Dancing with Sharlie

Casper getting friendly with the camera! 

On Saturday I decided to focus all my attention on Sharlie because I had been focusing on Casper. I realized the other day however that he has lost quite a bit of muscle over the last few days and I think it would be better if I waited and worked on rebuilding his back muscles before riding again.
I first had to shower Sharlie, Casper and Lady (the mother-in-law of the group, though we don't know WHO's mother-in-law! :P )
I just took the hose into field and brought Sharlie closer. She was fussy at first but when she realized it felt good she wouldn't leave me alone! Even when I was trying to shower Casper and Lady down, she was standing behind me, nudging me with her nose asking me to shower her off again. Afterwards she rolled in the dust and DANG! There was a huge cloud of fur that swirled around her!
Then I haltered her with the 22 foot line. We stayed in the field that time. She found this rather interesting and payed attention to me. I reviewed the 7 games to make sure everything was ok. I noticed that during the Circling game she kept trying to come closer and closer. So I decided to play with our Touch It from 22 feet away. This gave us a good opportunity to work on Sharlie backing up to the very end of the line, as well as me staying in my place while we did Sideways from a distance.


 After she touched a few different trees with just the slightest suggestion I led her over to the log to relax for a bit. But nooo! THis was too much to ask of Sharlie- to actually stop and relax. So she started trying jumping over the log. She had a bit of trouble at first. She put one leg over it and sorta tried to pull it toward her. "No Sharlie, this isn't a barrel. Its not moving!" I told her. She does that with barrels when I ask her to jump them. Then Sharlie did a little bounce and popped over the log. A bit awkwardly, I must admit. So I got up and asked her to trot to me. She looked at the log nervously but realized I was not worried. So from a stand still she leapt over the log and cantered toward me! That is the first time she has ever done that online!
And after that...I couldn't really tell you what we did. We danced. She danced with me. I danced with her. We were in sync.

It was a great day. After we danced, to relax we went for a walk at liberty around the field. Casper stayed in the shade, silently applauding our dance.

Today- Sunday- was what I call an equine fail. I did nothing with the horses. I went shopping with mom to restock my summer wardrobe. Then we rushed down to do the chores, then rushed home to eat. I hate school nights.
I also recieved some very depressing news. I thought that I would be able to bring both Sharlie and Casper to camp. Kara emailed me today saying that her mom had changed her mind and I could only bring one.
How on earth am I supposed to choose?? Most of you would say Sharlie of course. But there is so many more components to it.
Kara's place has so many things that BOTH horses should really experience. Also each horse has a lot of different things to get from Kara's place.
Here are only a few of the points I have to consider!

Sharlie:
+ We can work on Fluidity
+ We can work with the pond
+ We can work in their arena (yes it has a gate!!!!)
+ Auditions
- I'd only have her to play with which could be a problem if we have a bad play session.

Casper:
+ We can work on starting him the right way
+ We can work in their arena (yes it STILL has a gate!!!!)
+We can work with the pond
+ Audition
-Same reason as Sharlie- what if he doesn't want to be caught one day?

I can't NOT work with a horse for 2 weeks straight!
If I leave Casper he will be used for who knows what! Parties? I don't even want to think about it.
If I leave Sharlie she will get terribly fat (no joke. She has doubled in size in 5 days before)

I don't know what to do. I guess you guys should vote to tell me who I should bring. Please don't automatically go for Sharlie. Seriously think about what would happen to both of them.

To put smiles back on our faces, here is a picture of my kitten Lilly. Who really isn't much of a kitten anyway but I still love him!

Just for your entertainment, my LBE kitty.