Another great night with Sonic Boom...wow, it has been 3 weeks!

It is hard to believe that 3 weeks have already slipped by...where does the time go?

Mr. Sonic Boom is starting to warm up to me but he isn't ready to admit it.  Last night was the first time he let me pet his forehead thru the fence, and I handed him a handful of hay and he almost took it...then all of a sudden his eyes went blank and he slowly moved the other way with that look of total disgust on his face.  He almost forgot that he was not supposed to like me!  Ha ha!  Tonite I was inside the pen waiting for the chickens to head to the hen house and I was leaning against the corral panel railing.  Little by little he came up behind me and just stood there - about 3 ft away.  Baby steps....I will take them any way he wants to offer them.

Tonite I put my light weight Wintec on him and I cinched it up.  Not totally tight, but more than enough to concern him for a little bit.

SONIC BOOM:  I will not look....I will not look....the girl will go away if I do not look.....

SONIC BOOM:  Drat!  She is still here, but I will refuse to smile!  I will give the flat floppy eared look!  That will show her!

SONIC BOOM:  Okay, this is degrading....I have dummy legs on my rump!  And when I trot they bounce!

SONIC BOOM:  Yikes, now they are on my neck.  Has the girl been drinking???  I heard drinking will do weird things to a person...I only drink water so I don't know this to be fact.  I thought the girl only drank water and unsweet tea (obviously not a Southern girl!).  Could it be she is just weird?

SONIC BOOM:  Whinn-hee...Whin-heee (my version of the human Hee Hee), this is what the girl is going to look like if she tries to ride on my neck herself!  About three more strides and I bet it falls all the way off!  Whinn-hee Whinn-hee!

SONIC BOOM:  Why was this chicken staring at me?  And why is she in the bale?  Chickens are weird too.

Sonic is still his own guy and he always will be, and he is going to be a heck of a riding horse someday.  I love how brave and bold he is.  Yes, he is a challenge but aren't the biggest challenges in life also the most gratifying?  In my opinion - YES!

I had another riding lesson and oh my gosh, I had to multi-task and it was hard!  Last night I rode Honey, a 24 year old 1/2 Arab who is a finished reining horse and also 3rd level Dressage.  She has buttons, and I found a couple buttons I was not looking for.  Not only did we accidentally canter a very tight circle (my first tight comfortable circle - it was awesome!) but we did a slow spin.  I just laughed because I thought I was asking for a canter but found out I was a tiny bit off from the canter button. 
I am not used to riding with contact and I have to get it in my head that contact is okay.  I am working on body positioning too and I can tell when I get it right because Honey responds instantly.  Not only is Sharon a great instructor who can work with kids and adults, she is so patient but also does not hesitate to yell "WHERE ARE YOU LOOKING?"  Ummmmm, not up?  I was going thru pictures and I look down at my horse a lot - I wonder why I do that?  I talk a lot too.  :-)  I have not watched any of the video yet.

I worked on my posting.  I will just say it - I suck at it!  I feel awkward and like I am a floppy blow up doll on the back of Honey, but she is a gem and goes with the flow until I get it right.  Once I get it right she moves so nice!  Practice makes better, right?  It got me to thinking - I need to get an English saddle that fits Tripp.

Thank you Honey for being so patient and for sharing your time with me....

When I signed up for the package of 4 lessons I was thinking that I would 'brush up' on what I should be doing then I can practice at home.  Well, let's just say that 4 lessons is not going to be close to enough!  Ha ha!  Not only am I having fun, I am learning so much.

Thank you Sharon for being so awesome, and thank you for having such great lesson horses.  That brings me to another thing...my only thoughts about lesson horses were how great they are to do what they do.  But now I am thinking a little further outside of that box - they are AMAZING because they take care of us!  And how is it we as students don't ruin them?  How do they stay so good?

Have a wonderful 4th of July weekend and stay safe!

Until later, Karen and Tripp who says he don't need no English saddle.  He speaks horse!  :-)