Mixed Feelings...Or...Ups and Downs...

What a whirlwind last couple of days! I went to Breyerfest on Friday (at the Kentucky Horse Park). The drive went great, Breyerfest was great, even better, one of my horses won another horse (which I sold for $500 later that night). I sold a lot of horses/art supplies, enough to cover my car repair bill and make a nice chunk in the remaining saddle payment.

The downside...it was HOT. HOT HOT HOT. Mid-90s and humid. And I was outside for a lot of it. But, I did get lots of great pictures. Some of my favorites were of Alborozo, seen below. He was the Breyerfest Celebration Horse, they made a special model of him for everyone buying a 3 day ticket. The rest of the pictures can be seen here... http://jesterjigger.exposuremanager.com/g/alborozo

I got my saddle today and it is absolutely amazing. Sophie loves it. I love it. We had a great ride in it (and I discovered that lateral work will be a piece of cake for Sophie, too much pressure not centered on her barrel and she moves her haunches away from it super fast. She also leg yields like a dream and I really think that she can half pass at the walk at least). It was hot and I was sweaty and panting by the time we were done riding, but it was a blast.

But, the downside. I was scheduled for LASIK on Thursday. Friday I discovered that my surgery isn't Thursday, it's Tuesday...that's TOMORROW!!! Aaaack. I lost out on 2 days of my final week of seeingness. And the biggest downside, the two extra days I was going to have with my saddle are gone...kaput. Sigh. But that's ok. Hopefully the surgery goes well and I'm back to the barn in a week or two. But, Sophie completely made up for it today. She seemed happier to see me than ever before and she was an angel for the trial ride. I brought the saddle home to clean while I'm blind, as well as my boots, to polish.

I'm hoping I'll be able to edit pictures soon within having the surgery, so that I can get my dressage pictures posted. Champagne Run was this weekend and I got to photograph dressage and show jumping. Another good/bad is that I got my new camera (good), but it's really hard to use (bad), but I'm learning (good), but I miss out on some pictures due to the learning (bad). But hopefully the learning curve isn't too bad!

When It Rains It Pours...

Guess what...my car's broken! I got my laptop back yesterday, apparently I had a very nasty virus, the computer guy thinks it picked it up when it was so new that a virus definition wasn't out there for it. By the time it came out, my computer already had this virus deeply imbedded in it, and it slowly started destroying my computer. Most of the operating system was eaten away and apparently the virus was starting to effect internet explorer, which is when I started really noticing. So my computer is fixed, yay, all is well.

Then the "check engine" light came on as I was driving to class this morning. Grrrreat. So, I took it to the dealership and it turns out it has a valve that's leaking fuel vapor. A couple of other smaller things need to be fixed as well so who knows if it'll be done today or tomorrow. This may mean that I'm taking the truck when I go to Kentucky for the weekend. It'll be a little more gaswise, but I have a lot of stuff to sell, so in the long run it should be worth it. Plus it'll give me a chance to practice taking pictures at Kentucky Horse Park.

Speaking of Kentucky, I'm not sure I've really discussed it here, so I'll fill ya'll in. I collect Breyer model horses. I've spent a lot of time/energy/money doing it, but since moving to Ohio last summer have decided to cut back extensively. I'm also selling all of the models/materials I've purchased since going to college. Fortunately that means I'll break even and at least make back what I've spent, in a lot of cases, actually make money because the models I bought tend to hold their value or increase.

There's a big model horse convention in Lexington, KY called Breyerfest every July. It's huge, and the Holiday Inn North is completely overrun by model horse enthusiasts. Nearly every door is open and the occupants of each room have tables and shelves of models tagged and labelled for sale. It's a zoo and people are roaming the halls until midnight practically every night. My mom and sister are already there, so it'll be a good chance to hang out with them in addition to practice taking pictures as well as sell a portion of my collection.

