Okay, so I had three goals today:
-Get Papillon out
-Get Star out
-Go riding outside the arena

Arrived at the barn (10am), waited for Robert to appear while I swept the aisle, he failed to do so. Papillon heard me in the aisle and walked briskly up to her grate, with her "You're a human who sometimes rides me, let's go!" ears. Went to their house instead and knocked (10:15am). Robert was getting ready to go to the bank and Lil was making bread. Which meant that after I finished talking to Robert, I talked to Lil. Both wonderful people, don't get me wrong, but I feel like I could have worked a horse. Meh.

I got Reno out by myself, which was a little exciting (11am). He was a little indignant about being asked to, you know, stand, while I went from his head to in the cart. He was pretty hot when we started trotting-- there was a LOT of trocantering and one major spook when a car went past him (Really? How long have you been driving at this barn, out in the field? Dork.), and didn't really calm down all the way. I think tomorrow, if I get him out, there will be a bunch of walk/trot transitions. My hands were pretty cramped at the end. Although, again, minimal prancing, there is still hope.

Robert came back just as we were pulling in and said he'd be out at 1 (12pm), at which point we'd work Luca-- there were lessons at 2 and 3. I hosed Reno off and put him back (12:15pm). Sat down and ate food. I had 45 minutes, theoretically. I could work a horse and not really get anything but energy out of them, or... I could sit, Robert could come out at 1, get Luca, and help me tack him up, or... I could tack Luca and have him ready by 1. This would be the best option, assuming he didn't try to kill me.

Got Luca, he was pretty docile (12:45pm). He was squirmy once and then pretty much settled down, when all I did was move him back into place and keep going. He pawed, which got his foot taken away briefly, and then he stopped. Harnessing was really a complete non-event. So we were done possibly earlier than 1, but I doubt it. I can time my harnessing pretty accurately, and by myself it takes 15-20 minutes. It would be perfect! But... Robert didn't appear for a while. So we hung out. He was verrrry good once he figured out he got wither scratches for standing still.

New theory- Luca is a dirty little show-off. Robert says he's really good when it's just him and Robert. He was really good with me when it was just me and him. I didn't smack him once. Disciplines included tugging lightly on his leadrope when he got ahead of me (couple times), throwing my hands in front of me when he tried that stupid "look I'm walking in front of you and in your space but it's only my neck bent around!" trick (twice), moving him back over when he tried to swing around in the crossties (once), and grabbing his hoof when he pawed (once). Then he said, okay, those are the rules for today, I got it, and quit trying. I guess the other thing is that he didn't get a rise out of me, so it stopped being fun, which is also a major consideration.

I passed on driving Luca. It was a good choice. Once we started trotting, he tried taking off a few times, kicked the cart once, and was incredibly heavy, because he was just waiting for something to give so he could take off again. So... we trotted around until he behaved himself, did a barrel-pattern (which was tons of fun but had I been driving, I would have killed us all), and took his sweaty self back to the barn, where I hosed him down (2pm). He wasn't thrilled about this. He was even less thrilled about a knuckle in his squishy flank when he tried to move over, and got the message fast, but man did I get dirty looks. At least the boy's not dumb. Robert laughed when he saw me spraying Luca's face, and Luca trying to drink the water from the air. His face was sweaty! ::grumble::

Mini-time! I was supposed to lunge/long-line Dylan during mini-time, but I figured (really there was forethought, it's not an Ian-I-figured) it would be useful for me to help tack up a horse, because while it seems to take two to three people to tack up the horse I'm not working on, one is more than sufficient. Mini-Owner: "Oh you've been so good with helping us, you should drive the minis today!" Which is weird. It's one thing if they're in for training, and that's part of the process. It's another thing entirely, in my mind, when they haul horses in for lessons-- lessons which are intended to be the owner working the horse under the trainer, or the trainer working the horse-- and then watch me work them instead of doing it themselves. I'd be more comfortable if that was one of those things they say but never actually intend to let me do, which is what I thought this was. But no, I drove Danny and Pepper. They are super-cute, take an enormous amount of space to turn comfortably, and are lazy little boys.

After the minis (3:15pm), Sherri never appeared, and Robert and I chatted for a while as I made up feed. He went inside to go do paperwork, and I still had to work Dylan (3:30pm).

Dylan was a mess. He came up to me happily. I was just going to lunge him, since we wouldn't really have enough time if I harnessed him up. BUT.... (dun dun dun).... I used a different lunge whip. One which was much longer, and had a longer fall. It made noise as it whispered through the dirt, and it was FAR too close to him for his personal comfort, which promoted very cute head carriage as well as some snorts and an inability to walk. I hate that. I like going up the gaits. First we stand. Then we walk, then trot, etc. I don't send a horse out right away to lunge, normally. We stand. There is an Order, and if they don't like it, that's a shame. He did walk after a bit, so I let him trot out for a while, but he didn't calm down and he didn't feel like listening. So we stopped, and watched the whip swish-swish-swish all around. Then we tried it again. He got it, sort of. After a while. It really wasn't that long, since it was a 20 minute lunge max, but there's only so many times I want to watch a horse go around in circles. I was in time to feed, though (4pm).

Also, at the end, I tossed the mounting block around him, stood by his shoulder, and climbed up and down on it with little to no response. We'd done this briefly on Thursday when he was very much done with doing things, and he was shocked at my growth spurts but not actually spooky. Aside from useful for backing horses, I like it because the horse learns that it's okay for me to stand at its shoulder. At this point in their training, the horse (especially Dylan) wants to be leading pretty and following you around, no matter what. When you're putting longlines on a horse, it increases the difficulty and the danger by having them try to spin around to face you. I tried this with Nicky before, because she also did not want to stand still for the long lines, and it helped immensely. I mean. It made me feel pretty silly, standing on a mounting block to run lines through a surcingle on a 13.2 pony, but it worked! At least Dylan's like... 15.1.

So, er... in other words? I fail miserably at achieving goals.