Thankful For

I didn't notice people were doing this till I was way behind, but I thought it would be a good thing for me to do since I've been so down, I need to acknowledge all the things that are good in my life instead of focusing on the bad stuff that's been weighing on me.

Day 1: I'm so thankful that I'm able to have horses.
Day 2: I'm thankful for my wonderful family, despite our occasional dysfunctionality.
Day 3: I'm glad that I have the opportunity to study something in school that I'm interested in.
Day 4: I'm thankful that both my horses are currently sound and healthy!
Day 5: I'm thankful that my mom understands me so well and that I can always talk to her about all my horse-y stuff even though she hasn't a clue about some of the things I'm saying!
Day 6: I'm thankful for my own health.
Day 7: I'm thankful for my awesome little car who just reached 50k miles with me.
Day 8: I'm thankful for the quiet moments with my horses.
Day 9: I'm thankful that I have a job that I enjoy.
Day 10: I'm thankful for great friends.

I had a much better ride on Jetta yesterday morning. I spent the night at my parents' so that I could ride both Friday evening and Saturday morning before work. Friday night I ended up getting there later than I hoped for in the dark, so I opted not to ride, just get in some good grooming on both girls.

Misty got her mane brushed out and that nasty snarl undone and trimmed her bridle path/mohawk down. Banged both girls' tails. Misty didn't really need hers done, she's got a beautiful tail that's the perfect size but Jetta's was looking ratty and thin so I banged it short-ish like I like to and voila! Magically better tail :) Jetta got her mane trimmed and I started the pulling process on it, which she hated, but has to be done. It was almost a full foot long, can you tell I've been slacking on it lately?

In the morning I got up early and rode Jetta. Got a good lunge session in and she was very good, though she usually is on the lunge. There was only minimal tail arching on the way up to the arena. She was also MUCH better under saddle. Not 100%, more like 50/50, but I'll take all the good I can get.

Exercise of the day: Basically just getting her to keep her attention on me instead of Misty. At the trot every time she got too pull-y or popped her head up to stare at her buddy, we changed the bend and ended up doing lots of serpentines and figure eights to get her focused. Similar in the canter, every time she got fussy I asked for a 15m circle till she came back to me. Mostly she's in the "I don't want to use my butt or back to carry myself" stage which we go through periodically. I thought she might be sore, so I poked and prodded her back before and after the ride with no reaction, but she may be sore elsewhere. So we did some carrot stretches and she got to go out to pasture.

It's definitely time for someone to get clipped... she was completely sweaty.

I had some extra time so I took my sweet time cleaning stalls and getting their dinner ready for them. There's something so satisfying about cleaning your own stalls, especially when there's only two. It was a good morning!