Back to Normal

Finally (finally!) back to normal! Whew, that was quite a week.

First, the flooding has retreated. I was able to go out to the barn yesterday and there was absolutely no water on the roads, unlike the river there was before. The barn fared pretty well, though one drainage ditch under the barn got clogged so there's a bit of a sinkhole in one quarter of the arena. The BO is working on fixing it though.

My computer is fixed! I think it's completely 100% back to normal. After rebuilding the hard drive twice (and almost a third time) and discovering that even doing so the virus was still there, the tech guys found the virus and got rid of it. Good riddance! My internet now works so I can be a better blogger :)

And Jetta has been a complete rockstar lately. I love her so much when she's good. Because she's just that great! On Sunday I rode her in our jump tack. I just got a belated Christmas present of a nameplate for my saddle and bridle (which was exactly what I had been wanting) and I just had to put my newly legit tack on. It looks so awesome.

 

Jetta was very good undersaddle - though I found without my dressage whip she was pretty dull to my legs after the first few minutes. Hmm... I've made a few changes to my tack that have made her a whole lot better. First I put my itty-bitty spurs on. Perfect response now without the whip, plus as George Morris would say, they "dress up the heel of your boot and make your heel look more educated." Aka we look pro now. Then I changed bits from our french link full cheek to my Myler d-ring. She just goes so, so well in her Myler loose ring when in dressage tack and with the french link she is more dull and gets too strong especially when jumping. Now with the Myler it hasn't made a humongous difference but I think just enough that it will be better.

Today I just can't stress how good she was. I pulled her out of her stall and into the crossties. I touched up her clip since her guard hairs were getting long. She stood perfectly still the whole time. Then I tacked her up, lunged and got on. No more sassiness - she was perfect. I mostly worked on my own position - I tend to put my feet just a bit too far in the stirrups, I also tend to perch in this saddle, so I focused on fixing those problems. Then I got off and spent 30 minutes pulling Jetta's mane in the crossties. While she stood absolutely still. Well, almost absolutely still. There were a few head bobs thrown in and some "Imma bite you" moments, but seriously? That is a huge improvement from the can't-stand-still, must-constantly-throw-head-in-air, chomping-me that was our previous mane-pulling events. It's still my least favorite activity, but it's a lot more bearable when she's good!

Looks very silly half done, but I can only take so much!

Overall I'm in a completely better mood than previously - I feel very content now :)

The question is however, to show or not to show? There's a schooling show on Saturday that I had been planning on going for a long time. Then Jetta started acting up and I figured I wouldn't be going. But now she's being so good and it'd be a great event to go to... But that would mean that I have to find the time in my busy schedule (I have two midterms to study for already) to clean all of my tack and get Jetta show-ready. Plus I probably should be saving money for other shows like the Inavale HT and eventing-related practice shows, yet... I really want to go. I don't know, I can't decide! We'll just have to see.