I'm also going to try to sell my Duett all purpose saddle and my Rembrandt dressage saddle since some of the model people have real horses and other real horse people come to see what this craziness is all about too. So wish me selling luck! I should still be able to post because they have wireless internet there and I'll be working on editing pictures while watching the room sales. And then hopefully I'll get my saddle next week!

Ok, just got back from the barn. Apparently Kim is going to be gone all next week. And Maddie is too. Sophie is not going to be happy that Maddie is gone, but, at least it won't be the day the saddle fitter comes, so she'll have a couple of days to adjust. So there goes paying Kim to ride Sophie a couple of times while I'm out for my surgery. Now I'm debating if I want the saddle next week at all, or if I just want to wait until the week after.

Before and After of a Diffferent Kind...

My computer is still MIA. Sigh. But, I've been honing my photoshop skills, and here's one of the results...it's kind of like one of those challenges in the paper to find everything that's different between the two pictures. So, can you see a difference?

I almost forgot, I put an ad on Craig's List last night, looking for people with horses that wanted to be models for my budding portfolio and I got a bunch of replies already. Hopefully our schedules converge so that I can get some nice pictures with some help on the horse handling front.

Is It Possible to be Less Motivated?

So the computer guy didn't get to my computer yet...I'm supposed to get it back tomorrow. We'll see. Between the saddle and the computer I'm just unmotivated as heck. I haven't been to the barn since Thursday. I guess I'll go tomorrow. I did get my new lens today, so I could go play with it tomorrow. I just need motivation. I joined a photography group online, and have posted a couple of pictures for critique. I need to figure out a way to get people to let me photograph their horses so that I can build a portfolio and get some practice shooting horses with help (since wandering the pasture just doesn't get me much more than eating, swishing, standing, and rolling pictures). Until I have more relevant news I'll post some more pics from July 8th. Maddie and Lonnie.

Was Friday the 13th???

Ha ha...I was just wondering if Friday was the 13th, only to check the date and see that *today* is the 13th! Anyway, Friday was awful...no saddle and worst of all, my computer was hit with a virus. Apparently a site I normally frequent was hacked and the hacker left a present in the form of a virus with a few friends. So I've been sharing my husband's computer while mine is being fixed. Fortunately I'd backed it up a couple of weeks ago and was able to move my newer pictures over to my external harddrive before it was sent away. I'm supposed to have it back tomorrow, hopefully it's ready, because I have some photoshopping to do!

An upside to this weekend is that I am getting a new camera. My dad really wants my current camera (Nikon D50). I wasn't planning on on buying a new camera for a while, since I just bought a new lens (70-300 with vibration reduction) and need to get an external flash. But with buying my new lens I sold my old 60-200 lens to my dad, which made him want my camera *now*. So he's lending me the money for a Nikon D300 and I'll pay him back as I can (since I'm currently saving toward paying double mortgage payments when we move, in case our house doesn't rent ASAP).

My husband is all for it, as I think I'd like to try doing the picture thing professionally. I'd like to start with some farm calls to do some portrait sessions. I enjoy photography and would love to make some extra money doing it. It's a job that can move with me from base to base too. I would love to do it full time as well, after I get out of the Air Force. Now I'm just trying to figure out how. I emailed a photographer in the area (kind of) whose work I really like, seeing if she'd be interested in a helper or letting me shadow her at some shoots. We'll see if she contacts me in return.

Anyway, here are some more pictures from July 8th...

Oh, I just wanted to say, I added two new blogs to my links to the side (The Knutson Family and MiKael's Mania - Arabian Horses)...so check them out. In case you were wondering what makes me add someone, it's simple. Either I see a comment to one of my posts by someone not on the list and if they have a blog add them to my list or if someone ads me to their blog I'll add them to mine...simple as that! Oh, and there's no real order to the blogs, but I try to keep the ones that seem to be updated frequently closer to the top than the others (makes it easier for me to check out what my "friends" are doing).

You Probably Didn't Know This...

