Horse and Girl Go to Flight School!

It's my day off here at More Inside Leg Stables.. I'm proud to say that Clark the camper is all cleaned. He sports a fresh baked batch of cornbread on his counter, red beans and rice tucked into his fridge.

I thought I had lost a ton of weight, and then I realized I had just lost feeling in my thighs. All feeling has returned now. I'll admit it...
I'm a little bummed.

But enough about me, my sweet little girl has become a TEENAGER. Let's face it, three year old horses are about like fifteen year old humans. She's just broke out of her training bra, is hot to trot, believes she knows it all, and resists any kind of authority. I'm like..
PAUSE, pony. I'm the teenager! I'm supposed to be the irrational one! But alas, our days are filled with:
"Biting is NOT nice."
"QUIT IT."
"(insert not nice words), (insert not nice words) !!" (Those of you with teenagers understand..)

I rode her for the first time on Thursday, just a little after I lunged her. She was good, but she might have still been a little dizzy from doing spiral-ins on the lunge. (for you horsey people, GREAT exercise for any level of pony. Gets balance/brain going. I love it!)

Then Friday rolled around.. And Horse and I went head-to-head for the turn-on-the-forehand. For sake of history, call it our Cold War... Had someone actually dropped a bomb.

"Okay, slow her down. Ask her to move off your inside leg.." Boss Mare called. "Tell her to WAIT for you."

Horse blatantly ignored me. She tucked her sweet little nose back and breezed right on. Now, all of you riders out there are probably quivering in your boots because this is a GIANT no-no in the dressage world. For non-horsey people, this is the equivalent of your kid agreeing with you, and then just doing what they want anyway. (Kids, this is very effective if you can make it where your parents don't know you did it... Just saying!)

So, I took her rump over to the wall where she can't walk off as easily and asked again. Now she flat out resisted, wringing her tail as if I'd just asked her to jump the Empire State building. "It's a good thing you're young." Boss Mare said in the midst of giving me several (AKA 100) instructions.

Horse, however, objected worst when my tactics got more effective. I felt her coil up beneath me, and with the wall in front and any sideways or backwards motion blocked, she did what any good military would do.

She went for the skies.
Her front legs reached as if to climb the wall. I brought my right rein to the side, pulling her back from sky to earth. Boss Mare had already uncurled herself from her seat and strode across the ring with this determined glint in her eyes that would make the worst convict pause. I fought my anger down to finish with a decent ride. (no fear, surprisingly. I suppose I'll develop that emotion at 20 years with the rest of my brain..)

"We're both going to be better people because of her." Boss Mare said later, as Horse stood in the cross ties with a rebellious expression still hidden under several layers of sweat.