Lesson Day

I've gone from lessons once or twice a week to only once a month which is actually two days back to back, and I ride twice each day. So in reality, I am getting four lessons a month, which isn't too bad. Chemaine will be here today and tomorrow, so I am really excited to get out to the barn.

Chemaine always packs so much into the lessons that for the first two weeks, I am busy trying to apply what she taught us. By week three, I am starting to see the gaps in our work, and by week four, I find myself ditching certain exercises knowing that Chemaine will be here soon to help me fix whatever is wrong. I am definitely in the need help category right now.

Lessons aren't a reason to go over-the-top on grooming, but knowing that a few more people will be around at the barn motivated me to take care of some chores that I'd been putting off. Haircuts was at the top of the list.

The look you get when you haven't served lunch quickly enough to someone who had to stand patiently for a haircut.

My barn doesn't have electricity, so I have to walk my clippers and horses over to the neighbor's place to use her plugs. After cleaning up both boys' faces and bridles paths, I realized that Izzy's normally unruly mane was looking particularly ill kept.

I started banding it a month or so ago in an attempt to get it to stay on one side - his is split mostly down the middle. My bands kept popping off though, so operation Train Izzy's Mane wasn't going so well. My young friend Morgan declared my bands to be old and cracked. She grabbed one, stretched it out, and pointed out the white cracks in the rubber. Well that certainly explained a lot.

I went out and bought fresh bands and re-banded Izzy's mane. The bands were doing a good job, but after nearly two weeks, I realized that most of them had finally fallen out or broken, and those that were still there were giving Izzy what looked like bed head. I combed it all out neatly and put fresh bands in.

Not a traditional look for a dressage pony.

I am not sure how long it takes to train a mane to lay on one side, or if this is even the correct way to do it, so if anyone has some words of wisdom, I'd love to hear them!