Long one.

Winter already. Blah. I'm putting up the trailer skirting this afternoon. And plasticing a few unnecessary windows.

Went to Dwayne's yesterday. Wow. Like he says, "You know it's a bad day when the only horse that doesn't behave is the broke one."

Miss Kitty was in a mood yesterday. Tried to shake me off, that didn't work so she tried to scrape me off on the trees. Wow. Ended up Dwayne riding her and me riding Cheyenne. Pretty sad state of affairs when I'm riding one of the horses in training. Cheyenne is good though. And it was really nice to be able to get on a horse without a 2 foot block to stand on. Kitty is SO tall. Cheyenne is the same height as Jack is. He should be perfect for me. Just the right height and a narrower barrel. He does need a bit more width on him, but he'll fill out soon enough now that his growing seems to have slowed. I may have to see about ridign Cheyenne some more, and like yesterday, without stirrups. Do that for a couple of weeks, and it'll put your whole body in shape. It's so hard though, and I only rode that way for about 10 minutes. It actually felt better than with stirrups though. More secure. Maybe because I have to pay more attention to the horse.

Jack got ridden yesterday too! Just in the roundpen with a bareback pad, but it's progress! He was so good. He had a couple little hops, but settled down fast. Did some ground driving and working on being okay with the rope around his butt. He's coming right along. Dwayne likes to comment on Jack's "mustang tail". Nice & thick & long. He must have 5 times as much tail as any of the other horses there. He's started calling him "Mustang Jack" too. It's funny.

No more lessons for a week. Dwayne is going hunting. It'll be a nice break for the horses. Let them digest everything they've learned. Wrangler amazes me every day as well. Maybe Kitty will have settled down when Dwayne gets back.

Horses in training:
Miss Kitty Lynx - Dwayne's horse. 4 year old bay QH mare. Apparently she's an excellent team penning horse. She stops fast anyway. Nasty personality though. Should change her name to Diva. She is, and it would suit her MUCH more than "Miss Kitty".
Wrangler - 5 year old black gelding. He's got gold legs! He looks like a draft cross, but I don't think he is. Got a huge thick neck and a big barrel. He was wild until he came to Dwayne's. I think his name should be Bubba.
DJ - 2 year old black mare. Apparently her owners don't ride? Why would you send a horse to be trained if you weren't going to ride it? She's a sweetie.
Cheyenne - 5 year old appy/pinto/roan mare. I think the poor girl ate the ugly tree. She's stubborn, and she was sent to a "school" that wrecks horses. Dwayne figures she's not going to be worth the effort to re-train her.

Have to take my car to the shop tomorrow. We've decided that it's something to do with the turbo, and the mechanic I talked to yesterday agrees. We hope it's just a hose. I HATE not having power. At least there are enough VWs in this town that there is a mechanic who specializes in them. That way I don't have to drive to Edmonton in my no power car.