By request...

Got there, no one was around though I thought Jessi was supposed to have a lesson. Helped Robert with balancing the cart for a while. I finished cleaning Luca's harness (hooray!), which took a fair bit of time. Robert came in and said he had to go to town, but he'd be back by 1. I asked if we could take Luca out, since all Robert actually needs to do with Luca is get in the cart and get out again. He said yes. So I lunged Dylan first. Dylan was Highly Distracted by the Pretty Girl (aka, Xsarena). I don't think he'd ever been worked in an arena while a horse was going around the outside, and he took a while to settle down. Then he wanted to run like an idiot once she left, which was pretty much fine by me. He was much more willing to Ho on command after that.

Luca was good, lots of head shaking but really if that's all he's going to do, fine by me. He barely moved his feet for the fly spray, so it's not like he isn't improving where it matters. He spooked at the van, which was unfamiliar and parked only a hundred feet away from him, back at the big house with the barn and pool, and spooked at something or other but only went into a giant trot, which again, fine by me. He's also getting much better about being bathed. He's not thrilled, but one or two sidles to the side and he's done. I'm being lazy about tying him, which is a problem, but not as much as it would be normally. The door is closed and the only stall he can go into is his own. And I only drop the lead when I'm turning the water off or I'm asking him to move around, at which point he's very subdued and will often turn on the forehand to avoid pulling on the rope at ALL. I need to get better, but I can rationalize.

Minis were great. Robert wants to get a photoshoot of the minis and the drafts done on Thursday (I'll have to get there early). To get good pictures, we'd have to take them outside, so we took the minis outside! They (and Robert) had a blast. Pepper, who's really nervous, was a little on edge but also stretched out instead of moving his little hind legs as fast and short-strided as possible. Danny kept cantering around the turns, which was really cute. Robert couldn't stop laughing. Their owner drove them for a bit, and then offered me the reins. Cutest ponies ever. Robert was so thrilled with them that he let Danny rub on him all he wanted, and then hugged onto his head. That was also pretty cute.

Went out for a drive with Reno, he was expectedly strong but overall a well-behaved horse by well-behaved horse standards, not just Reno standards.

Dylan's owners came again today, while Robert was in the house. It's very awkward for me because I know Robert isn't a huge fan of us talking to the clients, so I have to think of general platitudes to tell them, or things that are a) good, and b) true, without telling them anything really big. It's true though that I love Dylan, he's doing very well, we're getting him to stand still, and I was amazed at how well he handles flyspray. Also that we're getting him to do transitions on voice command rather than bit, which is really nice for, well, everything.

Nicky had her third time on the cart on Monday. She wouldn't stop bucking (yes, we have a kicking strap on), so Robert took her into the back and cantered her for 35 minutes. She didn't give up for 30 minutes. He was pretty pleased that she dragged that heavy green cart for that long, and also that she'll do flying lead changes more-or-less on command. He wasn't so pleased that it took 35 minutes, or that he had to do it at all, but she's got a lot of angry. He said she was VERY affectionate with him when he was cleaning the stalls the next day.