Lesson #3 &...

Busy, busy day, first off trimmer. Thankfully she always messages me a reminder & was able to bump us up an hour, as I also had a lesson scheduled. 

The paddock is a horrendous mud pit, So I let the boys out of their stall as usual but, kept the barn door closed. They'd normally stay in by choice munching for an hour before heading out anyway. They were quite unhappy at not having an option & my changing things up.  I'd guessed they'd be unhappy, so rather than going back in I hung out and cleaned their stall. Hooves nicely trimmed & looking good, Pippin's gotten the hang of this trim thing and was a good boy all way round for once.

Headed out for my lesson, sorry once again forgot pix, guess that's a good thing as I'm focused on learning!  Changed ponies from Suzy to Frankie, he's a Shetland just a few inches taller than the boyz & very much a "pony attitude."  He wasn't happy at being brought in to work, wasn't happy to be alone without friends, so I got quite an education in control today. Wasn't going very well at first, he was tense & very up,  I became tense, he became more tense, you all know how that works. Once I began relaxing, he did as well. Part of his problem of course was me, I kept finding myself sitting with my torso leaning forward, this causes the harness to put more pressure on his neck. Once I consitantly sat back, he was more comfortable. I really have to remember that and soooo many other things. You wouldn't think that while seated behind in a cart that your body position would make such a differance but, it sure does.  Even turning your head in the direction you wish to go is just as big a deal in driving as it is in riding!  Fortunately that's something I'm familiar with, I'm ahead of the game in many ways having ridden. Makes me wonder how Hubs will do one his lessons begin?

We've had wind warnings & advisories all day, gusts so strong Semis were being blown over!  Found this meme on FB, shows what I probably looked like heading out to the barn a little while ago...