M.I.A.

Sorry for neglecting the blog lately, my life has been crazy with school and coming back from break, etc. Next week is finals week, meaning this week is that fabulous time when professors throw last minute assignments at you and make term papers/projects due. I've actually been very productive since Sunday, powering through a bio quiz, a 22 page Holocaust journal, a 6 page bio paper and a group project. I'm almost there and finals week will actually be less stressful for me because I only have one real cumulative exam. I'll be home for break a week from tomorrow :) Which also means that starting next Thursday, I'll get to ride at my home barn with Hillary and Huey EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! Collyn kindly offered to haul the Limmers and I'll drive my car with all of that unnecessary human stuff... I can't wait!

The day I got him :) You can really tell how big he is here...

Immediately after this, he got tired of posing and threw his head up, out of my reach... he can only handle so much cuddling

Because of this awesome and unusual productivity level, I've been out to see the pony and ride twice this week. Yesterday, he started out extremely stiff and I was concerned that he might be lame. Kimmie watched us trot around and agreed that he was short in his hind left... to me it felt like he was only willing to take baby steps with it and wasn't reaching forward. My B.O. aptly described it as a "flat tire," which is exactly what it felt like. She and Kimmie both thought I should keep working, and he did work out of it a little bit, but something still felt a little funny. We didn't do anything stressful, just trotted around in fun patterns and cantered a little bit over some poles. I figured I'd leave him be and see how he was today. 

Today, he was much more willing to reach forward with that leg :) I could still feel the slightest limp, but that was mostly because I was looking for it and being overly sensitive. The ride started out really frustrating though. Since G started riding him on a regular basis, he has become really pissy about my spurs. I've noticed that G keeps her spurs on/in his side the entire time she's riding, which to the best of my knowledge is improper use. However, S acted like that's how she should be doing it and thought he was reacting negatively to me intermittently tapping him with mine. I always thought that keeping a spur on a horse's side the entire ride would make them dead to leg aids... is that not true?

Regardless, he was not listening to my leg at all today and would swish his tail/pin his ears every time I nudged him with my spur, so I took them off and grabbed a crop. What a difference that made! I got the best, most forward walk I've had from him in a long time, he actually listened to me, and for some reason he was much more willing to go on the bit, come round, and actually carry himself. Coincidence? I didn't think so, and Kimmie said that he looked awesome and super relaxed. He also did not listen at all when I asked him for the canter transition, with or without spurs. The crop made a world of difference and allowed me to give him subtle (or not so subtle, if necessary) reminders to listen to me and pay attention. I think he learned a little bit of a lesson and that yes, I did want him to canter and keep cantering, not break to the trot the second I took my leg off or got distracted. After using it the first couple of times, just carrying it with me was enough of a reminder for him. The difference was incredible and I've decided that I'll be using a crop instead of spurs, at least for now.

One of my favorite pictures of us (even though he looks like he hates me)

Love this picture that Collyn took of us during a lesson with S! We both look so happy :)

From this summer. Hillary and I died laughing because of how freakishly small this fly bonnet was! Poor guy was embarrassed that we made him a public spectacle   

A normal fly bonnet

Progress!

I have a revolutionary concept for this post... I actually RODE my horse. I didn't just walk around in the grass; I walked, trotted and cantered in an arena!!! Granted, I still have to wrap his ouchy hoof before and after I ride, but I'm not complaining at this point because I'm just so glad to have my horse back :) Limerick was adorable and super excited to get back to work. I could tell that he had a lot of energy to burn off, but he was quite the gentleman and managed to contain himself throughout our ride. He didn't once spook, do anything stupid, or misbehave, with the minor exception of some head tossing, but I think that was also just excitement. If that's how he is after 2+ weeks off (with the exception of our interesting ride on Sunday...), I'll take it! I have my second lesson with S tomorrow and I can't wait, even if we'll just be mostly doing flat work. I'll update tomorrow with some pictures and videos! You know that I can't post without some sort of picture to break up the words, so I included my horsey evolution:

My First Pony Tie Dye. I was very saddened to hear that he died this past summer... He was such a good pony!

My first horse, Panda. My parents actually bought him for me in January of this year, and we just didn't get along. We decided to sell him in July and that's how/when I found Limmers

Limerick, my big handsome goober who I had to stalk for WEEKS to get a picture of him lying down!