Hi guys.
*I rode Rex tonight, and while I was grooming we had a moment. I was spraying a conditioner on his mane-as I have been doing for the last few weeks-and he was not having it. I lost my temper (bad me) and threw the bottle and yelled. :( Then I spent the next 10 minutes shaking it near his head. Finally, since he was still upset, I got out the ET stick, and tapped him until he chewed. Then I held the bottle up and tapped. That took forever, and he didn't relax at all with me squirting it a little. Finally got some response with just holding the bottle up still. And by that time both my arms were dead, so I let it go.
I should have stopped before I got upset and thought about why he might be doing that. Maybe it was drifting in his eyes and stung, maybe it's because I wasn't standing on a box to do it, as I often do (he's really tall). So, next time I groom I'm going to pull his forelock back and squirt from behind his head. Avoid the eyes. And I still have my ET stick if needed.
But, we did lateral work tonight, and he did pretty good for him. Still extra hard with the left haunches in, but we're working on it. Also, he did a pretty darn good half pass-well, the last half of it was good. :)
I still feel like an asshole. :( I think I've figured out that I get cranky when someone/animal isn't doing something/cooperating with something I know they know how to do. Like when the dogs come up to get dinner, but won't sit. I need to stop and breathe first.
*This weekend I am going to a Pilates for Dressage clinic in New Mexico with my trainer. She's been talking about it since she audited it last year. I'm kind of not looking forward to it. Not that it won't be good-in fact, some of the stuff she brought home from last time was helpful.
Maybe it's that half of it is butts on matts working, which will be hard. I really don't like yoga, and I know this isn't yoga, but there's some similar parts. eek!
The riding part isn't going to be easy, either. But I've done clinics before.
This lady is a national trainer. But I have worked with an (upcoming) national trainer before, and bought my horse from and have ridden for an international trainer (luckily I didn't know that at the time).
I think it's because a lot of it is out of my control. She's driving her rig, which is fine since my truck is a little underpowered right now. Luckily we get to stay with her mom, which is nice-but also scary because it's someone else's house. And then I've never been to this place, or met any of these people (well, her mom once). So I'm going somewhere that I don't know to be the one person who doesn't know anyone, and have an uncertain timing of, well, everything.
I know this sounds weird, but I prefer to know when I'm going to be able to eat. If I don't eat, I can get a nasty big reaction where I start to get nausea. Then, if I eat pretty much anything with sugar, that stays all day and gets worse. wheee. Going to bring a thing of almonds just in case.
*Last night my dogs pissed off a skunk. Right near my bedroom. Yeah. The whole house smelled. Now it's much better, but still there. Argh!
*Good part about having outdoor only dogs-when they piss off the skunk, they're still outside!! yay!
*Managed to finally mow the backyard yesterday, which is good because it rained again today. Finally, no foot tall weeds. :)
I should have stopped before I got upset and thought about why he might be doing that. Maybe it was drifting in his eyes and stung, maybe it's because I wasn't standing on a box to do it, as I often do (he's really tall). So, next time I groom I'm going to pull his forelock back and squirt from behind his head. Avoid the eyes. And I still have my ET stick if needed.
But, we did lateral work tonight, and he did pretty good for him. Still extra hard with the left haunches in, but we're working on it. Also, he did a pretty darn good half pass-well, the last half of it was good. :)
I still feel like an asshole. :( I think I've figured out that I get cranky when someone/animal isn't doing something/cooperating with something I know they know how to do. Like when the dogs come up to get dinner, but won't sit. I need to stop and breathe first.
*This weekend I am going to a Pilates for Dressage clinic in New Mexico with my trainer. She's been talking about it since she audited it last year. I'm kind of not looking forward to it. Not that it won't be good-in fact, some of the stuff she brought home from last time was helpful.
Maybe it's that half of it is butts on matts working, which will be hard. I really don't like yoga, and I know this isn't yoga, but there's some similar parts. eek!
The riding part isn't going to be easy, either. But I've done clinics before.
This lady is a national trainer. But I have worked with an (upcoming) national trainer before, and bought my horse from and have ridden for an international trainer (luckily I didn't know that at the time).
I think it's because a lot of it is out of my control. She's driving her rig, which is fine since my truck is a little underpowered right now. Luckily we get to stay with her mom, which is nice-but also scary because it's someone else's house. And then I've never been to this place, or met any of these people (well, her mom once). So I'm going somewhere that I don't know to be the one person who doesn't know anyone, and have an uncertain timing of, well, everything.
I know this sounds weird, but I prefer to know when I'm going to be able to eat. If I don't eat, I can get a nasty big reaction where I start to get nausea. Then, if I eat pretty much anything with sugar, that stays all day and gets worse. wheee. Going to bring a thing of almonds just in case.
*Last night my dogs pissed off a skunk. Right near my bedroom. Yeah. The whole house smelled. Now it's much better, but still there. Argh!
*Good part about having outdoor only dogs-when they piss off the skunk, they're still outside!! yay!
*Managed to finally mow the backyard yesterday, which is good because it rained again today. Finally, no foot tall weeds. :)