"Oh, rainy day, come 'round...."

"Some times I just want it to slow down."
-Rainy Day by Coldplay. Best band ever.

So, as the title suggests, it rained today! It poured! It was hurricane something-or-another! It was great!

So lemme put this from square one. I got out to the stable. Greta was great, she has definitely settled in and was grazing with the herd on the remnants of the round bale (which was brand new not even two days ago. Yikes!) Sock's rider riding Socks (found out his full name is Sock Monkey. Totally appropriate!) and Sock's rider's mother, aka future instructor, was riding her horse Fuhrst (?) in the indoor arena. It was very cool outside today, so I had no problem going in the outdoor arena. Greta, for a mare who just went into heat, was very calm today. Couldn't even tell that she had only been here for a week and was in heat!

I tried my hand at extensions. I wish I had some video! I watched a dressage lesson at the barn last night, and noticed how the riders put more thrust into their posting and softened their hands, and their horses enxtended! They collected up their horses by doing about the opposite. So i thought I'd give it a shot. What do you know? It worked! I need to do it in the indoor arena though, so I can actually see it in the mirrors. It felt very right though. Yayuh!

So then I take Greta back into the barn, and the lights were already on because of the overcast. I saw some rain way off in the distance, but I thought we'd be good for a while. As I was taking off the saddle, it began to sprinkle. And by the time Greta was ready to go out into the pasture, it was pouring. It was super noisy with the metal roof and the thunder right over us. The lights flickered on and off a couple of times and the lightning flickered into the barn from outside occasionally.

Greta did very well. I stood there and hummed and sang quietly - it was so loud all around us that I nobody would've heard me, and there were three other riders in there! - and Greta just stood patiently. She froze when it thundered, but she didn't flip out. After about an hour - yes, and hour - Greta started to get very anxious. So I waited until the rain subsided a bit, then we made a run for it all the way out to the pasture. In my leather boots. Of all days to forget my rubber boots, it was today.

Nonetheless, Greta made it out okay! I did too! My boots are just covered in mud right now. Oh well.

But boy I wish I could've seen those extensions and collections myself. It felt great to ride. Greta was just all-around great today. I can't wait until tomorrow.

This looks a lot like what the sky looked like today. Freaky. Picture taken near Amarillo.

BTW, some cool Swedish horsey names that I composed, just to humor myself:

• Snowvitparla (snow white pearl)
• Fjadraregna (spring rain / April showers)
• Gretavinna (mix-up of "Greta" and "kvinna" which means "lady", or in other words "Greta girl" which is one of her many nicknames)
• Virbina (after Greta's granddam "Viveka" and her grandsire "Urbino")