hahaha...
Wow.. I really really suck at this blog thing, don't I? Well, I have a few posts on my myspace page, but I have been neglecting this thing for over a year. :D And now I am tired from staying up all night and have to go work out in a few hours and can't think of anything important to say, and yet, here I am saying things anyway. Have not been up to much. I think I'm depressed/stuck in a rut sort of thing. I have a job interview next Friday, though, to work in a tack shop and I am TOTALLY geeked beyond belief about it. Talking about horses and horse stuff all day? Going to horse shows for work? Helping maintain a website for horse stuff and ship out horse stuff? And hanging out with horse people? And getting PAID for it? Sounds pretty rockin' to me. Wish me luck, whoever might be reading this.
The hooved beasties are doing pretty good. Been working Ariesa on the lunge line and she is getting in pretty good shape. Have also been putting weight on her back again and she is handling it pretty well. We had a bit of an incident last September (which was my fault) and I have been too freaked out to get on her since, because I am a giant chickenshit wimp. sigh..
I tried putting her in training, but the lady basically ignored EVERYthing I told her about the horse (because, Lord knows, I couldn't possibly know anything about a fucking horse I've had since it was a baby) and there was another... incident. It was the third time they worked her and I think she got sick of the girl being all up in mouth jerking on her and she ran backwards, reared and fell over. (She did NOT flip over backward, she lost her balance and fell over sideways when the girl on her back started falling off and pulled her over with her.) So, no more of that trainer lady. I think I will get better results on my own.
So, I have been starting back at the beginning, (Nancy has been assisting some, too) trying to build up her back end so she doesn't fall over and building up her confidence. She has been doing really really well and stands like a good girl at the mounting block and lets me put my foot in the stirrup and lean over her back with all of my weight again. (After the incident with the "trainer", she wouldn't tolerate any of this and got REALLY nervous and tried to take off, so it is a big improvement) She now knows again that she isn't going to get hurt and that it's just me.
My goal is to get her accepting a rider on her back again and then find someone who I trust to train her. They would have to be willing to do lots of groundwork and earn her trust before trying to get on her, though. She needs to know and trust her handler and I think that was the major problem with the other trainer lady. That, and she has never worked with a horse with a brain quite like Ari's before. I still firmly believe she is going to be an AWESOME horse once I get her going. Unfortunately, she is VERY sensitive to my moods and if I get nervous, she gets nervous, which makes me more nervous and it turns into a big ugly circular melt down avalanche sort of thing which results in BADness. She is also getting more mature mentally, which helps quite a bit. We shall see. I won't get myself killed over this, though. It's not worth it. She's not a bad horse, though, so I'm sure things will be okay.
Ziggy is doing good. I would like to see a bit more weight on him, but I think that is more muscling than needing to be "fattened up". He hasn't been getting ridden as much since Denise died... which was very tragic and sad. Sigh.. and a reminder that horses are very large and potentially dangerous animals. She was at her place handling a horse she was thinking about buying when apparently something happened (no reliable witnesses, just a young neighbor girl and it is unclear whether she was actually in the barn when it happened) and the result was that Denise was kicked in the head and possible elsewhere and went into the hospital, remained in a coma for a little over a week and then died. It sucked so much I really have no words for it... Nancy now has Doc (one of Denise's horses) and he is a pampered and treasured love and living memory of her.
And well.. I need to go take a nap. Mark has an MRI at 8am, so we have to leave at like 6:30, so I can probably sleep for an hour and then have to get up and take a shower, since I am meeting Cathy at the gym at 11am. But, I lay in bed most of the day yesterday 'cause I had a BRUTAL fucking migraine all day (which is still lingering, but has mostly gone), so I should be perfectly fine. I don't even feel tired, if truth be told. :p
Love to you all and hope everyone is having the most fun. =~_^= Lagwagon and MXPX next Friday! Woohoo!
The hooved beasties are doing pretty good. Been working Ariesa on the lunge line and she is getting in pretty good shape. Have also been putting weight on her back again and she is handling it pretty well. We had a bit of an incident last September (which was my fault) and I have been too freaked out to get on her since, because I am a giant chickenshit wimp. sigh..
I tried putting her in training, but the lady basically ignored EVERYthing I told her about the horse (because, Lord knows, I couldn't possibly know anything about a fucking horse I've had since it was a baby) and there was another... incident. It was the third time they worked her and I think she got sick of the girl being all up in mouth jerking on her and she ran backwards, reared and fell over. (She did NOT flip over backward, she lost her balance and fell over sideways when the girl on her back started falling off and pulled her over with her.) So, no more of that trainer lady. I think I will get better results on my own.
So, I have been starting back at the beginning, (Nancy has been assisting some, too) trying to build up her back end so she doesn't fall over and building up her confidence. She has been doing really really well and stands like a good girl at the mounting block and lets me put my foot in the stirrup and lean over her back with all of my weight again. (After the incident with the "trainer", she wouldn't tolerate any of this and got REALLY nervous and tried to take off, so it is a big improvement) She now knows again that she isn't going to get hurt and that it's just me.
My goal is to get her accepting a rider on her back again and then find someone who I trust to train her. They would have to be willing to do lots of groundwork and earn her trust before trying to get on her, though. She needs to know and trust her handler and I think that was the major problem with the other trainer lady. That, and she has never worked with a horse with a brain quite like Ari's before. I still firmly believe she is going to be an AWESOME horse once I get her going. Unfortunately, she is VERY sensitive to my moods and if I get nervous, she gets nervous, which makes me more nervous and it turns into a big ugly circular melt down avalanche sort of thing which results in BADness. She is also getting more mature mentally, which helps quite a bit. We shall see. I won't get myself killed over this, though. It's not worth it. She's not a bad horse, though, so I'm sure things will be okay.
Ziggy is doing good. I would like to see a bit more weight on him, but I think that is more muscling than needing to be "fattened up". He hasn't been getting ridden as much since Denise died... which was very tragic and sad. Sigh.. and a reminder that horses are very large and potentially dangerous animals. She was at her place handling a horse she was thinking about buying when apparently something happened (no reliable witnesses, just a young neighbor girl and it is unclear whether she was actually in the barn when it happened) and the result was that Denise was kicked in the head and possible elsewhere and went into the hospital, remained in a coma for a little over a week and then died. It sucked so much I really have no words for it... Nancy now has Doc (one of Denise's horses) and he is a pampered and treasured love and living memory of her.
And well.. I need to go take a nap. Mark has an MRI at 8am, so we have to leave at like 6:30, so I can probably sleep for an hour and then have to get up and take a shower, since I am meeting Cathy at the gym at 11am. But, I lay in bed most of the day yesterday 'cause I had a BRUTAL fucking migraine all day (which is still lingering, but has mostly gone), so I should be perfectly fine. I don't even feel tired, if truth be told. :p
Love to you all and hope everyone is having the most fun. =~_^= Lagwagon and MXPX next Friday! Woohoo!