Hey y’all! It’s been a while since I updated (well… like a week).
Nothing new has been going on. We’re in full on getting ready to move mode, which makes things really fun since our landlord decided that this weekend would be a great time to show the condo. *eyeroll* Dogs will be off to the dog park with me to play in the snow, and Shannon and Mike can stay home and make sure nobody pilfers our stuff.
Shannon is as charming as ever! Mike was away this weekend, so she kept wandering up to the door, kocking on it, then saying “da!” “da!”. She is such a fun little thing. She’s so smart, and it’s fun to watch her learn new things! Her Nana taught her that babies don’t drink coffee… so now when she sees my coffee mug she points at it and shakes her head. It’s a little hysterical.
Her father ‘claims’ that she picked out her own outfit.
I’ve decided to go a new route with Willow. As I’m sure that y’all know, she’s been frustrating me to no end! I think that the root of the problem is that she’s bored. We’ve been in an arena all winter, drilling the same thing… I’d be pissed off at me too! We’re going to change it up for the last two weeks that we’re here. Some free lunging (which she always has a blast with), maybe some free jumping, as many hacks outside as I can get. I was flipping through pictures of her from this summer and she was a totally different horse. I plan on finding her a situation where she can be outside 24/7, as she seems to do best that way. She HATES her stall, for the most part. I’m also hoping that in that situation we can cut wayyy back on her grain intake. In the summer she ate once, in the morning, since when they are out on grass she maintains a great weight. In winter she gets fed double that…since there isn’t free range grass.
I’m also going to ask the awesome Dr. Phil about potential reproductive system related issues, so we can rule that out.
I feel kind of like a schmuck, getting frustrated with her and not taking full stock of the situation. I have to remember though, that I’m not perfect. We’re going to take these two weeks to just have fun, with no expectations, and start fresh in KY. I didn’t go into this with her expecting to hit the show ring and clean up (although it’d be nice, we probably couldn’t afford it anyway). If I can squeek out a respectable training level test this season, that’ll be great. Maybe we’ll just keep our awesomeness at home, so as not to blind everybody.
I know that I have a lot to work on as well. I was ‘raised’ in the hunter ring and I do not have a traditional dressage seat. We have a long way to go, but I feel that we’ll get there with some help, lots of soul searching, and a few kicks in (my) ass!
So I hope that y’all have found some sort of enlightenment, like I have! I’m off to play in this large amount snow we just got dumped on our heads!