Today's lesson went well.

Phebes was much more relaxed for her lesson this week, than she was last week. We started off with poles in an open cross pattern, doing walking circles, attempting to get some bend. It was the most difficult exercise we've tried yet with so many things to focus on at once (which my little bit ADD mind has trouble wrapping around). The purpuse of the exercise was to move her off of my inside leg to the middle of the circle while tipping the rein to get a little bend in her very stiff neck. At the same time visualizing the circle with my mind, following with my eyes and shoulders and finally trotting her across the center of each log in a circle, and a circle and a circle.....Sounds easy? Not!

We also cantered for the first time in the arena and Phebes was not a happy camper, ears were pinned flat. Will need a lot of work. But I rode it hands free, heart a little up in my throat, but was able to hang with it. I have some problem staying on my seat for the gait transition, so used to the posting that I tried to do it at the canter *LOL*. So much to learn.


Phebes got hauled back home and had a break. Then we loaded back up and went to the park for a pleasure ride. All said and done our mileage today about 9 miles. The lessons are not yet clicking in her head on the trail. She falls back into old patterns of high headedness, pulling, and wanting to trot up the lead horse's butt crack. Every time she broke gait today I made her halt, and back up. Each time the trot got trashed, same thing, back up, back up, back up.

The gloves went on her fronts and though the fit isn't perfect, it was at least as good as the Epic, and I had no rubbing or chafining issues and the boots stayed on in mud. I'll try them out again for sustained trotting and see how the do for that.

We met two women at the park today from Milan, IN. I didn't get their names (I'm bad and would likely have forgotten anyway), they had Tennessee Walking Horses, one looked to be a strawberry roan and the other was spotted with a blue eye. Nice quiet horses. They were keeping their horses barefoot. Always like it when I find more of my kind ;) ~E.G.