Bad me

So I haven't written anything for almost a year. Oops.

I am at a new school, so we have moved her mareness once again. I'm happy to say we're with a phenomenal trainer who has more experience and cross discipline wins than any trainer I have worked with, and who has more natural feel and talent than any trainer I have ever seen. I'm certain we're going to make a lot of progress if I can work on micromanaging my schedule correctly. If only there were more hours in the day! As of now I am balancing school (which is TOUGH this year), riding, exercising, and the dog (we're doing agility, tracking, rally, and now obed).

Per usual I get the comment that she is a very nice hunter mare. I also get that she is very picky, not an easy ride, and pretty much every stride has to be perfect. There is no napping, zoning out, losing focus, whatever, on her. She's also sneaky. Her evasions are small and very subtle. For example, she tends to either counter bend or at least tip her nose to the outside. If she can't do that she'll start slowly bringing her hips in or gradually get slower and slower while I am focusing on something else. She is standing and naturally traveling crooked at the moment, so we're hoping to fix that. She was adjusted by the chiropractor last week and she was out in her left loin and the base of the right side of her neck. It looks like she may need monthly adjustments to fix this, at least for awhile.

I'm also discovering just how sensitive she is. We have her in a kimberwick to stop the whole bolting/running out we see when she's frustrated, pissy, or just done. She has a very low breaking point so to speak, and she cannot be muscled into anything, but convinced that it's the better option. There's no doubt she's going to make me a better rider to get the ride out of her that she's capable of, but damn she's a lot of work.