Tuck and Spurt is a new term I came up with tonight to describe something Sue does. When she gets nervous or fearful, she tenses, her rear end tucks in and she spurts forward.  This isn't a good thing.  It would be a good thing if we were in a starting gate ready to chase down a cow.  As we are riding along and I ask her to go forward, I might "overask" and she'll tense all up...tuck and spurt.  You might imagine this just destroys the transition that I am asking for. …

I don't know whether or not you've noticed this, but ususally the title pertains to either Sue or I.  Today, it really is my title. We were in a nice sized 3 hour clinic this morning at Pine Dell.  There were 9 wonderful horses in the clinic.  Sue is getting better with her claustrophobia right along with my fear termination. But, we still have a problem going between horses while we are trying to stay at a consistent gait on the wall.  While we are doing that, other horses are…

The Horse Show Goal My goals were: to ride from the horse trailer to the arena to ride in the show classes, occasionally doing what the judge called for to ride out of the arena to the trailer  We got big huge virtual blue ribbons and met everyone of these goals I thanked everyone that came, clapped and cheered. I discovered that smiling when people clap is a great way to release tension. I know Sue enjoyed the clapping. Sue knew it was her night. The arena was ours!  We have a nice group…

Show day minus one.  We practiced today.  Jenny rode Nova  in the arena with us.  We were pulled by an amazing force of gravity to follow Nova around the arena. Boy Howdy - It will be great in the show arena.  Nova, Diva (Sue's own daughter) and Velvet ..all of them or at least one of them will be in every show class we enter. Way cool I have show blanket.  I have ribbons.  I have a Western shirt for the fox trotter western class.  I have a shirt for…

I understand catatonic behavior now.  After I made the annoucement that I was going to show Sue, someone asked me what I was going to wear. There are people who like to match clothes, saddle blanket and horse ribbons. Me, I went catatonic.  The idea of riding Sue in a horse show is really all my brain can handle. The thought of having to figure out some sort of matching show wear made me unable to participate in speech or thought. I did finally respond "black slacks, some kind of long sleeved…

I understand catatonic behavior now.  After I made the annoucement that I was going to show Sue, someone asked me what I was going to wear. There are people who like to match clothes, saddle blanket and horse ribbons. Me, I went catatonic.  The idea of riding Sue in a horse show is really all my brain can handle. The thought of having to figure out some sort of matching show wear made me unable to participate in speech or thought. I did finally respond "black slacks, some kind of long sleeved…