Blankets and Manners

Today is a cold day in Houston. Morrissey is toasty warm in her new blanket. I got it on sale from State Line Tack with free shipping. It is water proof and medium weight and so far I like it. I really wish they had cuter things for horses though. I'm not a complete girly-girl, but when it comes to horse accessories you've got prim and proper English or rough and tumble western. I'm neither, but I usually go towards prim and proper. The plaid is cute enough.

I've been off of work for Thanksgiving break, and I've taken the opportunity to work with Morrissey on her ground manners. This is both good and bad. She needs the work, she can be a little pushy on the ground, but I need to work on riding her. I've only mounted twice and now I'm avoiding even trying. I bought a mounting block and I haven't even saddled her up since it came in. I'm ashamed to even type that out! I tried lunging her with my new lunge line and whip. It didn't go great. She bucked and kept making her circles smaller. She knows she can get one over on me. I've got to get my confidence back up for sure. I've contacted a few people about lessons. We'll see if I can afford them.

I really love Morrissey, she's got such a sweet personality. She is so different from my last horse. I love her meeting me at the gate when I come to see her. She doesn't love to work, but she does love to interact. The one thing I learned with my first horse KK is that you can fix bad manners, but you can't make a horse like people. I'm so glad that isn't what I'm up against with Morrissey.

Things at the boarding stable have been so-so. The young man who runs the place is awesome, but he has a lot of friends around constantly. One of them made a rude comment the other day. I'm a teacher and I'm used to the way that some young people can act, but the stable isn't work. It is the place I go to relax and enjoy myself. It is really important that I can do those things there for the money I pay. Also I'm wondering about the care that Morrissey is getting when the young man is out of town at rodeos, the past two days she was turned out in the cold with no blanket. I have a sneaking suspicion that the bucking situation on the lunge line may have had to do with her being fed sweet feed instead of her very small portion of oats.  I've spent the break shopping around to see the stables in my area. I think I've found a good one. More on that later...