Yesterday started off by watching Robert work with Bella and Jessi. Apparently Bella had just decided the day before that she didn't want to go in the wash stall. Or up to the hay barn. And that was that. Robert led her around, and she didn't get upset. Just annoyed and then resigned. Jessi thinks she'll sign Bella up for training in September. That should be fun. Robert keeps saying "I think of her as a driving horse..." and I'm a little entertained by it all.

Cari was having Pony Camp and Imp had a ground driving lesson, so I sat and watched a girl (Brianna, I think) on a giant bay jumping a figure eight and trying to get leads at the same time I was watching Imp making balanced turns. I like watching Robert longline because I'm not that great at it, and I learn very well by watching/listening (thus why, at the end of every show in high school, I could usually recite EVERY LINE).

Watching Brianna jump made me want to get on a nice horse and do the same thing, when they were done. So I put the two jumps on the lowest crossrail setting-- they were basically cavalletti, but I think the fact that the sides are somewhat higher make the horses want to jump them. I tacked up Keno (forest green is definitely his color) and oh dear god why is he so unbalanced at the canter? We could barely make twenty meter circles without falling in, counter bending, or breaking to a trot. So we worked on that for a while. Then we trotted over the jumps maybe four times, just asking for him to be relaxed afterwards. He likes jumping, but he figured out I wasn't asking for very much, and he doesn't like giving very much so it worked out well. I foresee so many more canter circles/serpentines for him it's a little disgusting.

As I was putting him away Robert came back and pulled out Dylan, so we worked him. He's doing better for harnessing and being cross-tied. He was excessively intrigued by Gabe and wanted to play Sniff the Kitty, but Gabe would have none of it. Dylan did really really well lunging-- he whoas pretty slowly, but will do it off a voice cue alone. Longlining went fine. Robert got bored and introduced the singletree to him, then hitched him to it. Dylan was uncertain but decided it was easier to go along than make a fight out of it, so the most that happened was a bit of a fast walk. What we really, really need to do is work with him on standing. In the cross ties, in the arena, whether we're doing anything with him or not. I think I'll do the same thing that I did with Nicky and work with him on the mounting block, letting me stand at his side and fiddle around. Even if we're not backing him, he needs to know the difference between following the human and letting the human mess with him. The worst part of the longlining is that he doesn't like Robert messing around with his sides so he'll step away and wiggle. Then, when I walk away from him when Robert has the reins, he'll try to follow me and get a surprise when he runs into the bit. After that he's really good.

Then it was mini-time! Mini time has gotten pretty boring. They're adorable and all, and I like working with them, but Danny was being a jerk for me. What they're working on right now is letting the minis figure out how to work together, and that's a slow process that is probably fun if you're instructing or trying to do it, but to just watch isn't very exciting.

After minis comes Sherri and Jim the rescue couple. Jim had pictures of his very cute Drum Horse foals. The problem with Sherri and Jim is that they like to talk a lot, which is well and good, but so does Robert. They often don't start the actual lesson until half an hour or forty minutes after they're supposed to. And, since Rocky is supposed to be done at 4 so he can have dinner, especially because he's got drill at 5:30. So I feel like Sherri gets cheated out of some time.

So I fed, listened to Robert and Sherri and Jim talk about wash stalls and drainage, and then went home.

Robert's going to go look at the Percheron geldings on Friday. I found a pair on Craigslist, but they were the hitch horses. I think his clients are now more interested in the pair of wheel horses, who are calmer. They'll be at the barn for a month, it will be fun times.