Poor Bobby?!

We got Bobby loaded up and off to his new digs this afternoon without a hitch. Until BO shows up to "hay" (Call it what you will. Throwing a handful of dusty dead grass in is a more apt description.) just as Lillian was ready to leave. Fortunately, I had almost nothing left to do so I got out of there right quick, but I was royally pissed. In fact, I'm still royally pissed.

BO: You got rid of Bobby, huh? Poor Bobby. <---- Exact words.

Poor Bobby?!?!?! Maybe you should have been thinking "Poor Bobby" when you were taking hay out of his stall. Or only feeding him a quarter of what he should have been getting. Or "forgetting" to feed "Poor Bobby" his grain that I was buying. Poor Bobby? Are you shitting me?!

Me: Yeah, poor Bobby who hasn't been fed in three months.

I go to the tack room to throw his halter and lead in my trunk, then come back out and--true to form, BO is totally oblivious that he is an asshole--says:

BO: The kids should have fun with him, huh?

The kids? What about me? The person who's known him his entire life, begged to buy him when he first came off the track, then pounced when he finally became available, shipped him down from Upstate New York to Central Pennsylvania, and put a shit load of time, money, and feed into him only to see him starve under BO's care and become an impossible horse for me to keep when he should have been cruising around a Novice course with me by this time. Yep, I hope the kids have alot of fun with their free horse.

To be fair, I know he's going to a fabulous home where I think he'll fit in really well, but it's hard not to be bitter when you load up a horse that should have been your forever horse--and you've worked soo hard to make him so.

I just have to keep telling myself that I'm getting out of there in a week and a half and to just keep my distance and try to avoid BO at all costs so I don't do something rash. Like commit murder.

waiting for his ride.

On a positive note, Red put in a good lunge today. (For the record, I know it's not spelled "lunge", but I like it.) I upped his time to fifteen minutes total and I moved the side reins from his girth to the dee rings to try to get a more dressagey workout in. I put them on really loose and sent him out for a couple of spins first so he could try them out, but he could have cared less; I shortened them a bit then sent him on his way.

My main focus was to try to get a better gait out of him at the walk and trot. I worked on really getting him to stride out at the walk (which he hates on the lunge, preferring to trot instead), then streeetch at the trot without rushing. We also put in a million trot-walk transitions again. He picked them up faster this time, but he's still very sticky on them. I stuck his three circles of canter in in the middle of the trot work just to mix it up and I think it helped. His trot afterwards was much bigger and bouncier than starting off.

after the canter.

streetch, kind of!

I felt guilty when I woke up this morning to a gorgeous blue sky, a breeze, and mid-60s weather. I sold two of my bunnies last night for $30 so I had enough gas money to go up there first thing in the morning and turn them out before driving back again to work Red and send of Bobby. I think all that turnout (a whopping 4 and a half hours) tired Red Pony out.

must we?