But I have another blog. It was my first blog, and I started it to chronicle my dressage journey with Jessie, my Appendix QH gelding. I don't update it anymore (other than a final post I made today), but it does have some useful information from lessons I took last fall. So, you can consider it a preview of what this blog will look like if I ever start riding Sophie.

Here's the link: http://jesterjigger.blogspot.com/

The Saddle That Wasn't...

Wednesday and Thursday my stomach was doing flips, it was kind of like getting Sophie again, because I was about to start *riding* Sophie. I was excited and nervous and bouncing off the walls. But then the saddle fitter didn't call on Wednesday to let me know what time...or Thursday. I left a message on Thursday...but didn't get a call back. So I called Friday morning, first thing. She answered the phone and it turned out that her dad passed away sometime between Tuesday and Thursday (I didn't ask when). So I don't know when I'll be getting the saddle, she's the executor of her dad's estate and I have no idea what that entails, but I imagine she'll be busy for a while. Her dad fell ill before I started the saddle process and took a turn for the worse the day of our first appointment way back when. So it wasn't a surprise for her I don't think, but I'm sure she's still sad for the loss. So no saddle report. I have been working on pictures though, and thought I'd put some on the blog.

This is Varekai. He's a Hanoverian I think, he belongs to Kim and does Third Level. He has to stay by himself (which I don't think he especially enjoys) but is a really pretty shade of chestnut.

Sweet, Innocent Sophie...

You can see from the next two pictures why it's important to establish my authority on the ground with Sophie. You can also see that Lonnie has a couple of hands and hundred pounds on Sophie, yet she's still pushing him around like one of those curling discs.

Lonnie obviously should have realized that he was eating off of what Sophie had decided was her hay pile, that way she didn't have to exert the energy to move him away from it. The sad thing in this situation is that Lonnie *loves* Sophie.

This is Sophie prior to deciding the hay was yummier in the other pile...

Of course, now they're sharing...

This is Maria, a half blind ex-polo pony. Jessie used to be out with her until he proved to "taken" by her and she not nearly chaste enough. That was when Jessie was exiled from being turned out with mares (an unfortunate side effect of having his hocks/stiles done).

I'm not sure what this Paint's name is, I think he belongs to a woman in the Army that is currently stationed overseas.

Lonnie being cute, he was actually turned out alone at this time and was hoping Sophie was being brought out to keep him company.

Fine, I don't need any hay...

And this is Star, she's an Arab/Paint cross that looks a lot like Sophie.

Terrific News...

My new saddle should be here on Friday! I talked to the saddle fitter today and she thinks she'll be able to bring it out on Friday, needless to say, I am very excited. She's going to be in the area for a show and was planning on bringing my saddle. After my saddle gets here I'm going to have a lesson ASAP and have Kim ride Sophie while I watch ASAP too. If the ride with Kim goes well I'm going to ask her to ride Sophie once while I'm at Breyerfest. Then have another lesson the next week and maybe another Kim ride while I watch.

After that it'll be time for me to have eye surgery and I won't be able to go to the barn while my eyes do the initial healing, so I was thinking it would be a good idea to ask Kim to ride Sophie three times during the week I'm out of comission. I think that'll give us a good leg up for getting started with our serious dressage training.

I did make it out to the barn today after the initial round of thunderstorms was over and took some pictures. I did take an apple for Sophie and at first she didn't want it because there was a huge puddle she had to walk through to get to me. Once I get the pictures done I'll be able to post an intro to Sophie's pasture mates at least. Anyway, have to go to bed as the husband is getting cranky and we have PT tomorrow. I figured a break wouldn't be bad for Sophie since I've longed her for the last two days and have been increasing the effort I'm asking of her. So I'll longe tomorrow and Thursday and then we'll be ready for our saddle on Friday!

Some Kind of Record...

So I've posted three times today...shows how enthralling my homework is. But I posted before I went to the barn and was going to group tomorrow and today's post but decided I wanted to get today down before I forgot, since the whole point of this blog is to chronicle my training journey with Sophie.

