Game ON horse!

More horse talk - as I am obsessed with my lessons at the moment.  So I found those horse riding instruction books and have been studying them with much tenacity.  I chose the more zen and horse friendly manuals - but find myself learning from a very strong-willed oompa loompa like character at the stables.  My instructor is all of 4 1/2 feet - and she is FIERCE.  She likes short reigns and firm kicks.  I like stroking the neck and making cooing noises.

Today she took the leash off of Flair and I rode a horse without training wheels for the first time.  It was pretty thrilling.  Then Flair stole the show and tried to walk us out of the ring and back to the stables.  It is hard to remember what you read the night before in your zen horse manual when you are basically being hijacked by a horse.  Oh Flair - why do you hate me so?

So today I learned how to use a riding crop (I prefer the sound of that vs. what oompa loompa calls it:  horse whip).  I have been dreading this day... I don't want to kick a horse, let alone whip one.  But I must say that it did keep my horse in the ring (hooray) and on the path (mostly).  Midway through all of this chaos Flair tried to shake me off, and then bite me.  It sounds a lot worse than it was - however, if she didn't have that massive bit in her mouth I would have run for my life!  Apparently she is testing my resolve.

And now I am on the hunt for some horse psychology books asap.