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Life prattles on
Aug. 30th, 2004 11:08 pmWeek two of school. It's a good thing I like driving. Because if I didn't I'd have gone nuts by now. It's right about 40 miles round trip to Judy's. MCC is about five miles from Judy's, SCC is about ten minutes (don't know the linear distance . . .). Going from SCC to home takes about 45 minutes. My car is getting a lot of miles. Which reminds me that I need to change the oil and stuff.
That aside, Sweety is still certifiably nuts. She's like riding a box of dynamite with fuses that range from 100 yards to five inches and the horrible thing is you never know which one is lit. She has a sweet temperment on the ground, but she's a nervous wreck in the saddle. I don't think I'll ever trust her enough to take her off of Judy's property (meaning, on trail). She tried to take off on me Saturday when I asked her into the canter going on the right lead in the roundpen. Well, technically, she did bolt, but it was somewhat controled. Like barely held chaos. Were I not a half-descent rider she probably would have gotten away with it and there would have been a repeat of last August.
Nicki seems to ahve worked out her mare-ish problems and is now back to her hyper-sensitive self, versus being über-hyper sensitive dubaduliao like she was last week. Yeah, Thursday and Saturday especially she was VERY sensitive and would get onery every time I even so much as brushed her sides. So, I just used voice and seat cues and she did surprisingly well. I still wonder to myself if someone didn't sneak in and train her when I wasn't looking. She's an insanely responsive horse despite being only four and some would be surprised she's an Arab (that is, until she decides to spook at something . . .) especially with that Western Pleasure trot that she has (i.e. really, really slow, her feet are hardly moving a foot versus the usual three or more foot step most horses take in the trot).
Glori's being evil and full of attitude, but it keeps work interesting, right? She did do better today, but still not where she should be. Judy seems to think that she doesn't have an attitude. She doesn't ride her every day. If she did she would know that Glori has an attitude. Glori's been cutting corners and generally not wanting to keep to the outside of the ring. I think she just needs to get out of the pasture and arena and actually go on a half-descent trail ride again. It's been over a month I think since we last took her out.
It's funny how different Glori and Nicki are. Nicki's this prim and proper little mare who's rather type-y through the head, but a little heavier through the body. She has a princess-type personality and is somewhat easy to spook. She's also prone to picking an object and deciding to spook at it. Kid you not. There's this post in the field and EVERY TIME we pass it she spooks at it, but only when we're going clockwise around the field. She's not as bad as she was, but she still fights to get away from it the first five or so times passing it. But it's only going clockwise around the field (right lead), go around to the left it's no problem, but the right! The right means that the post is going to magically come alive and devour her. Glori's attitude is something along the lines of "I don't want to do this, but if I HAVE to . . ." and then proceeds to give the rider the "evil ear/eye" depending on how her head is positioned. She is about fifty times better out on trail, but in the arena she just has this attitude as if it's the most horrible thing in the world even though she moves (usually) perfectly fine save for her standard head toss or kick out when going into the canter.
On the artistic front, artwanted.com's goign to be coming out with a book showcasing the work of artists on the site. I'm submitting my portfolio for review just for the heck of it. I'm not sure if I will actually submit anything if I somehow manage to make it in, mostly because you have to pay for your work to get in the book after you've been accepted. We'll see, though. It'd be insanely good advertising since if you do the full page thing you can have up to three images displayed plus and artist statement-type thing. And, being advertising and therefore possibly contributing to my art-related business, it's tax write-off-able. Yay.
I think I'm going to come home on Mondays between class and work. At least until it cools down and I can work Kash after work rather than before like I've been doing the past two weeks.
Chris came over for lunch/dinner (late lunch, early dinner). Munched on Spaghetti, talked, and hung about, 's all good.
That aside, Sweety is still certifiably nuts. She's like riding a box of dynamite with fuses that range from 100 yards to five inches and the horrible thing is you never know which one is lit. She has a sweet temperment on the ground, but she's a nervous wreck in the saddle. I don't think I'll ever trust her enough to take her off of Judy's property (meaning, on trail). She tried to take off on me Saturday when I asked her into the canter going on the right lead in the roundpen. Well, technically, she did bolt, but it was somewhat controled. Like barely held chaos. Were I not a half-descent rider she probably would have gotten away with it and there would have been a repeat of last August.
Nicki seems to ahve worked out her mare-ish problems and is now back to her hyper-sensitive self, versus being über-hyper sensitive dubaduliao like she was last week. Yeah, Thursday and Saturday especially she was VERY sensitive and would get onery every time I even so much as brushed her sides. So, I just used voice and seat cues and she did surprisingly well. I still wonder to myself if someone didn't sneak in and train her when I wasn't looking. She's an insanely responsive horse despite being only four and some would be surprised she's an Arab (that is, until she decides to spook at something . . .) especially with that Western Pleasure trot that she has (i.e. really, really slow, her feet are hardly moving a foot versus the usual three or more foot step most horses take in the trot).
Glori's being evil and full of attitude, but it keeps work interesting, right? She did do better today, but still not where she should be. Judy seems to think that she doesn't have an attitude. She doesn't ride her every day. If she did she would know that Glori has an attitude. Glori's been cutting corners and generally not wanting to keep to the outside of the ring. I think she just needs to get out of the pasture and arena and actually go on a half-descent trail ride again. It's been over a month I think since we last took her out.
It's funny how different Glori and Nicki are. Nicki's this prim and proper little mare who's rather type-y through the head, but a little heavier through the body. She has a princess-type personality and is somewhat easy to spook. She's also prone to picking an object and deciding to spook at it. Kid you not. There's this post in the field and EVERY TIME we pass it she spooks at it, but only when we're going clockwise around the field. She's not as bad as she was, but she still fights to get away from it the first five or so times passing it. But it's only going clockwise around the field (right lead), go around to the left it's no problem, but the right! The right means that the post is going to magically come alive and devour her. Glori's attitude is something along the lines of "I don't want to do this, but if I HAVE to . . ." and then proceeds to give the rider the "evil ear/eye" depending on how her head is positioned. She is about fifty times better out on trail, but in the arena she just has this attitude as if it's the most horrible thing in the world even though she moves (usually) perfectly fine save for her standard head toss or kick out when going into the canter.
On the artistic front, artwanted.com's goign to be coming out with a book showcasing the work of artists on the site. I'm submitting my portfolio for review just for the heck of it. I'm not sure if I will actually submit anything if I somehow manage to make it in, mostly because you have to pay for your work to get in the book after you've been accepted. We'll see, though. It'd be insanely good advertising since if you do the full page thing you can have up to three images displayed plus and artist statement-type thing. And, being advertising and therefore possibly contributing to my art-related business, it's tax write-off-able. Yay.
I think I'm going to come home on Mondays between class and work. At least until it cools down and I can work Kash after work rather than before like I've been doing the past two weeks.
Chris came over for lunch/dinner (late lunch, early dinner). Munched on Spaghetti, talked, and hung about, 's all good.