We had another longe session today (surprise, surprise, but I did call Julie (the saddle fitter) and left a message, asking about my saddle). It went extremely well. We started on the non-mane side and initially Sophie was head up with her nose out, after a few half halts and some good girls and suddenly she was round and soft and looked like a Second Level horse. We worked on lots of trot/canter transitions and I even did some spiral circles (brought her down to 10 meters slowly, and then let her back out again). She really was excellent though, and it was with the side reins a touch longer than I'd been doing, which helped emphasize the effectiveness of half halts.

Then I gave her a break, let her stretch her neck out and walked for a few minutes. As I was doing it I was thinking that it was silly of me to have not done this before. During a lesson my horse always gets a walk break with long reins to stretch, sometimes three or four. Why not have one in the middle of a longe session? So we did, and it helped in keeping the surcingle from being pulled forward and messing up the adjustment of the side reins.

We restarted after our break and it was a little rougher than normal, without a break. But I'm not going to get rid of the break yet. We started out and things were going ok, I thought the inside rein was tight enough, and wanted to see if I could get her "on the bit" through half halts without just cranking her head down. So I checked the outside rein. It was very loose, so I tightened it a little and voila! She wasn't as good as the other direction, but possibly the best she's been in that direction. So even when longeing, the outside rein is *very* important. Her canter take off was very sloppy so we really worked on those for a while. Her halts were atrocious though. Last time and the first round today she was halting with just a "whoa", instantly. I hate it when she's slow to whoa because I don't want to end on an ignoring me whoa, so we have to try it a few more times to get it.

So, we'll see how she is tomorrow. She got to graze for 20 minutes today after her rinse off. That was after surviving the Bagged Pellets Monster sitting in the back of the farm truck. She also had a fit this morning, before coming for the day. Apparently the horses were brought in in a different order than normal and Sophie's pasture was last...so she and her friends were racing around until they were caught, and nice and sweaty as a result. I'm sure she was a little tired as a result, but I went ahead and worked her because if I had a show today I would have needed her to work. I have class tomorrow so I won't get out until the afternoon, giving her plenty of time to rest after whatever morning escapades she has in the morning.

The Players...

I realize that a few people are reading my blog now, and that the names I mention may be confusing. So I thought I'd do a little glossary of the people I interact with at the barn, that way you aren't wondering things like, who's this Bill guy and why is he administering an electrolyte drench to Sophie when she's colicking? Shouldn't they be calling a vet???

I've been boarding at my barn since August of last year. I moved Jessie, my QH/TB gelding there at the end of the month, and started taking lessons in September, after my wedding. I took lessons from September thru mid-December, moving from weak Training Level to mastering sitting trot, leg yielding, shoulder in, collected canter, counter canter, and beginning work on travers. Kim thought we'd be ready to show Second Level by the end of this summer, if not earlier. Unfortunately, Jessie was injured over the winter and I decided that rather than put him back in dressage training I would get a new horse, Sophie. I've had Sophie here at the farm since May, but other than one lesson haven't really ridden her due to not having a saddle. But, it's on order and should be here soon. Now, on to the people...

Kim-my riding instructor/barn owner, she has a few horses, including a Grand Prix schoolmaster that used to belong to Sue Jaccoma and an Arab/Percheron that she's trained to Third Level (and isn't done yet!). She rides with George Williams and Tara Stegen.

Hayley-Kim's daughter, she does dressage as well, and has a Third Level horse of her own. She also barrel races. Both she and Kim take a few horses down to Florida each winter to take lessons and show.

Bill-Kim's husband, he's a vet and plays polo. He has a vet practice out of the farm here in Ohio and also in Florida.

Sid-the stable/vet clinic manager. He takes care of the horses during the winter or when Kim/Hayley are away at shows.

Liz-she was the other vet working out of the clinic. She is the one that did Jessie's hocks/stifles and the vet care for my horses. However, when everyone went to Florida for the winter she decided to stay down there and continue working.

