This has been a challenging weekend at the barn.  Ike was a perfect gentleman as usual, but the horse flies were particularly evil.  Saturday morning was warm, humid and overcast which must be perfect fly pestering weather.  When the horses saw Ms. C and I headed for the barn, they all starting milling about their gates hoping that we’d save them from the flying menaces.  Three of the menaces then attached themselves to Ms. C’s big chestnut mare who started bucking and cavorting to try to free herself from their grasp.  You could see them hanging on for dear life; I swear you could hear them snickering.  The poor mare could not stand still long enough for us to place her halter on her head.  While Ms. C dealt with the mare, I went to rescue Cigar.  He stood patiently and let me whack 3 of the menaces to the ground.  When the chaos died down, we managed to kill 8 and stun 3 or 4 more.  It felt like a scene out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

My rides yesterday and today were steady.  Ike’s topline continues to get stronger and stronger, so our connection is improving as well.  We aren’t so on again, off again as we were this time last year.  It is nice to not have to constantly adjust my rein length…maybe it is really a combination of better riding and Ike’s strengthening, but who’s keeping score…

As I ride I try to implement the words of wisdom from my lesson.  So much to do while riding:  remember the wise words of Ms. C, half halt, shift weight to left, breathing, half halt, readjust weight to the middle, defend Ike and I against the air attack, half halt, down transition, open rein, keep fingers closed, close rein, look where we are going, and the list goes on and on.  It is no wonder that our progression is glacial.  I need to learn to multitask while riding like I do in the rest of my life.  Scary that the rest of my life is sometimes easier than the ride – must be the horse flies.