Recently...

Allergies have decided to strike. Greta gave me mostly attitude and freaking-out-to-the-nth-degree (I think a trailer being loaded outside the barn while we were tacking up just put her into a clusterfbomb mindset!) And school has decided that us children are allowed to have no life and must do nothing but work.

I'm probably sounding so negative because I can't, well, breath right now!

Greta did well Wednesday night. Really superb!!! I did not have enough time to ride Thrusday night and on Friday night by the time I had time to ride, my super-duper-rare allergies had suddenly kicked in and, while I was complaining that I was being lazy and that I really could ride, I was nicely kicked out of the barn and sent home by my adult guardians out there. And my parents thanked them. And I thank them, because my allergies would've been much worse Saturday, though they did not get any better :(

Some pictures from the lesson yesterday....

Here are Greta's moments of brilliance:












But the rest of the time, I got this, though I have seen her do MUCH worse now that I think about it:


So before somebody out there complains, "Oh, I can't get the counter canter right!" or "Oh, there's not enough engagement in his piaffe!" and I come at you with a bloodlust in my eyes, remember that your horse could look like said goober above for an entire lesson. At least your horse stays round :)

As far as all that sweat: Greta had already worked herself up into a gooberish mindset, it was extraordinarily humid, and she was ridden for about thirty minutes of really working. She was given the next half hour to cool out on a long rein. Bless her.

But I HAVE to keep telling myself that I only learned and have begun to apply the concept of true hindquarter engagement (not that slow, lazy trot I thought was correct, and not a sewing machine trot either, but a good working trot) for less than two weeks now after our first lesson with L. Sadly though, we had our last lesson with her yesterday because she will be moving. So I will be back to my original trainerless plan haha!

But either way, Greta has to develop muscle. And muscle doesn't develop in a month.

But really, Greta is still super sweet and she is still the princess, and I have to give her some slack for her attitude yesterday because she A) had not been rode for two days, and B) had been left in for an hour after the other horses went out because our lesson was going to be an hour later (I could've gone out and got her, so I feel terribly lazy about that, and I wonder if that might've fixed things.) These ups and downs are really beginning to wear on me. Oh, well....

Here are some sweetness pics:

Bum bum pats after a beautiful few strides of a working canter :)

Trying to rub the bridle off on my pantalones.

:)))) Really, I will cherish the video that these last two pictures came from. I will cherish it FOREVER! So cute!