Weekend fun

I emailed Dawn, and she emailed back telling me that she wasn't dropping dead yet and she's willing to keep us on. I need to mess with Peanut's mustang roll between trims because his feet are weeds that grow super fast and thick. They are also cracking (surface only), so I wonder if this will help.

I rode Saturday and Sunday. Saturday it was with Rick on Gene, and Sunday was Anne-Marie on Gene. I've been messing around with the padding on the suberpanel and stirrup length, and things seem to be getting better. On Sunday we were gaiting and cantering all over the place, and Peanut threw a Real Canter at me. It wasn't his usual gentle, gliding canter - he was hauling ass and his body was definitely moving. I slammed down on him at first while I realized what was going on, but hopefully the Fhoenix absorbed most of it. I don't think it was a gallop, though, unless he really is the slowest horse ever. I mean, Gene kept up with his big trot.

I felt myself occasionally getting off center at the canter, something that usually would have freaked me out, but instead I just recentered myself or else Peanut responded by coming out of the canter.

In another canter, I lost my stirrups under my heels, but I found I didn't care, wrapped my legs around his belly, and kept going. It felt great.

Once, cantering uphill in a field, I started to feel the nerves creep in. I just thought to myself that it was going fine. I should enjoy it. I was flying. Whee!

The fact that I could talk to myself like that is a big improvement too. I didn't completely freeze mentally. :)

The Fhoenix is such a huge pain to position on the horse, though. I've taken probably 10 minutes just to get the saddle situated at times. I'm luckily that the older Peanut gets, the less the fidgets come out. The suberpanel is so annoying, but once in the saddle you forget about it.

On Saturday night, after I rode Peanut and Anne mowed one part of the mare field, she wanted to ride Cheyenne. I walked the trail, at first in the lead as I mentally pleaded with Chey not to spook and run me over, then trailing, and then finally trailing far, far behind. Chey did great. They walked, trotted up one hill, and did a lot of brake tests. :)

Yesterday I got my hair chopped off, finally, by one of Joan's neighbors who runs a little home salon. Since it took up most of the night (Anne went too), I just pet Peanut over the fence and fed him clover, then scratched his itchy bits. He was particularly unhappy with his butt, and practically took a post down rubbing it. Then, he kept reaching back to scratch his dock with his teeth. Hmmm. I grabbed his tail, felt through it, and found an enormous, engorged tick on his dock. My tick remover was in the barn, a good 15 minute walk total, so I used a key to slide the fat bastard off. His tail was raw and bloody around that spot, but I think it felt better as he stood perfectly while I messed around in his tail. Normally I can't get near his butt in the field as he's always shaking me down for treats, but this time he just froze as I took care of it. I like to think that he knew what I was up to and approved wholeheartedly.