In Which it is Discovered that Horses Have Fashion Sense

At long last, I will now relay the events of Monday's lesson, as best I can remember them. Which is to say: not very well. I suppose that is to be expected when one comes into work on a Tuesday morning and learns that the deadline on the Big Giant Project™ they are working on has been pulled in by a week, and proceeds to stay at the office until 0100 crunching trying to finish the work that he thought he had an entire week and a half to complete. Not that I'm upset about this, of course.

No, actually, that's a lie.

At any rate, before I begin, there is an anecdote that must be shared. This morning, I was running late to work due to having overslept. I fed Ziggy, and went in to take a shower and get ready. Once I'd dressed for work, I went to let Zigs out of his stall, just like I usually do. Most days, I'll open the gate and he'll mosey on out, sniff noses with the donkeys, take a drink of water and park in front of the round bale. Today, I opened up the gate, he surveyed his domain and decided, "Ooh, look! I have alfalfa molecules in here!" and then proceeded to clean the alfalfa molecules up. I really didn't want to go to work today, but my over-developed sense of duty kicked in, so I walked into the stall and said, "Come on Ziggy, I'm running late for work." He picked his head up, thought about it for a moment, turned towards me and sneezed on me, getting horse snot all over the shirt I was wearing. The really funny part? I was wearing a Samsung T-Shirt. Efficient, and insightful. I knew my horse was German. The Thoroughbred has spoken, it is time for a new job.

So, here's what I can remember of the lesson: I got the canter pretty much immediately when I asked for it, and I'm beginning to not have to lean back like I'm sitting in a recliner to get it. After cantering, we did shoulder-fore. Although, if I'm being honest, the other riders in the lesson did shoulder in and Sonata and I did, "Shoulder-fore is hard, I'm gonna pop my shoulder and just walk out of it. K?" I know Sonata knows how to do it, and will do it if asked properly, but at that point, my legs were totally shot, so I really couldn't say, "No, mare, I said, lateral. Oh! And, I didn't wind up owing Duchess' mom another breakaway halter. ;)

Tonight, I went out to Zhizhu's lesson and took pictures. It looked to me like she had a great lesson, but I'm sure you can read more about it over on her blog