Those of you who have been reading or following this blog for a long time know that Pete and I just don't get along very well. I just can't get Pete to do anything, and he just refuses to cooperate with me. It's insanity, I tell you; I've never, ever had any other horse fight me as much as Pete does. Again, Erica insisted I ride Pete so I reluctantly got him out of his stall, put him in crossties, and began brushing. I was sure this was going to end up being yet another bit of disappointment this week. He picked up all four feet perfectly (which made me smile, considering he always fought Taylor about his back feet) and stood stock-still when I saddled. Then came the bridle. Yesterday, Pete took the bit perfectly for Erica. Today, he had me clear down at the other end of the isle trying to get the bit in his mouth; I'm thinking it's not my fault, considering it's been a life-long struggle to train Pete to take the bit without a fight.
I rode Pete; Erica rode Glory again. I'm so, so proud of Erica and Glory. They have come so far in the five or six rides they've had together. Glory's the 20 year old Arab mare that came to Victory as a boarder this late summer/early fall. They've been working on getting a nice, slow western jog and a semi-controlled canter. Today, the two aced it! Erica couldn't stop grinning. Pete and I had a pretty decent ride. I was a bit iffy about cantering him because of his recent recovery. But we did, and I realized I don't hate his canter so much anymore. I rather hate the fact that he hates me.
After my ride on Pete, Erica's lesson arrived so we put Pete and Glory away. While the lesson got started on April, I watered all of the horses and decided to get Zan out.
I haven't brushed, played with, or done anything with Zan since about a week after we discovered he was no longer rideable. I feel terrible about this, considering I sort of just abandoned him; this happened with Emmy, too, but less drastically.
So I put Zan in the crossties and brushed him, loved on him, and eventually kicked myself into picking his feet. Last time I picked his feet, he nearly fell over on me because of his little muscle problem. Today, though, I went slowly and carefully and he was fine with it! Whooo! Then I took him out to the arena. Erica and I played with him a bit and I realized....
He is SOO DANG CUTE!
I love that horse. He is AH-MAZ-ING. He was loving on me, rubbing on me, nipping at me playfully... he's just way too adorable. I can't get over it!
After the lesson, Erica and I set up some jumps and got Sonny and April tacked up. We put splint boots on Sonny and wrapped April's legs in polo wraps.
When I got on Sonny, he danced around and acted like a total butthead. We walked for a fairly long time, then attempted a trot. He immediately jerked his head around, flipped it up and down, and fought me every step of the way. Eventually he stopped, but only after excessive warm-ups. I think it's because yesterday Erica and I both rode him, and we both worked on getting him to hold his head in at the canter. Maybe his mouth is a little bit sore? Probably. Anyways, we jumped 2' and 1'9", and all of them were AMAZING! I have to say, that was probably once of the better jumping days I've had in a while.
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Thanksgiving's coming up! Can you believe it? It's tomorrow. And I am so not ready! This means that my birthday's coming, and then Christmas, then New Years, then Valentine's Day... It's all coming so quickly! So, as part of the "Almost Wordless Wednesday" theme, I'm going to leave the rest of this post as (mostly) a list of some of the things I'm thankful for. {Note: This is not all of the things I'm thankful for; there are WAY too many things to list here. This is just some of them.} Here it is:
- My family; no matter how much I say that I hate my siblings, I love my sister, my brother, my godsister, my dad, my mom, grandparents, and cousins all around!
- All of my friends. I don't know what I'd do without them! They are always there for me, no matter what. I love them all, those in the Bloggosphere and those not!
- Those who have gotten me this far in the horse world. That means you, Eric, Erica, Katie, Julia, Lisa, Troy, Uncle D, Aunt Jenni, Bruce,... and all the rest of you!
- My blogger friends. I love reading your blogs, helping you with your lives and just listening!
- Last of all, my horses: Lucy, Missy, Chief, Cookie, Grinder, Miss T, Zan, Sonny, April, Taco, Mallory, Pete, Kota,... All of them. <3
Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Go hug your horses for me! Remember... I love you all!<3
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