Went back to the barn after having about a week and a half off, with my shoulder mostly recovered. Pony Club was still going on to a much lesser degree. I have to say that Cari's mentality bothers me. Avalon, her daughter, is really sweet, but Cari mostly ignores her. Since she owns a pony who stays at her house, she doesn't get to ride very much when other people are there. I hope she rides a lot at home, but I don't know. I think the part which weirds me out so much is how she treats her horses. Xsarena gets loved on and spoiled rotten, but when she's lame Cari basically butes her up and rides some more. She'll spend an hour currying her to see where she's sore and to massage, but for Moonbeam? She's chronically lame. They bute her every single day, and yet she's still lame half the time or more. I can see her being a walk/trot horse, but she really shouldn't be cantering or jumping with the way she's been moving since she came here. It's not awful for a 22 year old, but I think the most important part of riding is doing it within the horse's limits, and they're exceeding hers. BUT, Cari knows far more about riding and horses than I ever will, so I will keep my mouth shut. She's competitive and I'm not, so it doesn't matter nearly as much to me what a horse can do, or rather, what I can make it do.

Rode Keno, he had a big rock in his foot that left an equally big dent in it. He was off, though improved. Worked him pretty lightly, in the arena, because the footing is so much better. He was happy about being out, since it had been a while, and was willing to do what I asked him but obviously wasn't happy about it, so we sort of just moseyed around and left it at that.

I lunged Gillian on Star and I think it went pretty well, though Star was obviously confused. I think maybe next time I'll ask her to do transitions, halt/walk/trot, without reins. Yay? I hopped on Star and walked and did a little trot, but the campers were barrel racing the ancient horses and were sort of in the way for any really constructive work. Besides that, the saddle kept finding air pockets and releasing then refilling. It was distressing for me, I don't know that Star noticed.

I tacked Dylan up and lunged him, then Robert put the long-lines on. Dylan was displeased by the bit actually DOING something in his mouth, but basically figured it out. He still walked right up to me and followed me around when I was trying to fix the fence in his run, so it's not like he could have been that upset.

I have apparently scored a ride on Xsarena. Cari insists that Xsarena is a one-person horse. I pointed out that it seems most of her riders are beginners, and Cari is fairly advanced, and it's possible Xsarena just hates crappy riders. I was trying to point this out without trying to ride her, because I don't really care that much, but I'm a solid intermediate rider. I don't kick horses as a first resort, I'm pretty subtle and light, which I think you need to be to be a top rider (though Ian may mess my case up). Most of Cari's riders don't seem to be that, and I don't know if it's her teaching ability or the fact that they're pretty young (which is likely a big part of it). But in my aversion to saying "someone around my level might do better, because they're not a beginner rider," she told me I could ride her sometime to see. Damn. I just wanted to define whether it was proven she was a one-person horse, or if she just hadn't been exposed to any decent riders besides Cari. And the evidence Cari provided suggests that Cari is an excellent rider, Xsarena is used to excellent riding, and she prefers not to perform for shitty riding. She will perform on an equal level to the riding put out, within her limits. I guess me riding her will test the theory out, but really I just want to get on the Fjords and jump.... ::blush::