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Day 99 We bought Vinny today. I’m not sure whether or not to be excited. He’s great at the walk and jog, but his lope needs work. I have no idea how to teach a horse to lope. I barely ride western anymore.
Day 98 I just longed Leo today. He was good, but god we need to work on his canter. He tries to break every five seconds. I should probably start longing with a whip. His new thing is to follow me after we’re done longing, which is so darn cute. Today when I got maybe 100 feet away he cantered after me. It makes me feel appreciated.  We played in the sprinkler after. Caroline loves it, Leo hates it.

Day 97

I gave Leo another day off, which I probably shouldn’t have considering we have two shows this weekend. I really have to work him on Tuesday. I’m just bitter because my dad was bitching about how much these shows will cost him. He bitches when I don’t ride and now he bitches when I do. I just can’t win.

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Day 96 This is Vinny, a horse my dad went to try out. He’s owned by Leo’s old owner. He was a little bit of a brat, but my dad loves it when horses have characters, especially considering that Scribbles could be a bit of an ass at times. I rode Vinny, and he had such an awesome job with a great headset. His canter…not so much. I have’t ridden western in a while, so I was nervous. The first couple times I asked for the lope he tossed his head and did a quick trot. When I finally got him to canter, it was a little bumpy. I was proud that my dad was able to canter him. He’s great in the trailer, which is a plus. I think we’ll probably end up buying this guy.
Day 95 I had a horse show today. Leo was such a good boy, both in the trailer and the ring. He was awesome and got all his correct leads. I was so impressed with him, especially since his walk to canter transitions were effortless. That’s just something I did with him on the longe line, not under saddle. I feel like we should have pinned higher in my classes, and my trainer agreed with me. He was so awesome that I just started smiling while I was cantering, which is something that never happens. Since it was a qualifying show for states, the judge gives us ratings like “excellent,” “very good,” etc., as well as numerical scores. I scored a 94 in my hunter under saddle and an 87 in my eq class. She told me that she took a couple points off my HUS class because my trot was too extended. I just thought that since my horse had an enthusiastic trot we’d place higher than another horse who was sucked back the entire time.
ginabean: Dad’s potential new horse.
Day 94  I gave Leo a good grooming today and I clipped his mane because I suck at pulling it. This was actually the before photo, but he was shiny anyway.
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Day 93

I longed Leo today, and he was a jerk. I’m not bothered, because I expect to do absolutely awful at our next show. I haven’t had a lesson in a week. The last show was bad. I don’t even care at this point since no one is being supportive.

I pulled his mane a little and it ended up looking horrid, so I switched to his tail. This is the before and after. It’s not super thick, but it sure is long. You can’t really tell from the bad camera angle, though. 

Day 92  I rode Stoney an longed Leo. Stoney was an angel. He had an awesome walk and trot and he actually listened to my leg cues. I still need to get a spur on him, since it just takes so much effort for me to push him to the rail. He cantered wonderfully to the left, but he was having so much trouble getting his right bend and lead. It was really frustrating me. Hopefully we just need some more saddle time with him. I am kind of worried that it might be more than that, since he is 20. He didn’t even try to run away with me this time. This photo was from Friday, when Stoney ran away with me.
Day 91 I did absolutely nothing with Leo today.  This is a photo from our show on Saturday. I’m so glad that Shawn was there to take photos, because I’m pretty sure the show photographer was sleeping the whole time.