Sigh...

I found the trailer I want. It's a white two horse slant with a tack room for $3500. I keep watching trailers on craigslist so that when I'm actually in the market, I'll know what I'll need to spend. This one is perfect (from the description), except that I'm not actually in the market. I have neither a tow vehicle nor $3500. Oh well. Birthday present, anyone? ;-)

There must be something in the water. Both my girls were extremely naughty today. Cassie kept pretending that everything was going to eat her and absolutely wouldn't focus, and Izzy... I don't even know what to say. I'm going to have to call it our worst day ever, at risk of sounding bipolar. I promise, I'm not. She kept rearing on the lunge line (going right and left). I finally quit trying. I just dropped the whip, put her on a like a 5 meter circle, and when she made it twice around without rearing, we stopped. Then I went to ride. I probably shouldn't have. I was already aggravated with her, and there were way too many other boarders capitalizing on the nice weather. There's nothing like trying to ride a young horse with minimal steering around other buffoons when the young horse is already acting up.

There were some positive moments. We started walking over poles. Her steering is getting a little better.

Other than that, she kept hauling on the reins, then leaning through her should, then getting stuck, then not stopping, then tossing her her, then spooking and tripping over herself... It was frustrating.

Nothing like mares.

To fix the problem, I'm going to go out tomorrow and get Izzy out first. I usually have about 20-25 minutes to myself before other people start showing up. I'll turn her out in the arena to run. Then, I'll tack up quickly and try to get some riding in before the arena gets busy. That should alleviate her issues. I'm thinking that even though she lives out in a pasture, she just really needs to blow off some steam. If I lunge her and she starts acting up, I'll just do what I did today: drop the whip, just get around a small circle, and quit. I don't want her to make an issue of it.

Ugh. Cross your fingers.

Back to Square One

There's nothing quite like a horse who's used to being the boss. I've had Izzy for almost 6 months now, and her old habits still shine through.

For example, when I got her, it took us about two months to learn how to lounge properly. During that time, we went through lots of rearing, bucking, and general fussing to get her to behave. Now she acts like a pro; she's quiet and responds to voice commands.

Except sometimes. Today, when we switched sides to go right, she spun around, faced me, and when I tried to tell her to go forward, reared. I really wished someone was there with a camera to document it.

Oh well. Other than that, it was a non-eventful day.