Do I really need that second horse?

I have decided to give Pete back to his owner. She asked how things were going last week, and told my trainer that in August she would only have one horse on her property, and she would take Pete back if I was ok with it so he could be a pasture buddy.

I had to make this decision with my head.

I like Pete. He can get bratty under saddle, but he's not vicious. He's not trying to get me off, he's just expressing his displeasure at being worked in the heat or having too much time off. And on the ground he is the sweetest horse ever. He's super affectionate, and will come up to say hi in the pasture, even if you're all the way across the pasture from where he's eating his hay. He comes to the gate when you come out to the fence. If he could be trusted at the canter he would be the perfect Pony Club horse for a little girl.

I like him a lot.

But I don't have a trailer. I'm trying to save up for a trip to Japan in the next couple of years. And I have a perfectly sound horse to ride that's mine.

Spending $300 a month because I like a horse doesn't make too much sense at this point.

Pete taught me a lot. I am more confident in my leg, and I have a much faster reaction time to misbehavior or bad situations than I did before I started riding him. I know how to do a shoulder-in now, and I use my outside rein like I am supposed to. I have the confidence to loop the inside rein and trust that the horse will stay on the bit. Stuff that would have thrown me for a mental loop a year ago doesn't phase me today.

It was worth having him, especially while Avalon was lame. But I think I have learned the important things I could get out of riding him. My trainer thinks so, too. Horses will always continue to teach you, but I think in this case it's time for me to start concentrating on my own horse again.

I think I would have come to a different conclusion if I had a trailer. Showing Pete would have been something that could have really helped me gain confidence in the show ring. It's funny, I don't 100% trust Pete at the canter, but I doubt he would get as worked up as Avalon does going off the property. Going to a show where you can concentrate on your riding  and your own nerves instead of your horse's nerves would be a great thing for me to experience - but I need a trailer to do that. And the Great Trailering Accident of 2010 (also known as the I Hate Alabama incident) took care of that.

I need to save up for a trailer. I'm doing a good job of knocking my debts out one by one, but I haven't made much progress towards the trailer as a result. $300 a month can make a big difference.

And Pete's owner loves him as much as I do. It's time to give him back.

I passed!

Well, I passed the bar. I cannot express how relieved I am that I don't have to take that test again. I actually had something to celebrate at that party last Saturday.

I managed to mess up my back Sunday trying to do a workout video. It actually had been twinging since my lesson the Sunday before, and I was pretty silly and thought it was good to go. My lesson really drove home to me how weak my core is, especially my lower back. I decided I needed to do some exercises to improve my strength in that area...but I clearly overdid it the first try. I haven't ridden or worked out since I hurt my back on Sunday, and I know I need another day to let my back heal up. So that means I have two horses who will not have been ridden for three days, and I have a canoeing adventure scheduled for Saturday. I'm going to go into my Sunday lesson with only two rides for the week under my belt. Not ideal. But I think if I rode this afternoon I might reinjure myself, to that's the way it's going to have to be. Maybe I can sneak in a ride late Saturday.

My last lesson can be quickly summed up as this: I can do a shoulder in on Avalon, but it's harder for him towards the right. By the time we were working on the right I had exhausted my core strength, and as a result he was running out at the shoulder. An improvement on my seat and core at the time could have fixed that. We actually did it later that week, but I started trying far earlier during the ride, so I had the stamina for it.

This is the first time I have ever had problems during a lesson where I clearly had the skills but did not have the strength to do it.

This is a really great additional motivator to continue trying to lose weight and get fit. I just need to try to do it more carefully!

Not as bad as I thought...

I weighed myself this morning. 185.6 pounds. I was expecting to have gained back almost all I lost, so that measly .6 lb doesn't bother me at all. I had a great lesson, and I successfully staved off a sugar craving with some fruit.

We took pictures today during the lesson.

I got some pretty decent leg yields.

Taking pictures helps you realize some things. I think my leg is slightly too far forward, and I am absolutely not sitting up as straight as I need to be.

Despite all of my little nitpicking on my riding, I must be doing something right - Avalon looks great!

I also start to lean forward during cavaletti.

This is Pete. Like I said, he's a bit chunky right now. I should have taken a front on picture, his gut is wider than his shoulders and hips right now.

And I saw a bunny!

Nothing like photographic proof of how large your butt is to make you want to work harder at losing weight.

First lesson back...

...and it was a disaster.

I hadn't had a lesson since December or early January, because I basically paused my entire life in order to take the bar at the end of February. I didn't even ride in February, I just went out and groomed my horses and left. I was so overwhelmingly stressed at that point I couldn't imagine spending an hour riding that I could have used to study.

And I may have still failed, but that's another issue completely.

This last Sunday I had my first lesson back.

My trainer commented I had my "hunter perch" going on in the first couple of minutes of warm up (I started hunter and now do dressage/eventing) so I knew from step one I had let some of my old bad habits creep back into my riding. It even took me a few minutes longer than usual to get Pete on the bit.

My leg was a disaster. I had gone hiking (6.6 miles!) on Saturday then rode both Pete and Avalon, and then had a lesson on Sunday. I could not for the life of me get my leg to stay in the position I wanted it to, nor did it feel like I had enough power to push him over for a leg yield. I don't know if it was from working so hard the day before or if I had just lost muscle strength from my slacking, but I ride again this afternoon so we'll find out sooner or later.

Pete was giving me fits when I tried to push him into a leg yield towards the right, something to do with the right rein. When I just left the right rein alone and tried to get him over using my legs and just the left rein for half halts he didn't spaz out. I don't know if I was trying to overcompensate for my lack of strength in my leg by being too harsh with the rein, but I'm hoping it was just a temporary issue. He was definitely telling me something was up, so I'm just going to be careful with that rein for a while, hoping it was my discombobulation that was the issue. If he's still doing it for next weeks lesson I think I'm going to call the vet and make sure it's not an abscess or something up with his mouth. I didn't see anything when I checked, and adjusted the bridle, so we'll see.

Despite how pathetic my leg yields were Sunday, I did have some good moments. Pete's extended trot across the diagonal is coming along nicely, so that's a positive.

At least now I know what to work on when I'm out there! I hate riding around without a real plan.