I think that about covers it. Maybe if I ever get out to the barn when the horses are turned out I'll take pictures of them all and do something similar for the horses of the barn.

Speaking of Tack...

How do you clean your tack? How often do you clean your tack?

I'm really torn on the tack front. I get a lot of pleasure out of cleaning my tack after every ride. It's relaxing, and makes me feel good to take care of my investment. And I like pulling out clean tack the next day. Plus, while I've never been in one, I've read enough Saddle Club to know that there are stables that require riders to clean their tack after every ride, right?

But I'm wavering on *how* to clean my tack. I started out using Leather New, a couple of sprays on a soft rag and a quick wipe down of my tack left it looking great. But then I read the back of the bottle, and it says you need to rinse the tack with a wet cloth after using Leather New. So I decided to switch to Leather Therapy Wash, because it says you don't have to rinse it off. Except I don't like the smell of it or how my tack looked after using it. So I decided to ask on UDBB and also read some old threads about it. It turns out most people recommend using *water*! A quick wipe down of your tack with a damp rag. My brain nearly imploded. Can I really just use water? So I've still been using the Leather Therapy to finish it up and plan on asking the Albion fitter when I get my new saddle what they say is the best procedure for caring for leather.

I've been thinking I may switch back to Leather New and fill the empty Leather Therapy with water and then try to rinse the leather off with and damp rag. But I don't want to buy anything until after I know what Albion recommends, that way I don't waste any money.

Watch Where You Flop...

Headed out to the barn today for another longe session. I longed Sophie yesterday and she had two days off before that (from longeing at least). We started off with her mane side to me, which is my least favorite side because it's her hardest side. Longeing in that direction goes like this, *cluck*, half halt, half halt, *cluck, half halt, *cluck*, half halt, for the first few minutes before she relaxes into the trot and reaches for the bit. Every time she would lower her head she would get a "gooooood giiiiiiirl" as well. I was dreading it but everything came together pretty quickly.

I switched to using my surcingle because it will fasten tighter than Kim's. It doesn't have rings as low down the side as Kim's though. But, mine doesn't rub her elbow either. Her mane side was actually better this time than her non-mane side, so I'm going to give her a break next time. What happens is when we stop to reverse she yanks her head up and forward, pulling the surcingle out of place which also effects the adjustments needed for the side reins. So next time, I'll remove the side reins and walk for a couple of minutes to let her stretch her neck before continuing.

After longeing I gave her her bobbing bucket and untacked her. She was pretty sweaty and still a little warm, despite walking for a while after we finished (it was near 90 degrees when I left for the barn, probably 85 by the time I worked her), so I decided to hose her off. I was a little nervous about that, since I've never hosed her down or seen her hosed down before, but she was great. Didn't care at all. After I sweat scraped her I took her out to graze beside the barn and that's when the torbie cat that reminds me of Kitty tracked me down. I petted her some, as Sophie grazed, and at one point she was so focused on me that she flopped down on the clover just as Sophie was trying to eat it. Both animals were *very* surprised when that happened.

And on another note...today is horsie laundry day. I'm washing my dressage boots for the first time and they look great! Just threw them in the washer and you'd think they were new looking at them. They came out of the washer almost dry, so I'm letting them air dry the rest of the way and they should be good by the time I make it out to the barn tomorrow. I really wish I'd bought more of them, but next time around I will!

Changes...

My grandma died on July 3rd. It was unexpected...she'd been admitted to the hospital after a fall and was there a little over a week for physical therapy (I don't believe she was injured, just weak). Then her kidneys started to fail and she ended up having a heart attack. She crashed a few times the next day and they tried to insert a pacemaker, which didn't go well. Everyone in the family was able to be in the room while the priest gave her last rites, and then she was moved back up to ICU. Less than an hour later her heart stopped beating. We're still not sure what happened, how she goes from physical therapy to dead in less than two weeks.

