and I think that was making him a little spooky-- every time one of the horses so much as kicked up a stone, I could feel him get all tense. And what was embarrassing for me was that a girl who's new to the barn was watching me ride and I know this couldn't have made a good impression on her. :/

It just sucked because I KNOW Dandy can behave and be really good. I think if we had been alone in the ring, he probably would have been awesome. We did have a *few* good circles and he had some decent canter transitions, but the majority of the time he was just so distracted. Not to lay all the blame on him, but I know that because he was so "up" I was not as relaxed as I could be, and that's a vicious circle right there, since horses are so tuned in to how their rider is feeling. My instructor said I did well with him, but it's just so hard to agree when we've had much better weeks. I guess that's part of working with a green horse though, right?

And it was kind of funny, because I think Dandy knew he had been a brat. I brought a few treats for him, but I only gave him one before my lesson telling him he had to earn the rest. Afterwards, I was in no rush to give him the rest, but before I left I went to go visit him back in his stall and figured I'd give him the treats then. Do you know that he was reluctant to take them? It was like he understood that he was supposed to behave in order to get them. :P (Oh, and it's not that he didn't like the treats-- he kept trying to sniff at my pockets where I had them the whole time I was getting him ready, haha).

So, that was yesterday. Today I get to work for 3954 hours, but it's truck day so it should be alright.