White Thursday, Black Friday

I was out again last night to put to practice my Wednesday lesson, and have to say I was happy with the results. He's still twisting like the devil when he comes out of the corner (seems like it's always the SAME corner! Is this me anticipating misbehavior and thus causing misbehavior??!). His trot though is improving so much that I'm able to sit it on the straight away longer and longer! His 10m turns are improving too, and I'm feeling more steady with my inside leg. Practice makes perfect is a truism.

I also worked on lengthening his trot, bringing it back to a normal trot, slowing it, sitting it and then halting for a second before asking for trot again. The more I did this, the more responsive and fluid he seemed to get. LOVE it.

The one thing that stuck out strongly during my practice ride (other then my inability to avoid crashing into others) is that he HATES REPETITION. Some horses you can do the same activity say 5 or 10 times in a row and they're great. By the 5th time, Moon becomes Mr. Sassy pants, flicking his tail, bracing and twisting his head. Doesn't matter what it is. Leg yielding, trotting a circle, serpentines, anything. The first 2 times I ask him to do something, he kinda takes a bit to figure it out. The next 2 he's normally fabulous, either improving a move he's normally not so hot at, or acing one he is. The 5th time though...He's angry that I didn't think the last two were good enough!! : P

Now I'm trying to vary the practice as much as possible, doing 3 reps of anything, and then changing to something else. If he struggled on the 3rd go, I'll come back to it for another 2 or 3 tries, but LATER in our ride. Sassy little bugger ; )

I'm catching an icky cold (the joys of babysitting 2 year olds : P ), and finally just plopped down on his neck and called our ride over. Moon? Bent his neck around and nuzzled my boots : ) Total cutie. He's coming to the fence every time now too, which I love.

Back in the barn, the girl I made the most recent stall sign for was there and gushed over her sign. I SWEAR that's the best perk of the job, seeing how much the owner loves them! I left her with a couple of my new cards and hopefully I get a few more clients in the future.

Yesterday I also got word back that I passed the exam I wrote last week, which means $$ back in the pocket. Happy me. Might be able to do that January set of lessons, since last night W was telling me she plans on revisiting 'canter' next week. : O

Happy me also stumbled across a Black Friday ad in my inbox this morning...I have a short list of 'Needed' horse supplies, mainly for the upcoming show season, that I've been saving for. One in particular is a black dressage girth. Guess who found one of bridle leather, contoured and double elastic ends in black today?! For $27.50 USD!!

Of course, since I'd squirreled $100 away for a girth of exactly those features (this particular one was regular price $99.99), I thought...maybe I'll see if anything else I need is on sale???

And there sat my new show shirt. $8.50.
Did I mention a waterproof/breathable, gusseted turnout sheet for $22.50?
And two dressage pads (one with inserts for saddle fit, the other a beautiful contoured show pad), for $20 and $12.50...
Finally, the old style cavallo pastern wraps, which will keep Moon's red boots from rubbing his heel bulbs. I've been regretting not buying these when I bought the boots, and happy to find them for $14.40, cheaper then cavallo charges.

With the coupon I found, $105 for the whole bundle. The price I was gonna pay for just ONE girth.

My show tack list is down to just a set of black leathers, a show jacket (I've got a hunt coat if desperation kicks in!), tan breeches and gloves.

One of the pads I'm going to dedicate to show's only, and hope to get my sister to embroider "Manitoba MoonSox" on the outer corner. : )

I'm excited to go down to Pembina, ND to pick it up! I'm all about constructive shopping, and in search of Christmas deals, have bought 90% of my Christmas gifts online. Since shipping/duty/taxes are CRAZY to Canada, I have them shipped to my US address. Then I pop down there, pick everything up, pay taxes at the border (no 'handling' or 'brokerage' fees), and get everything for cheaper then I would here. And half the time, I couldn't even find the stuff here!

December 12th is the drive-down date, so it's gonna be like an early Christmas!!! : )



Oh, and I'm thinking next time I'm at the barn I'm gonna ask W about a Christmas party for the boarders! I realize some I know really well and some I don't know at all! : P

Happy Black Friday Everyone!