Eh... Reality check.

Things have been going well with Licorice. We have been making progress... slowly, but it is progress. The biggest issue we're having is respect under saddle... I have trouble being authoratiative enough to get her to listen when I'm on top of an engergetic, 950 pound animals. The other day, after some advice from the I Hate your Horse blog: http://http//ihateyourhorse.blogspot.com/ I decided to hop up and quit being a pussy! We actually made some progress that day... Licorice likes to stop at the "gate" of our "arena" (really just a flat area on some vacant property next door- there's a little trail leading off of it, and she likes to stop there). Well, every time she stopped, I simply cued her to go again, with my legs, voice, and the lunge whip I had. She got pissed, she pulled some of her ear pinning, mini-rearing, bucking bullshit, and she got yelled at and smacked with the whip. This went on for some time... walking was fine... eventually, we got to where trotting was fine. I started out at a posting trot (yes, in a western saddle) to keep her balanced and to set a pace. She slowed down, I kept posting at my pace... eventually we got to where we could trot past her "spot." Even if she slowed down, as long as she was trotting, I gave no "speed up" cues, just posting. Then, I would set a place (different place every time) to stop, praise, and allow her to rest.

Same approach to cantering. I think part of her issue is a balance issue, trouble balancing in a circle, as well as a laziness issue. I kept cueing, smacked when she bucked, until I got a willing canter, buck-free, both ways. This took some time... and it wasn't pretty... we were not collected, she cut through the middle of the arena. No problem. I figure I'll get her willing to work, and then work on refinement.

So, I was feeling pretty good when I hopped on yesterday. Just bareback, and in a halter, in my new half-chaps. Now, I'm not an English person, but I bought an Aussie saddle, which chapped my legs raw in just jeans... and I found a nice pair of Ariat all-terrain half-chaps on clearance. They are suede on the inner leg... which is nice for grip... but apparently not nice enough... LOL.

Really, this is my own fault. I had already been up all night working, then up all day doing errands... so my mind set as I trotted around my property was about equivalent to that of a person with a 3-4 beer buzz. AKA, stupid.

I decided to ask Lic to hop up a small terrace in front of our house. Now, I am admittedly not jumper, though I'd like to take lessons. I have jumped Lic over logs and such on the trail, and I routinely lunge her over this terraced area... it's got to be a foot or less high. No problem, I thought. This will be fun, I say to myself.

Wrong! I lean forward a bit, and Lic takes off like she thinks she's a Grand Prix jumper. She is, in all actuality, a 15 hand paint. But not yesterday... no, yesterday she was a 17 hand warmblood, and it felt that way coming down, too. My floppy, non-jumper self bounced off her back like a bouncy ball... once, twice, three times. I actually don't know if she was bucking or if I was just all over the place. I grabbed for mane, I prayed for a soft landing, I took one final bounce on the ground, and I layed there and whimpered. I rolled over and looked at my horse, who was all too happy to calmy eat weeds, watching me from the corner of her eye.

Well, I can't say I didn't deserve it. I'm lucky, I actually hit my non-helmeted head on our walkway, but emerged from the incident no worse for the wear, mentally. I'll be hobbling on crutches due to a sprained ankle for a few days though. I'm emailing today to start lessons. I'll consider this my first.