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Ok, I'm sure I've gone riding since the last post, but heres a re-cap of what I did this saturday.

Went to ride last saturday, Spriggy's owner wanted to try out the dressage saddle on her, since she thinks Sprig doesn't like it. Took 15 minutes to get the stirrups adjusted right, I have long legs >.< and then I'm off walking, lalala. Sprigs owner starts giving me a lesson, lead changes at the trot. mk, fun. start trotting. side note: Sprig has the most HORRENDOUS trot EVER, she doesn't throw you or anything, though she's good to control with you post, she's insane. Trot trot trot, figure eight around, change lead at center lalala. 15 minutes pass, still trotting... trotting... (haven't ridden much in last 2 months, totally unconditioned) trotting.. trotting. DONE. Walk for a nice cool down and then some... Later that day, we take Spriggy's owners horseys in from the pasture and start baths. have you bathed 3 horses in a row? you know how terrible hard work that is? After washing the beasts, I take them out to the lawn on a lead to let them graze while they dry off. Fun... until the last horse, the oldest and blankest one. She bolts and I'm dragged 5 feet until I yank her hard enough to stop. geez. The next morning, I'm pretty much disabled, my arms are deflated and legs are deflated. fun.

That's it of my whining for today. A treat for you in the next two weeks: Horse camp! You get to hear of my adventures with the jumpy gelding and the constanly pissed mare!

I just saw I promised some piss n moan from horse camp.

Well, that was last year, but I'll still whine.

Ok, so the barn that I went to camp at had to move because a highway was going to be put in where it was, so at camp, all that was built was the outdoor arena, the running shed for the horses and the pastures. That was fun because we didn't have to shovel manure those two weeks (but we did have to help build the barn...) I got to ride the old mare with a dead mouth, and I like riding horses that respond when you forgot to tighten the girth and flip over and off the horse.... I almost beat that nag I was so pissed. Good thing I was switched to another horse, who is the granddaughter of Twilite, one of the horses the owner of Sprig has. She was 4 years old and full fun, which was awesome, I got some practice in on slowing a bolting horse and working with the more inexperienced horses. I don't remember any grief that she gave me, only once did she try to bite another horse, but that was it. I got stepped on 3 times by the evil old nag, too... Heh XD

We've now progressed from a 15 minute trail ride at just a walk to a 2 hour trail ride with trotting biggrin We went to a bigger trail last weekend and Sprig was wonderful, she just tried eating trees XD We're set to go again tomorrow. On Thursday I worked her at the trot for a while, extending and collecting, that sort of thing, she was good in the beginning but she became a butt face so I just made practiced walking her on a loose rein (Difficult!). She tried pulling the reins out of my hands, it was funny, she does that when she's doing something she doesn't like. Needless to say, I made her work harder XD Even harder than what I'd like to work, but she needed it.