Hello...
Last full day.
It took some serious effort to get out of bed this morning. Not only was I super warm and cozy, but Ruby was snuggled up against my legs....*sigh* it was really nice...
When I finally got out to the barn, Brita had almost finished tacking up Hope and Kara was getting ready to mount Cherish...am I missing something here?
I quickly gave Sharlie her medicine and started brushing her out. I quickly saddled her up in record time and got on.
Well stupid stupid stupid me. I didn't play with her on the ground first! Boy that was not fun to ride.
Also I had been riding in the bareback pad the last couple of days and so to transition to the saddle all of a sudden was definitley not helping me out.
I saw Kara lying out in the grass and so I thought that maybe we weren't going out on a trailride. So I dismounted and left Sharlie in the arena with the saddle on. I was slightly curious to see if she would do anything at liberty without a rider or lead rope and out of my sight. I went to go get the bareback pad and when I came back out to the arena I saw Sharlie still waiting for me patiently by the gate where I had left her. I got an idea as I put the bareback pad down on the railing and stepped into the arena. Sharlie tried to itch herself on me again and I had to shoo her away slightly. It can get rather annoying how she didn't have the bad habit until Mom came to visit. (Love you Mom, but seriously!)
I followed suite with my idea. Could I drive her, at liberty, with just my energy? How fast would she go? Which zone could I drive her from?
I picked up my energy and pictured Sharlie trotting toward the other end of the arena. She started to slowly walk away...despite myself, I clucked at her. Surprisingly that was all she needed to start trotting toward the pedestal. I focused on her going over towards the barrels, making sure my energy was still 'trotting' along with her.
She followed my focus and feel and when she reached the barrels I dropped my energy and allowed her to return to me.
Yay!
I unsaddled Sharlie 100% at liberty and then put the bareback pad on her. She didn't move at all, not even when I had to walk away to get the reins. I lined her up with the fence and got on fairly easily. I did a few things in the arena like the pedestal, figure 8 and stop half way over the poles before I noticed Kara and Brita seemed to be waiting for me. I went over and lined Sharlie up with the gate (she is getting better and bettter at it every time!) and opened it. However something Sharlie is still very bad at is trying to rush out the gate. It was a bit of a hassle to turn her away and wait until it was my idea to go out the gate.
And then we were off! Out on to the trails I mean. I assumed we wouldn't go very far as the sun was already starting to heat up the ground and air around us. We went out the back way, Sharlie already eager to hit the trails. We walked a short distance to the right before taking the path to the road. Then looming before us was the steep hill that we had climbed several times before but this was the first time for me without the saddle. Sharlie felt my hesitation and took advantage of it by trying to trot up the hill. For those few strides it took for me to coordinate myself to pull her back to a walk, I experienced the most uncomfortable and horrible trot. I got her back to a walk and kept her that way for the rest of the way up. When we reached the top we stopped to let the horses eat some grass. We watched as Finale paced back and forth in the field looking for us and not seeing us looking down on her. She smaller than the size of a little toy horse.
Kara suggested we go down the hill right where we were (A slightly different hill, but just as steep and scary-looking) I was very careful not to let Sharlie try and trot as we started making our way down. When we reached about the half way point I realized that the worst was yet to come. The final decent to the road was almost at a 90 degree angle and the bareback pad was already up by Sharlie's shoulders. In fact I could feel her shoulders underneath me. I tried to scootch back but every time Sharlie took it as a sign to continue on. At one point Sharlie started trying to go sideways down the hill to unbalance me. This was after several unsuccessful attempts to dislodge me after backing up and spinning around.
I could take a hint.
I dismounted and led her the rest of the way down the hill. Next thing I knew we were at the front of the house. I tried to lead Sharlie over to the wall to mount again but when she spooked I realized she was afraid of it! Hahaha...
We played some friendly game until she would stand along side it and allowed me to mount. I rode her back to where Brita was taking photos of Kara. We made our way back around to the back of the house
(including many photo posing stops) and home once again.
Once we untacked and cleaned up a bit, we put Sharlie and Cherish in the arena and put out some sprinkler toys to see what they would do. They weren't all that enthusiastic. In fact I'd say Kara and I got more wet then they did! I led Sharlie through the water a few times but she really didn't seem to enjoy it that much so I put her up in the stall so we could put Hope and Finale in the arena to see how they would react.
They were hilarious. Finale, who doesn't usually like water, was looking at it curiously before hiding behind Hope who was enjoying the water and sticking her face in it. It was funny because Finale is dominant but this time she was hiding behind Hope for protection.
Once we came back inside and I had eaten my lunch (then spending an hour delaying) I volunteered Kara to help me pack up my suitcase. Which pretty much meant she sat on the floor eating her salsa while I threw everything article of clothing I had brought into my suitcase.
That was easy. And quick. And proof that I am lazy sometimes ;)
As the afternoon continued on, I sensed the off-ishness around myself. I didn't want it to end. No nono...by this time tomorrow I will be home in my house. What a depressing thought...
As it was getting close to evening, Brita came into Kara's room where Kara and I were relaxing and we decided not to do anything with the horses but instead to reflect on the last two weeks oustide. Also (I'm guessing after camp because we won't have time tomorrow morning) we are going to write letters to each other about the progress we had made, yada, yada....
Well I'm getting tired.
Kara is already asleep. She is tossing and turning alot...hmmm...maybe another disturbing dream...
Goodnight everyone.
Tomorrow will probably be a very long post as I will be reflecting and also talking about where to go from here..
Goodnight
Julia
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