i am easily trained

this morning's dressage lesson solidified for me that my horse has me wrapped around his little finger (er, hoof, as it were).  he used to overbend to the inside and tokyo drift with his hind end, so i learned to create a wall with my outside rein and leg and give the inside. i grew so accustomed to blocking the drift that i couldn't even begin to consider that our new counterbending issue might stem from applying too much outside rein and not enough inside leg/rein. i am clearly still learning how to process how my four limbs impact his body!

the mental game is the hardest for me. like i said in my intro post, i am feeling in a rut. this morning's lesson was so great, though, that hopefully it's not permanent.

i am inspired by riding rainbow's post, the no-riding blues, to pick up a few of the sport psychology books she mentioned, especially those by jane savoie. my trainer, lisa, has also mentioned the talent code, so i should probably pick that one up, too. i love adding to my equestrian library. in fact, as a book editor, i fantasize about reissuing all the great out-of-print riding books, and encouraging a new generation of riders to read and write. maybe i should get on that.

in the meantime, here's a teaser for what i have to contribute to facebook pony's tack swap:
brand new ariat westchester boots ($150), size 7, full calf, regular height

i also have a set of black nunn finer rubber reins (the pimply ones); a waterford boucher, size 5.25/5.5; a full cheek dr. bristol, size 5; and, maybe a few other things. i hope to post pictures and prices of these additional items this week!

autobahn

autobahn came into my life in april, 2013, about two weeks after i verbalized that i wanted to look for a horse to event and two weeks after i got married. auto was a very special--albeit completely unplanned--wedding gift. in thanks, i named him autobahn after the hubs's favorite kraftwerk song. i discovered, once he was fit enough to ride, that it fits him. 

he needed me as much as i needed him. 

all i know about auto's life before me is second hand from the therapy program where he had been dumped. he was called prince. he was given up because he "had a buck." and he had been starved.

it had never been my intention to rescue a horse, but i couldn't leave him behind. not only did he need me, i have an unhealthy attraction to projects. i had the best intentions (and romantic notions) of rehabbing him and uncovering a diamond in the rough. little did i know that he was almost entirely green (no wonder he "had a buck!") and that i was mostly unprepared for such a project.

we're still polishing the diamond, and i still sometimes wonder if i've bitten off more than i can chew. but i've committed and recommitted to him countless times in the last fifteen months. we've overcome (hopefully) low-grade EPM and sore SIs/injections and we're working through his countless evasions and my utter ignorance of dressage.

he's my bubba, there's no doubt about it, and we're together for good reason.