Bert, Diva, & some Selfie Game

I took a lesson with one of the other resident trainers at LGF on Bert today. She used to own Bert, so I figured she'd know him best and offer the best feedback in terms of connecting with him and actually getting a steady contact. I'm not sure what exactly worked but he did go very well for me. I'm not a huge fan of lessons like that. "Well, it went really great but I have NO IDEA how to recreate these moments..."

It's funny because he's as long as Tango is, but Tango has a lot more flexiblity and sit in him, so turning and whatnot isn't such a crap shoot. I have to very gradually prepare Bert for things (unless we're jumping, in which case whatever, run around like a camel). I think a 1st level test with him with the 10-meter figure-8s would be nigh impossible with Bert at the moment.

But it was a fun lesson regardless.

Next week I'm hauling Danny to White Rock Ranch for a jumping lesson (maybe twice, the poor horse) which I'm super looking forward to because while Danny's going REALLY well at home, I'm nervous about my ability to get him over fences off the property. Eventually he settles in to his job, but it's seriously like he's never jumped before for a little while.

I think that Danny and Connor from Cob Jockey should meet each other. Her post today about her jumping lesson and the progress they've gone through together sounds remarkably similar to Danny's journey.

And then Thursday we leave! Eeek!

Diva has such neat eyes.

I worked with Diva today and she was pretty good. I love how quickly some horses learn. "Oh, when you ask my rib cage to move over, I have to actually bend a little to make that happen." And then she does it the next time. She's going to be so fun once she's a bit more polished. She also has this gigantic, ground covering canter. It'll take a lot of work to teach her to carry herself in a way that allows for a shorter canter, but it seems like it won't take too much. I'd rather have a forward thinking horse than a backward thinking horse anyway.

Skinny girl. (We'll fix that right up.

Tango got mad at the rain while I was riding him today. He kept striking out with his forelegs and twisting his head to chomp at the rain. I think the droplets sliding down his face bothered him, so I turned the foreleg thrashing into some pretty sharp extensions.

Then I tried to work on Tango's selfie game. He... doesn't really have a selfie game.

He's trying his best to get me to scratch him here, but every time I scratch him, he twists his head around and conks me with his skull.

Maybe I'm the one without selfie game. Oh well.

I taught a new student today and had this moment where we were joking around and I was grinning at her. I'm good at winning new people over and for the longest time I've wondered why that is, but today I was thinking that maybe part of it is how willing I am to care for and admire new people. I'm happy to listen and to learn your stories, and maybe that's not as common as I think it is.