Lesson time

We had our first lesson in ages today...and it was great! E and I have decided to get instruction with our trainer twice a week for the next few months. She needs to brush up on her skills and I, well, I just need to get some skills!

I spent some time brushing both horses thoroughly this weekend, in preparation for today. As we drove up to the arena this afternoon, however, I could see that all my efforts had been in vain. Both horses had rolled in the dirt sometime this morning and they were caked with mud Oh well, at least they appear to have enjoyed the wonderful spring-like day!

Since Quinn is still an unknown quantity, and we were riding at the fairgrounds - which is not fully fenced in and a new environment for this guy, to boot - we decided to just acclimate him to his surroundings and not saddle up. He became a little nervous when his pal Curly was led away, but overall his behavior wasn't too terrible. It is obvious to both our trainer and me that he is young (in temperament), which contributes to his inability to stay focused, but that in general he wants to work with us and is trying to figure out what we want from him. I walked him around for a bit, and again, he was a little all over the place. He did try to strike out at me at one point, but was corrected for that inappropriate behavior and made to stand tied for the remainder of the lesson time. [E says a better description of this would be "We popped him in the nose, jerked his head down and then tied him up." :-) ]

Curly, on the on the other hand, was a gem. We had all anticipated a rough ride since he has had so many months off. But E had a great time and he kept his mind focused for the majority of the lesson and actually acted like the trained, well-behaved animal we have been striving for. It was amazing! He is terribly out of shape, however, and after 30 minutes he was ready to head back to the trailer. All of us were happy, though, and didn't mind cutting the lesson short.