Mares... amiright?

I made the mistake of basically giving Kat three days off last week (good god am I an idiot or what?) and simultaneously pulling her off VitaCalm which I hadn't really thought was doing much but the moment she went back on it she settled down. I don't care if it's the placebo effect. I'll take it.

We hauled her and Danny down to WRR for a lesson. Danny was pretty good, all things considered.

But since I didn't ride him, I'm here to focus on my mare.

She warmed up beautifully, and I distinctly remember thinking "wow, she can handle time off like a champ!"

And then we started jumping, and she was refusing things. Like what why are you doing this?

And she had ZERO respect for my leg whatsoever.

And I didn't have brakes.

Basically I was riding a bucking maniac with zero control and I just sort of hoped for the best. It was kind of a bummer of a lesson, really.

 I really need to help her to understand and accept my legs holding her a little more, and I especially need to keep them on and forget about half-halting sometimes. If I keep my focus up and around and really forward, we get long spots but I'd rather do that than get refusals at this point.

So I'm disappointed in myself for letting her have so long off, but also disappointed in the drastic retrograde.

CM said that this was a totally mare than the one I brought to him the week before. 

However! I'm super excited about the lovely photos one of my students took. (Thanks!!)

She's so pretty!

And careful. Rather careful.

And what am I even doing here?

This is my FAVORITE photo because it TOTALLY highlights what I do when I get tired. "PONY, CARRY ME!"
And for some reason, in this moment, Kat's like "sure man, whatever."

Love this photo!

Haha she's so grumpy about all the things

I'm taking a few students down to WRR this weekend for a show and I'm still deciding whether I'm going to take her. She's not exactly ready for a show, but I also know that I'd like to find out how she behaves in that environment sooner rather than later. Especially if Woodside is still in my sights.