As silly as it sounds, I still haven't decided whether I'm leaving tonight or very early tomorrow morning. I'm leaning more and more towards tonight, since I am not so good at getting up and out the door on time, and I'd really like to sit in on the hoofcare talk tomorrow morning.
Jasper and I did our "blow-out" ride last night with Skyla and Pam. He just wanted to go, and had lost some of the edge he normally has when he's had three days off. I'm not sure if it's the Performance Equine or if I was so drained last night I wasn't able to give anything back to him. I dunno, but I'm hoping it's the Performance Equine! Going up hills he either wanted to canter or do his power trot....it was good he had the energy, but I would have been happy with a little less.
Our lesson the other day with Jeannie was interesting, to say the least. As people have said before, you have to filter through all the Parelli Propaganda in order to get the juicy nuggets of what she has to say. I've really got nothing against Parelli, I just find the language the program uses to be repulsive and condescending and too many people not using common sense while "Parelli-izing" their horses. I digress. I thought I did a pretty good job of keeping a straight face while she told me about horsenalities and tried to sell me either a $3000 saddle or a $300 saddle pad that would magically correct all my saddle fitting problems. We started on a couple of exercises that Jasper responded to very quickly--I think maybe something called "yo-yo" game and the "friendly" game. She remarked we had a very good friendly game, but had a few holes (ie he's a little touchy on his flanks and ears) that she showed me how to work through. The most interesting piece of information she did give me was when I described Jasper's sideways evasive move on the trail, she said that wasn't evasive at all, but rather a response to pain. She checked my saddle fit and said it's way too tight at the shoulders and then explained how to adjust it so that it would free him up to extend more. She also showed me some exercises to do on the ground to push his stress threshold a little further and to teach him to think through the situation. At the end, she said Jasper is a VERY nice horse and that she thinks we'll be fine together once we work through these hiccups. She said they were really fairly minor, but had the potential to get much, much worse. All in all, I'd say it was not a waste of the $45 I spent, especially since she well over an hour working with us.
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Last week, I set up an appointment to go out to one of our local endurance arabian breeders to shop for a horse for Wayne. It was prior to meeting Obsidian, and since Skyla and Marva wanted to come with me, I kept the appointment and went anyways. This breeder has gorgeous horses that are raised in the foothills and are all very tough, although extremely friendly. She's going through a divorce and is being forced to liquidate her herd, and so I had been joking with Wayne about getting TWO horses from her. Well yesterday I made the horrible mistake of liking a two year old. I liked him a LOT. Too much. I have always planned on getting another up and comer for myself, but had planned to do it after graduation. Since she's liquidating, the prices are VERY reasonable and she's more than willing to negotiate. So now I'm stuck in a bit of a conundrum. Financially, I can take on another horse without too much of a problem. Time wise, I'm tight, but since he's only 2, he'll be prime to just "cook" for this last year and when I'm ready to work with him more regularly, he will also be ready. The biggest trouble comes in when I do finally graduate--I'm not sure Marva will be willing to have five horses at her place. But at the same token, I am afraid if I don't take him, I'll be kicking myself in a year when I wished I had.
DA Kastanah Kiyal running with his herdmate.
He caught my eye immediately, and he seems interested in me, too!
This horse is going to be something amazing. He's already pushing 15 hands at two, and has the most incredible bone. All her horses are "natural trimmed" (as in, not at all), and his feet are all even and look quite good. He's the "leader" of the band of two-year-old's he's out with, and was far more concerned with eating than engaging in any of their drama. He's got a nice relaxed, confident manner, and a ginormous ground covering trot. I'm not joking--this horse has "I'm going to be something AMAZING" written all over him. Sigh. I'm at least going to think about it over the weekend, and probably won't make any official decisions until I leave Boise to return to Pullman.
Cutie patootie face--eating cookies off the ground.
He's standing in a divot in the ground eating cookies--he's really not built that downhill!
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