Howdy Everyone!  I’ve decided that I will be the one to fill you in on the latest from the barn.  Mom seems to be distracted with issues with the home and work electronics.  She had to fix the home router last week, have the power supply for the phone/television/internet replaced, and now she broke her work laptop.  Maybe I am glad that I am a horse and don’t have to worry about such nonsense.  Maybe I should be worried that she might break me?  What is the big deal with living with no TV or computer for a few days?  I live without it every day.  Silly, silly human.

I gave myself a few days off after my stellar performance at the first show of the year.  I don’t mean to brag, but I was a really good boy.  A bunch of my friends came to cheer for me;  my favorite fans brought apple slices that Mom made me share with my buddy Felix.  You might be wondering how I managed to get a vacation so early in the season…Well I kicked the back of my left knee with a hind shoe and limped around the barn.  Mom overreacted as usual and had the vet come to check me.  It was just a bruise, but I managed to get almost a whole week off to do nothing.  Mom was really nice to me and let me graze in the good grass.  After a few days, I did finally let her know that I was feeling better by taking her for a walk (I let her think she is walking me most days since it seems to make her feel good).

Last weekend Mom signed us up for another clinic.  She seems to think that “outings” are good for me.  At least this clinic was really close to home so I got to sleep in my own stall.  My new neighbor Joe misses me when I am not at home at night.  (Joe moved into Dooda’s stall a month ago; he is a nice fellow who is brown like me.)  The clinic was at Mom’s friend’s farm.  Ms. S has a very delicious parking area with lots of clover.  Mom was all worried that I’d have a green mouth while she rode.  I was worried that I’d missed a good grazing spot.

I tried really hard at the clinic.  The clinician was a judge from New York, Scott Peterson.  He is a really tall man who had funny stories to share about Hilda Gurney.  Like Hilda, he did not hand out candy during my lesson.  I need to work on this lack of handouts.  I tried really hard to do everything that they wanted me to do.  I would hear Scott say that I looked good, but when I would try to slow down as we would get close, Mom would goose me along.  Sheesh.  I think I might need to start a petition to demand candy during all my lessons and clinics.  Yes, I must admit that I am very food motivated.  I will be happy to provide a list of all the candy that I do like to eat.

I was glad to hear that a lot of the problems that we have while riding are due to Mom’s lack of focus and timing.  Ha!  She gets all upset with me when I lift my head to look at something, but she will drift off into lala-land and put on the cruise control.  No wonder I spook sometimes.  Something has to snap her back to reality.  The poor woman did work on her sit trot on Sunday.  The arena we worked in had mirrors, and just between you and me, it was not a pretty picture.  Pogo stick meets toy soldier meets uncoordinated, sweaty woman.  Good thing I had on my thick Ecogold saddle pad to protect my back.  Don’t look for us at Second Level anytime soon.

The take home message from this past weekend is that we need to step up our work in order to escape the lower levels.  Yes, we are doing well, but to ever make it past First Level, Mom and I are going to have to work really hard.  I’m told that I have to slow down my canter – boo.  Mom was reminded that forward does not mean faster.  I need to be more rhythmic in all my gaits – that is fine, but it is Mom’s job to make it happen.  I think it was funny that Scott made Mom count out loud while she rode.  Poor woman was breathless at times, guess she needs to get her butt into the gym for some cardio.  I kind of like that all the hard stuff falls on her shoulders.  That leaves me more time to eat my candy and grass.

Good catching up with you.  Come see us at our next show, but don’t forget the candy!

Ike