I forgot to mention...

Both my hinder, and Cocoa's hinder, are getting tight and taut!!! Alot less jigglin' going on there! ;)

Good things come in small packages :)

Little Cocoa Puff... my horsey love!! Tonight, we had fun again. He "gets" the lunging exercise and does it really well. We worked on moving the hind quarters, and he did pretty good with that. I lunged him more, then I hopped on. I saddled him and he was a little head-flippy while lunging, but I think his mane was stuck under his saddle pad and it was pulling. Because he did fine with me on. I only did a tiny bit of walking, but he was a good boy. We need to work on moving hind quarters and backing, but flexing is next on the list after we master hind quarters!! I felt really good in the saddle - it's like I felt lighter or something... OH! I lost about 3 more pounds!! I'm down almost 10 - and I feel GRRRRRRRREAT! I'm so happy to be on a good road headed in the right direction. So I set two goals for this riding season... one is to be able to hop on Cocoa bareback from the ground, which will require some good leg strength and some good core and upper body strength. I got in the saddle from the ground tonight, and it was the easiest time I've ever had getting in a saddle from the ground. It was AH. MAY. ZING. I can tell my legs and butt are gaining strength again - what a great feeling! The other goal is to participate in a fun show doing something by the end of summer. If I don't make that one, I will not beat myself up. But I really want to at the very least TRY. :) Now I just have to decide if I want to have Christal come and give me lessons so I know what to expect... hmmm... maybe I'll ask little Molly to come over and work with me!! I'm so looking forward to summer and spending as much time as I can with my little horse. Here's the broken record again... I love him soooo much. I thank God for giving him to me!!!

SUUUUUUUUUUUUUNY Day... takin' my BLUUUUUES away!

What a great weekend! The weather was great, and I spent lots of time with horses! Horse-A-Rama yesterday was very cool. I watched the Midwest Renegade Riders which is a team of girls who do trick riding. AH. MAY. ZING. It was really a lot of fun to watch. There were many neat things there - not as big as horse fair, but not as busy and crazy, either. So, later I went up by Cocoa. I brushed adn loved on him. :) The best boy EVER! I took him up to the round pen... it's time to start our training for the year. I did some lunging, then we worked a little on backing and then did the sending exercise between me and the fence. He did sooooooo good! He is such a good boy!!!! He really wants to please, and is so smart! He had LOTS of energy... when I was lunging him, I tried to step in front and get him to change direction, but he was full of it and just had to keep going forward! So, I let him. As he got more tired, I changed his direction and he responded well. Looks like I have to bend forward and direct him in using my finger... he did really well with that today. OK, I gotta go. The basement totally flooded three hours ago and I gotta git to bed!