Friday, May 23, 2008

I haven't ridden since Monday! It's killing me! Well, actually, I'm not really dying. But I really wanted to ride today. I ended up spending the entire day in Spokane. Totally out of my element in the cosmetics department in Macy's while my mom and her friend shopped. Talking about skin types and such, while I melted into the background so they wouldn't notice that I wasn't wearing makeup and don't really style my hair...

Anyway, I did get to shop at a place where I felt more at home. I bought an Australian girth at a big tack shop up there. Kind of frustrating actually, since I called ahead to make sure they had them and she told me they had plenty in the size I needed. They had ONE in the size I needed, and it only had one D ring in the middle. I guess for a saddle that doesn't have a flank cinch. I needed two D rings. I settled for one that was probably too small but might work. Well, it's too small but almost worked... I guess I'll send it back to them and ask them to credit my card.

I got my new stirrup leathers in the mail today! I like them, they're good quality. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to ride with them. It was getting dark tonight when I got home.

I've been lunging Tonka last few days, but not riding. I generally think of lunging as people just circling their horses forever. I don't know what other people do, but we were working on transitions. Walk, trot, whoa, lope... He's doing well other than the lope. I usually have to ask 4 times and then his circle sucks. He really drifts toward the other horses. I think I'll try it in the round pen in the morning so we have the fence as a crutch. Just until he's doing things more smoothly, then we'll go back out into the wide open spaces and try for a better circle.

In other news, I have a miserable lame dog. Angus is going to have to go to the vet tomorrow. I was going to make him an appointment next week anyway because I think he has ear mites. We'll have to go a little earlier though because he keeps yelping out of nowhere and he's favoring one leg. Poor guy! It scares me, because he's so big and we all know big dogs have short lives and joint problems... Especially if they live on hardwood floors.

2 comments:

Pony Girl said...

Sorry to hear Angus is lame. Hope he's okay!
Tonka looks so handsome in his new gear!
Even in the two times I've done the circling (Parelli) with my gelding, I can notice a huge difference from when I used to lounge him. It's like night and day. And it's nice because I do not get tired from running around chasing after him! ;) He just goes in circles around me like he's supposed to. It's cool.

Andrea -Mustang Saga said...

I don't know much Parelli stuff. What is his circling thing?