How we roll

If there was one way to describe how we roll up in here, I would have to say LAST MINUTE.

This is hard for me since I have a schedule problem, in that I live and die by the schedule and get the anxiety when the schedule is jacked with (note this for you people who hang with me, but have a promptness issue--I get out of control).

Inevitably, probably because we do the work of 7 people around here, there are things that have to be done at the last damn minute.

Today, the last minute projects are getting the trailer cleaned out (here it is 9:06 and that has not started), but more fundamentally, determining which hosses are going on the camping trip this weekend. Normally, this is easy, it is whoever has shoes on! Twister is the old standby, and almost always goes, as a spare horse in case something else goes wrong, or a kid needs a ride, or we have company that are not horsey. That leaves two spots in the trailer- and we try to fill it with whoever needs to be ridden. For the last year that has been Hawk and Radar, and mostly they have been perfect to take, since they need ridden so we feel like we are accomplishing something, but also are so easy to get along with you can relax and enjoy yourself at the same time.

This time, we really need to take some others--Target and Boogie. Target has been home from the trainer for two months, and we have not ridden him one time since we got here. Barry rode him at Ryan's in the outdoor arena, but never again. There are good and bad things to that. He said last nite that if he is planning to get in the trailer, he better get on him to make sure he is fit---
And boy is he! Yes, he still wants to run like the athlete he is, but he fits Barry, who is very specific about how he wants one to move, react, think, etc---and Target has it. This is a nice nice horse. If we could give him a Quaalude or two, he would be the perfect horse...but I truly believe a long hard weekend in the Shawnee might change his tune a bit about being in such a big hurry. It does for a lot of them. It took him a minute or two to settle in, and he was much more comfortable riding in the teeny indoor than outside in the world, but that is where the long hard climbs of the Shawnee will come in handy--he will too worn out to be excited.

So he made the cut. Boog not so much. But I have to admit that tonight he was pretty good. He was less spooky and suspicious than he has since we started playing with him on Monday. I got very few pics since it is so dark in the barn, but I thought this was a funny one---Boogie looks content, and Barry looks nervous!
Since Boogie was so much more relaxed tonight, it was easier to pinpoint where his issues are, rather than thinking everything is an issue. He is pretty decent to the left side. He is incredibly stiff to the right--absolutely no flex to the right. He feels like he has had three rides, not 7 weeks. I am more than open to suggestions about how to work on that right side business, from the ground. Barry will not be around except on the weekends, so I am limited to things I can do from the ground.
Boogie wants to be a good boy, he is just not sure how. Somehow, we have to show him, and I am not sure I know how to do that either. The best note of the nite was his willingness, I was really pleased to see that. We have to start somewhere