I bought the most comfortable breeches ever. They are black, lined with fleece, and I got them on sale for $30. I have been wearing them since I was at the barn at 3:00. I think I will even sleep in them! I also bought a nice, fluffly fleece girth for Andy, since his leather 50" one is too long. Since the one I have now is way long, I got a 46". I ripped the tags off and went to put it on and...Too short! Arg! I am such an idiot. I thought for sure that 4" shorter would be perfect. Nope. I can't return a dirty, tagless piece of tack, but fortunately it will fit LB. Right now she has a crummy, dirty string girth. I checked, and it is a 46". This actually isn't too bad, because the polo team recently asked me if I had LB's tack. hahah, what space cases. Where else would it be? So I think they'll be wanting it back, so she does need a new girth. But if the polo club wants her stuff back, they gotta work for it. If they want it, they can come to Hillsboro and get it from me.

My foot is interesting colors. Thanks a lot Andy!

I realized on Sunday that I had brought Andy home exactly a year ago. To celebrate, I brought him a delicious, expensive honeycrisp apple. Apparently, he does not like that particular type of apple, and he spit it out. What a diva. I guess his name is Prince Hellstrom, so he's pretty stuck up. I fed the rest to LB, who was sort of on the fence about it, but she is a food vacuum, so she ended up eating it all.

When I went out I was going to long-line him and work on some softening from the ground, as stirrups + my purple foot = ouch. When I got to the barn one of the little girls, Grace, was riding her pony in the arena, so I decided not to. Sometimes he does buck and screw around on the long line, so I figured I wouldn't. Mel told me how Grace wanted to fall off of her horse so she wouldn't have to canter on her lesson on Friday. Poor girl! I've been there before, when I wanted to fall off and get hurt to get out of playing in a polo match that was totally above my head. I did end up falling off, but not getting hurt enough to get out of playing. But good for Grace, she got the rhythm of cantering during her lesson and I saw her canter when I was riding in there. Hahah, ponies. She rides the cutest little black pony, jazz, and she had to kick it so hard to get it to trot. That makes me appreciate having a really forward, sensitive horse. If I kicked Andy like that he would be in the next county over before I could blink.

So I wound up riding with my newly acquired bareback pad. I love it! It made his narrow back so much more comfortable, and the oh-shit handle made me much less worried about rough stops. I am happy to report that I have now cantered Andy bareback! So exciting. Three years ago I could not canter LB without stirrups. Now I can canter on Andy bareback. We've come a long way baby.

This just in- I have bones of steel! My foot is not broken, thank God, because the doctor would have put it in a cast for weeks if it was! I was pretty worried, as it was an ugly shade of purple and huge this morning. My mom, dad, and the doctor I saw at Urgent Care thought that there was a fracture, seeing how ugly it looked, but the doctor didn't see anything on the X-ray, so I am good to go! Well, unless the radiologist sees something, but cross my fingers that won't happen. As it is, I'm suppose to be on crutches til Saturday, but I hate crutches and the only ones I have are way too big for me and hurt my arm pits, so I am just hobbling along. I'm probably not suppose to ride for a while, but I have a ton of homework for Kandice and Sara, so I think I'll get back on Saturday with my stiff calf boots. I recited the whole RICE acronym to the doctor (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) and told her that I am rider, so I have plenty of experience. She got a kick out of that.

On the subject of my bones made of steel, I seriously think that they are infused with adamantium, a la Wolverine. This is like the third time when I've gotten hurt and the doctors told me they thought I had a fracture, but I X-rayed clear. Most curious, especially seeing as how I don't drink milk unless it's in coffee, and my vitamin D levels are always low. I must just have a great skeletal system. Not to worry, my crappy tendons make up for it!

At my lesson today Sara said that Andy is looking really good. He's building muscles in his butt and topline, gaining weight, and looking nice and shiny. His trot and canter have also really improved. She asked me if I was interested in showing, to which I said "Hell yes!" So I'm going to a schooling at her barn during winter (February I think). Her goal for me is to make it to the ODS Adult Team Show in May. YAY! I was going to broach the topic of showing with her this lesson anyways, and get her opinion on whether or not we'd be ready this year. She thinks it's a great idea. So now I have trainer approval. I am dressage-show bound! I'm not so sure about jumping shows though. That might have to wait a year or so! I am so thrilled that I started working with Sara. Andy and I needed it. She's very focused on turning Andy in a dressage horse, and a little less focused on my riding, which is great. It's what we really need. We'll learn together.

I had a really good lesson on Callie on Tuesday. We spent the whole lesson refining my jumping position. Kandice had me subtly adjusting my two-point at w/t/c, and doing transitions in half-seat as well. Freaking tough work! Can I just say that I need some serious core muscles? She told me that when I go from posting to two-point, my shoulders should be in the same position. Holy abs/back muscles Batman! I am the queen of slumping my shoulders forward. It's probably from years of poor posture. Will work on that. Callie was being really responsive, so Kandice had me work on extending and lengthening at the trot, then collecting back up again. It was so cool how I could really feel the difference!

In other news, a sweaty and displeased Andy completely stomped my foot after my lesson today. I was picking his back hoof when he jerked it out of my hands and slammed it back down to the ground- right onto my foot. It hurt so bad that I couldn't even discipline him- I just had to hobble over the bench and sit down. Naughty pony- he knows better that to do that shit. I really think he was grouchy after working so hard. My foot does not look pretty. It's got a nasty, huge bruise and it and is all swollen. I think I'll have it x-rayed tomorrow, just to make sure there's no break. You can actually see the curved line of Andy's shoe. That little fucker. This is just not my month. I will, however, take this as an opportunity to get new boots. If it had been wearing my stiff calf-length boots my foot wouldn't be nearly as hurt. Those crappy fake leather tall boots have no strength and just let Andy annhilate my foot. No more of that!