But, due to her untimely death my sister was in the area and stayed an extra day. We went to the barn and she took some pictures of Sophie for me. The furry pictures are from when we looked at Sophie in the beginning of April. The other pictures are from July 5th. I think her muscling has started to improve from the longeing, in addition to her coat of course. But it's not hard to improve above winter woolies! I think she looks like she's standing more comfortably as well, without looking like her knees are going to buckle. She's only had her feet done once by my farrier since we bought her, and that's due to needing to wait for her to grow more foot so that he could start reshaping them.

Her underneck muscling still needs some work (or I guess, less work, so that it goes away), but at least her upper neck muscling is getting better.

Oh, and so far my "space" issues are going ok. When my sister and I went out to the barn my rack was up, not down, where I left it, but it was empty. There was also a second saddle sitting on the one that I'd moved and neither saddle were covered with anything. I found that a little hard to believe, since everything gets covered with dust when the barn aisle is swept every day. I would never treat someone else's tack like that, and while Kim's saddles are out every day, the ones in the main barn are covered and the saddle that is being borrowed is normally in the tack room in the old barn.

My sister reminded me that Sophie knows how to bow. I hadn't tried it since buying her but she seemed to remember pretty well. We didn't get a picture of a perfect bow, but she did do two of them! I'll have to practice more often so that she doesn't forget.

Such a Good Girl!

Sophie did sooooo well today. I figured out how to tack her up for our longe session with very little struggling on my brain's part using the new running side reins. We got started and I only had to adjust them twice, but I think that's necessary because I don't want to start her out in the same position as where she will be by the end of the session.

We started out on her mane side, which is her worst side. It was hard to get her to bend toward me in the beginning, but then she got better about it. After 12 minutes in that direction we switched to her non-mane side and she was fabulous. Trying, reaching, trotting out when I clucked and just going really well. We'd worked on stopping a bit to the other side, after reversing we worked some more on stopping as well as a little on cantering. We did about 10 minutes on that side and then I took off the side reins and walked her for 10 minutes to cool down.

She was pretty sweaty (though still not as bad as yesterday) and tired once we were done, so I stripped her down, gave her her bobbing bucket to play with, and put everything away. I found stuff to do until she was dry and curried and brushed her really good a couple of times until she was smooth and shiny. There was one downside though, when we're switching sides she tries to stretch her head out and pulls the surcingle forward so it rubbed her elbow a little. I put Corona ointment on it and we'll see how it is tomorrow. I noticed a little rub after the first day she was longed but it was haired over again within a week so I didn't think it was still a problem. She may get tomorrow off, depending on how it looks.

Is it possible to have a little OCD? I've noticed that I'm slowly becoming more and more OCD, if that's possible. Last year it started with cleaning my tack after every ride. Now it's grooming Sophie (and still cleaning everything). I also like my little area in front of Sophie's stall to be just "right". I have my two lead ropes and spare halter hanging on the claw thing, my empty saddle rack next to that, and my cupboard, which I keep in pretty good order. Except today my saddle rack wasn't empty. *Gasp!* One of Kim's saddles was on it, I think because the girl whose horse is stalled next to Sophie is using it. That's fine, but don't put it on *my* saddle rack. Just because I don't leave five feet of stuff on it every day doesn't mean I don't use it!!! I use it every time I come to the barn, thank you very much. So I moved it over to a different rack and unhung the saddle rack and rehung it so that it's laying flat against the wall instead of sticking out.

Maybe I'm just too anal, but I like having my space and being able to grab my stuff out of the trailer and being able to just put it on my saddle rack without having to worry about moving someone else's stuff out of the way. The girl who put the saddle there has 7 saddle pads and her ancient all purpose saddle on the rack in front of her horse's stall. There were also 3 sugar cubes on the drawer directly under my cubby as well. I was very confused when I arrived at the barn. I just hope it doesn't happen again, I hate to be confrontational over something so silly, but it does bother me. Right now I'm just putting my thick, western saddle pad on my rack and Sophie's dressage boots because that's all I need for longeing. But when I'm grabbing my dressage saddle, pad, and girth out of the trailer on my way into the barn I'd like to be able to just set it down when I get there.

