Cough syrup

And now, just for fun, I'll post while on cough syrup.

It's been awhile.  After our grand debut with the broncing at C and some satin (and that all important 65%), I ended up taking some time off.  It wasn't really planned, but with a work conference the next weekend that had me in Boston and the hubby having to fly to Baltimore short notice for work stuff, I wasn't home much.

Theo didn't mind.  He taught some lessons, got a massage, and in general enjoyed a week of little work and a lot of grass.

I came back and spent my first lesson trying to figure out how to, I don't know, ride?  Theo was a bit cross about having to actually work and I couldn't seem to remember how to post.  Fortunately Trainer A was mostly amused by our combined fail and let us flail about.  Last night was much better.  Mi papi was ready to get back to real work and I could actually stay on top.

To be honest, it was one of those rides where I remember how far he's come.  I was riding with my adult ladies and we were weaving through traffic with leg yield, some baby half passe, and shoulder in.  Lateral has become so natural for him, he just steps over, no big deal.  Still stickier off the left than the right, but it's more about insisting as opposed to a real fight.  I sat the trot, put him in a shoulder in, insisted he not be a giraffe, then did a 10m circle and a lengthen.  It was one of those moments where he almost popped me off because I'm still not ready to sit the big trot consistently.

I love this horse.  He allows me to flail and have really bad days where he plops around and ignores me, then gives me enough power to almost put me in the dirt when I'm on my game.

He's not a 70% horse, never will be, but he's plenty fancy enough to keep me happy.  He also looks fantastic in bling.

I started coughing during my ride last night and Trainer A was sounding concerned.  It got worse through the night and this morning I'm quite drugged up.  Fortunately Theo has one of his packing a nervous adult around lessons tonight (he still does a couple for special cases) so I can stay home, force fluids, and try to get this kicked to the curb.  I'm supposed to be going to our next big show in three weeks, I don't want to lose another week to being sick.