April Fool Free Zone, and station identification.

stolen word-for-word from rolanni:

...it's not that I don't have a sense of humor (which I've been told); I have a lively, if occasionally inappropriate, sense of humor. It's because April Fool's Day has, IMNSHO, become a forum for abusive behavior couched as "jokes," which allows the perpetrator to take and hold the dubious moral high ground of "You can't take a joke!"

Some pranks are wonderful. Some barely reach meh. Some are just wrong, or hurtful. But having them all hit on the same day makes it all blur into a day of "give it up already, okay?"

So. This is an AFFZ. Everything here is on the up-and-up.

Unfortunately, because today, at reaching the 1/3 book point (yay!) on Bonnie #1, I have determined that even though the writing is good, the pacing is for shit. And so I go off with my printout and my pencil, and get ruthless on its lollygagging arse...

Bleah.

But there is riding this afternoon, so not all is bad.


EtA: and "oh bother, said pooh" really should be one of the mood choices, don't you think?

The Return to Riding Report Card, week 3: Grrr, Ow, and Perfect.

The grrr: The fact that momma, daddy, and little brother come to hang out while Sis has her riding lesson is wonderful -- I'm sure it's a good bonding experience. But if you HAVE to bring your small yapping dog without any stable manners with you, please keep it away from the stalls and/or anywhere people may be walking horses. Because if I'd had less experience dealing with spooked/nervous horses, today might have had a Very Bad Ending. (to be fair, dad had words with little brother and took the dog off to one of the unused paddocks. But jeebus, people! Look at how the stable dogs and cats behave, and get a clue!)

the ow: I seem to have passed some sort of test last week, because C turned it up a notch, today. After in-saddle stretches, the next twenty minutes were given over to 2-point/posting/sitting/2-point trots, over and over, while C worked my legs and I worked the upper body, and owwwwwwww. Legs back, elbows bent, shoulders open, seat back, core grounded, eyes forward, chin up, heels down.... Multitasking until it's muscle memory. Owwwww. But it's paying off, because there were periods of 3-10 strides where it all came together and dayum baby, that feeling when you and the horse and the world are in perfect sync is like nothing else -- you know you nailed it, and so does the horse. That's the addiction, right there.

the perfect: I got two of 'em, in fact. "That's it, that was perfect!" I would then promptly lose it again but hey, baby steps. And we got good marks on the trot-canter-trot transition, too (Sancho has a bad head-bob tendency when he picks up his canter that keeps throwing me off, but once he's started he's got a nice rocking gait)

And, because Sancho was done for the day after my lesson, I got grooming time in, too. Sometimes I'm not sure which I enjoy more, the riding or the grooming. Different kinds of satisfaction

( And, since we were discussing equine size differentials.... )