Hi everyone!  It’s Ike filling in for my mother who is having writer’s block and can’t seem to get her thoughts together well enough to tell you how the rest of our week has gone.  I thought I was going to get Tuesday off since Mom couldn’t make it to the barn…well unbeknowst to me, she had asked Ms. C to give me a workout.  Sneaky.  I have to say, Ms. C is a clever lady.  I tried my best to evade her requests, but she always seemed to be two steps ahead of me.  I bet she is a good chess player.  Even though it might hurt Mom’s feelings a bit, I must admit that Ms. C is better at that half halt thing than Mom is.  That being said, I guess I should confess that I didn’t always comply with Ms. C’s half halts.  My brother tells me that it is good to keep them on their toes by misbehaving sometimes.

Mom and I survived our weekly lesson.  That clever Ms. C used her insider knowledge to try to educate my Mom on moving my body parts where she wants.  The poor woman is just not always coordinated, so I get confused.  Did you want me to just move my hind end or pick up canter?  I do my best to guess correctly, but it’s not my fault when I get it wrong.  She is also a bit spastic with her whip.  She forgets it is in her hand and when she mistakenly flails her chicken arm I get a bit tense when I see the whip out of the corner of my eye.  Seriously, can someone tell her to keep her elbows by her side?

Ms. C was very pleased with my canter work.  She told Mom that our goal is to teach me to stand up better in my shoulders and stop leaning on Mom’s leg, and keep my hind end from drifting.  Huh?  I’m always standing during our lesson, so I just stare at Ms. C during these educational chats.  They think I’m paying attention, but I’m really trying to figure out how to scam an extra mint.

Mom and I got to ride with my friend Lady today.  I like when she is in the ring with me.  I puff up my chest and try to show her how good I look.  Mom and I worked on the Training Level Test 3 movements -something called a shallow trot loop and the longer canters that involve cantering the short end onto the diagonal with a down transition at X.  That loop thing is pretty easy.  No big deal.  That canter work is a lot harder.  Mom needs to better prepare me for the canter-to-trot transition, i.e., half halt sooner than at X.  We also have trouble with the turn onto the diagonal.  Mom knows it should be done with the outside rein, but she tends to overuse that inside rein…such an amateur.  Good thing she has Ms. C to fuss at her when she makes those mistakes.  Ha ha.

Thanks for continuing to follow my adventures.  I’ll be back soon.  Ike