Bleh.

I've been in one of those moods lately. The type of mood where you don't want to do anything, which of course means that there's more to do than usual, and that makes you want to give the finger to all the things. Also, I'm about ready to shank Hubby's little spotted dog who can't seem to stay in the yard for more than half a second lately, even though she's lived here for two years and is well aware of her boundaries.

my dog is the good dog.
she may be slightly rabid, but at least she stays in the yard.

Hubby's family came down Sunday so I spent the day feeding them all the food in the house instead of going to the barn. Seriously, when you make a grocery list for two people and then have to feed eight, food disappears at an alarming rate.

Monday was a dressage ride in the indoor since Bobby's RF shoe was starting to get a little loose; the farrier did not come last week. We worked on halts from w/t/and c and broke up a few movements from the dressage test and practiced them in both directions. Bobby was going really great. He seems to really, really like his bit and we were getting a little bit of frothing at the mouth--even better than foam! Then I asked him to canter to the left and he was like, "I can't bend left!!!" Nothing new there.

I halted him and worked for at least ten minutes trying to get him to turn just his head and neck to the left. He stepped sidewways, he stepped backwards, he spun around in circles, but he wouldn't not bend the way I was asking. He finally got it for about half a second and I let him walk on. Tried the canter again and while not great, it was at least not crooked.

"horsez in the arena?! why iz there horsez up there??"

No ride on Tuesday as I was too busy being busy for once, then another dressage school Wednesday with an even looser shoe. No nails sticking out this time, it wasn't torqued in any way, and he wasn't lame on it so I did a full ride again.

More work on halts, and lots and lots of work on straightness. We were barely on the rail the whole ride. Lots of walking and trotting down the quarterlines, centerline, and across the diagnols. Bobby was a bit of a drunken sailor for the most part. I really have to hold him with my right leg because he likes to bulge out that way during pretty much every exercise we do.

We did a canter exercise where I had him pick up his lead on the quarterline from a walk to see how straight he was. If he was straight, he'd get the correct lead. Well, it took him about six times to get the right friggin' lead. What a mess. When he got it, I let him do two circles and we tried again. By the time we switched directions, I think he kind of cheated and just understood the exercise at this point and picked the correct lead up right off the bat. Of course, he also ran me right into the wall within two strides because he bulged out to the right so badly. Dang it. Keep the right leg on!

We finished with another attempt at flying changes. He switched up front without fail every time, but that's no good. I brought him back to the trot for a stride and he picked up the right lead before we tried again. I was about to give up when the little tanker truck that cleans out the port-a-pottie rolled in. Bobby has some strange aversion to the most ridiculous things trucks with trailers attached and he went flying sideways across the arena before I managed to pull him into a circle. He was snorty, prancy pants so I walked him across the diagnols a few times before picking up the canter again and doing a couple of simple changes. Finally, we came across the diagnol and he switched behind at F, two strides to get through the corner, and switched in front. Yay! Kind of, sort of a real change! I gave him a pat and let him take a victory lap before calling it quits.

srsly worried the truck will eat him while get my water bottle.

The farrier will be here this afternoon! I'm going to try to make it out, but I have so many boring things to do for the first time in forever. Boooo. Trot sets tomorrow for sure, then hopefully some jumping this weekend.

replinished my stock of braiding wire. i lose things too easily.