riding skills

This week, I've  been working on trying to get my pony to stay on the rail. That means, that the horse stays very close to the fence at the edge of the ring rather than cutting corners into the middle.  To help, my mom put out ground poles on the ground, and I knew I had to stay outside of the ground poles.  I also have to use a lot of outside rein.  It was harder at the trot than at the walk.  After one turn in, he was very good!

Today might be too hot to ride until it is almost dark.  Tonight I want to ride in the ring and practice trotting the whole way around the ring without breaking into a walk.  I cannot learn anything if I don't ride.

Alyssa

i will be taking over herd bound

This week has been very hot so I havent gotten  to ride often. On Monday, I rode bare back because the horseshoer was there so long and it was getting very hot. On Tuesday, I rode with a saddle and my mom rode bare back.

On Monday, I found a wound on Yankee my pony. Each day this week, I applied Betadine scrub to the wound to clean it out.

Your probably wondering about all my ponies: Their names are Finn, Zephyr, Forrest, Gabhann, and of course, Yankee.

Out From Under the Literal and Figurative Raincloud

Today I met with the woman who is responsible for staging homes for sale and creating the brochures, print materials, and internet content used for selling our house!  She needed to see the entire house...including closets, cabinets, basement, and sheds...clean and staged today.  (And the whole yard landscaped, of course.)  This is basically an impossible task, made even more impossible-er when you have a husband, dogs, and children living in said house and yard.

When she arrived, the place was mostly--miraculously--clean and staged, and she was pleased.  She took photos of everything except the pool, which could not be opened prior to her visit because of all of the rain this past week.  Everything looks so nice and fresh and green on this sunshiny Spring day: I would totally buy the place.

As she was going about her business, we were chatting, and she seemed like just the happiest, most successful, and together lady.  She was saying how all week she had been looking forward to Thursday (today) because it was finally going to be sunny...after what seemed like constant doom and gloom weather.  She said in her super-cheerful voice, "If I didn't see some sun, I was about to commit suicide!"

She surprised me so much with that frank statement that I had to laugh.  Thank God it wasn't just me!  I was so depressed and gloomy this past week, and I just couldn't shake it.  I feel like today a weight has been lifted--whether it is the glorious return of the sun or just the fact that I managed to get the house "just so" to make a good first impression is really unimportant.  I am so relieved to be out from under the literal and figurative raincloud!