Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Well... I'm here to tell myself that I'm a horrible horse mom. I haven't seen my horse in.... 5 days! and I won't see her for 4 more! That's NINE days with no pony. Blah!!! Things just keep popping up out of nowhere, or I'm too cold or too busy or something. I almost want to go out there right now in the dark and snuggle her. I hope she's nice and warm with her new sheet on, but I have no idea! It has been getting really cold (almost 20 degrees!) at night, and I've been looking around for a lining that I can stick in her blanket to keep her warm, but I haven't found anything yet.

It's been so wet so I can't ride, I guess it's just that time of year again. The clip I did is almost invisible now, which I guess is good so she stays warm now that it's finally cold. I'll have to see if it dries up for winter break, I'm really looking forward to it so that I can ride her, but who knows how things will pan out.

The last time I did ride was awesome! I took her out after 4 days of being a pasture puff, and expected her to be a tad frisky. I don't know if it was because we finally had the barn to ourselves or if she just felt good, but she was perfect. No looky loo, no fighting with me for the first ten minutes, just a calm easy going mare. I love her! We worked on a lot of things, and I got her bending really well to the right and left, then we worked on trot transitions, which were pretty awful at first, but she was very responsive to my leg, just tossing her head everywhere. So I went ahead and got her thinking about using herself by doing this little thing I thought up after taking a lesson with a friend. I basically just let whatever cue come into my head, and then do it. This includes turns, leg yields, transitions up or down, etc. I just create this random pattern that has no pattern and it really amps her up. So I tried a walk/canter transition, because I thought, what the heck? It won't hurt anything. It kinda failed. So I kept after her until she really felt like she was waiting and anticipating for me to ask anything of her, and asked again, it went really well!!

There was one x-rail in the arena and we popped over it with no hesitation! I think it's because it's the same one that's been there forever, but I'm still hopeful that she's getting used to the idea of just jumping things that are put in front of her.

I'm getting a kind of cabin fever since I didn't get out to see her today. I was really planning on it but then found out that I'm basically responsible for Thanskgiving dinner.... wooo hooo! I'm excited but scared that things won't go as planned, but oh well. That meant that I needed to do some shopping instead of going to see my beloved. I know she's fine, eating and playing out in pasture, but it doesn't mean I don't want to go see her :(

I'm consoling myself by going back to the barn I rode at in high school, Miwok Livery Stables. I'm so stoked to go back and maybe ride one of their horses. I think I might end up spending the whole day there, just chatting with everyone and petting all the horses again! I have a few favorites who I'm hoping are still around, Oprah the big grey percheron mare, Marker the strong willed and opinionated but very fancy warmblood, Rosebud the quirky paint mare, I can't wait to see them all again!