The Last Week of July

Meet Riker!

The last week in July always feels like dieing. School starts back up and uses all my brain power.  The weather is crap - either 100 degrees or pouring down rain. Dutch is allergic to the world this time of year. And my husband works eleventy hundred hours. And we got a puppy, who while cute is still at the fuck ton of work stage.

Walking puppies in the mud.

This is what we spend our days doing now.

Ok pity party over, my ability to handle any issue with grace is severely compromised.  So while I have had great quiet personal rides where I accept calm and forward as good enough, our lesson where we also needed to be straight, responsive, and balanced was a shit show - from both of us.  I was holding too much in a negative way and Uno was responding to any cues from the leg by picking a direction to hurl his body.  So we fought, cussed, hit a few trees, and gave up and let magic trainer get on.  Who kicked his ass for his "questionable" decision making, while also very calmly telling me that if I do not learn to let go of my inside fricking rein Uno will have every right to dump my behind.

8 out of 10 days of rain... why

How fun!

If only he would eat the yummy grass his ribs would go AWAY!

Rain makes for green pasture!

But seriously, I think it in the best interest that when the work is hard for both of us, we don't do it while I have negative brain function.  So I just bit the bullet and am letting trainer do his dressage rides for the next 2 weeks until I get my brain and emotions back in order.

More of this for now.