Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Easier Said Than Done

This week is crazy. Insane. Yesterday at work one of my kiddos had what looked like chocolate on his pant leg, "Is that Chocolate?" Student rubs his finger on the chocolate, "Hummm....Nope, that's poop." Ugh. Seriously! I also found shit in one of the garbage cans. It has been a crazy, crazy week!!

Yesterday I ran out to the barn for our lesson. I was suppose to have a riding lesson yesterday, and a ground work lesson today. I found out that my mother in law (who's amazing) is coming in today, not tomorrow, so I had to choose what I wanted to do. I decided to work with Denali.

We had a showmanship lesson. I was really nervous and kept getting afraid that she'd freak out, I acted brave which is a new thing for me, but by the end I realized how silly my fear was! It was a good feeling. I learned a lot about how to work with her. One thing my trainer told me was I need to watch my tone of voice. I get high pitched when I get excited. I know that, so I worked hard on keeping my tone of voice calm. She seems to like it a lot more, I guess it reassures her.


My trainer did some flag work with her, and she didn't budge at all. I did learn to pick up on some of her body language and how to read her. It's been about a year since we've done groundwork so I think it's really good for both of us.


Operation 30 by 30 is going well. I did drive by Top Pot donut yesterday and made the mistake of stopping. Seriously, I think they're addictive. They (yes they, :( ) were SO good. Sigh. I ate healthy the rest of the day. I've been running every morning since Saturday. I didn't go yesterday because I needed to get my broken tooth fixed, but I went this morning in the rain!

Operation Ride My Horse, is also working well. I have some obligations this week but will get back to the barn hopefully this weekend to work on what we've worked on.

Operation New Amazing Saddle is on hold. I have a jar that I'm seriously going to keep change in. I'm sure I'll get to 2,800 in no time! Donations welcome!! :)

7 comments:

Abby said...

It's been awhile since I heard you laughing during one of your lessons. Good sound.

Brooke (FBX Adventures - In Parenting) said...

Aww!! Thanks for reading my blog!! :)

SprinklerBandit said...

Oh, tone of voice is tricky. It's so unconscious for us, but it makes a huge difference to sensitive horses. I'm glad you had a good lesson and congrats on the running!

Megan said...

I am so glad you are having fun with her in your lessons! I miss the girl... I am going to get out there on Friday after work I hope.

Drillrider said...

I took a clinic recently and he said I was moving too quickly. I have slowed down my movements and it has made a big difference and helped my arab gelding become more relaxed.

FYI---I just got the May 2010 issue of Horse & Rider and they have an article about Fear in it. I already read the article. It is VERY GOOD and think you'd find it helpful.

Leah Fry said...

I tend to do the same thing with my voice. I also have a very BAD habit of saying 'whoa' when I really mean 'easy.' I'm working hard to stay conscious of both.

Re donuts: seriously, honey, step on the gas! My truck tries to turn itself into DQ all the time. I have to fight it just like when Poco wants his own way.

Michelle said...

Sounds like things are going great! I love your series of Operations...I need to use you as inspiration, I think!