The boring part...

I'll let Gillian go into the fun part of our day, but the rest wasn't bad. I got there early to work Dylan-- he was distracted by the horse outside, but wasn't awful. I decided it was too cold to clean him up much and put him back. We talked to Robert and he said he had to call Foxfire to see if they'd still accept our show form, and we'd do Luca when he finished the call. So while he was doing that we got Luca out. He led fairly well. In the crossties he was a veritable angel after we smacked him twice. Robert came out to see him standing quietly and seemed impressed. He saddled up pretty quietly as well, and I actually mounted for the first time without someone holding onto him! He was a little wiggly but he did wait until I had my seat and my stirrups, which is more than I can say for some horses (Papillon...). He wasn't at all bad except for one part, asking for a trot at C going towards M. The way the arena is set up, the gate is at that corner. Gillian and Robert were sitting at C and talking. I was sort of doing a test backwards and asked for a trot at C, and he nearly ran them over. We did it again and he did the same thing. I smacked him a few times and he did a tiny buck. We'll need to work on that, preferably when no one is sitting there. It annoys me that he thinks just because there's a gate there that he can be a bastard. When we came out there were four mares milling around, which got some sideways glances from Luca but he seemed pretty focused on me overall.
Dylan did really well for his owner. He wasn't listening outside but was all business in the arena. We did some basic showmanship stuff, circles in either direction, stopping, backing, all on a loose line. Then I figured he was doing well enough, might as well show him off a little, and tossed the lead over his neck and did the exact same thing, and he did the exact same thing too. It was nice. We also lunged him, just at a walk, and he was super quiet and never tried to trot. His whoas were fantastic and his reverses were good too.
Gillian and I planned to take Keno and Papillon out on a hack but that fell through for me because I couldn't deal with it. I was really tense, slightly dizzy, and when I stopped freaking out over the horse I felt like I was about to cry. Papillon wants to go go go so she was prancing a little. If I can convince my body and brain that she just wants to go, preferably with me on her, and she's not just trying to spook and bolt at everything, it will be better. We just walked around the small "arena" outdoor, and Papillon and I did a few quick forays into the unmown jump arena, but I was freaked out by her and the "wilderness" and also the jumps hidden in the field that I didn't want her to trip over. I wanted to cross the culvert and go into the back forty but I was too nervous. I should get on Reno, ride him for a while in the indoor, and then go out again.
I thought braiding Luca's mane for the show might be nice, so we collected the short pony with the long mane, I brushed it out, and Gillian braided it up. We got Robert's approval.
I lolled about the place and then we fed.