So am I being silly to be annoyed? I guess it doesn't help that this girl hasn't ridden or come to the barn more than 15 times this year (and none last year since I started boarding there), she's only riding now because she has the county fair coming up. I've been out to see my horse more in the last month than she's seen hers in the last year, and I can't even RIDE!

Poor Sophie!

Sophie had her little legs worked off of her today. We started out just fine with the longeing, she was doing great, I was doing great. Then Kim stopped by to watch and suggested that we raise the side reins to simulate hands more so because Sophie is progressing so quickly. So we moved the side reins and didn't get the results we were looking for. Then Kim pulled out the sliding side reins which had Sophie in more of a Training Level/First Level frame than just Intro/Training. Then we ran into the problem of getting her to extend her trot. Everytime she was clucked at she started cantering, after all, it's much easier to canter than it is to extend the trot. So after some persistence we convinced Sophie to extend when clucked at, not canter. We also worked on whoa on the longe and a little on kissing to mean canter.

Overall it was a great session and Kim's input helped a lot. I just hope I can figure out how to attach the sliding side reins tomorrow. Sophie was soaked by the time we were done, it was 85 degrees, so warmer than the last couple of days, but we were also asking her to do a lot more. I could just envision her under saddle while watching her today. She has a gorgeous trot, especially when she has a lot of impulsion to move her along. Kim said that she's progressing faster than she thought she would, and asked if I'd heard about my saddle recently. I was going to call when I got home, but forgot, I'll try to do it tomorrow instead.

Today was just a further lesson in how I need to expect more and expect perfection when I ask for something. I'm sure Sophie prefers it when it's just me and her, with no "help" from Kim, but this is what's going to make us good. I console myself with thoughts of her apple/carrot water that she gets after the workout is over. Today I tried throwing some treats in the bucket as well, to see if she will eat them when wet. She did, fortunately, so now I have a back up for if I forget vegetables or we don't have any. Especially since they float, so she needs to bob for them, and they absorb a lot of water. She really enjoyed bobbing for her food though, it was fun to watch her.

Anyway, I got some of the pictures from the other day uploaded. Where I was playing with Sophie like she was a Barbie horse, or a My Little Pony. So enjoy!

Pretty Pony Hair School Pictures

A nice picture of my shiny horse from her hairless side. This was after I decided to braid her mane. When we show seriously her mane will most likely be pulled short and braided in regular dressage braids. But for this summer I'm letting her mane grow out so that I can get some pictures of her with a long, pretty mane to keep. I figure there's plenty of time to cut it next year, when I start showing.

This was my first attempt at a running braid on Sophie. The first I've done in a very long time to boot. It was fun, and started off as just a lark. She was hanging out in her stall and I was brushing her and decided to give it a try. So I went to work and it was tight and wonderful looking, but I had no rubberband! And Sophie didn't even have a halter on. So I finished the braid and pulled the rubberband from my own hair and wrapped it 30 times around her little tail while I got a horse rubberband. Unfortunately the braid looks crinkly when she lifts her head higher than it was when I was braiding. She stood still the whole time I braided as well, which I was happy about. I think she's flexing her neck in this picture.

Stretching out, showing off the running braid at its best. It looks equally good if her neck is exactly level as well (which is where it was when I was braiding it).

Continental braid...my first attempt. Haley walked by as I was nearing the end of it and said "looking good". Then when she walked by the next time I was pulling the rubberbands out and she said "you did all of that work for nothing?" I told her I took pictures, but she didn't seem to think that was worth the time, lol. But it didn't take that long, especially since Sophie's mane isn't very long right now.

I told her she looked like a fairy horse with her mane crimpy. She just rolled her eyes at me and looked scared.

Eyeball picture.

Showing off her tail (and shiny rump).