...Yes, I dressed Luca in hot pink. Your point?

Was actually super productive for the couple hours I had today. I got the new x-wide tree dressage saddle and toted it out to the barn. Robert and I oohed and aahed for a couple minutes, then he left to drag the arena some more. I grabbed some brushes and groomed Tillie, then took her outside. We practiced walking into the scary scary hay barn, and she did get much better at the end. It took her some time to go back through the door into the aisle to her stall, but it was on the order of a minute or two rather than five or ten like last time. So she's learning. She's not totally sure what to think of Robert- she saw him walking towards us and wanted to go visit, but when he came up to her she went back a few steps.

Next was pony-boy himself. We turned Luca out in the arena and free lunged him. We impressed Robert greatly by his circles around me and trot-canter canter-trot transitions on voice alone. We tried Luca's new saddle on him and it looks okay- I think his shoulders might be a little snug in it but we'll see. He lunged (on a line) very, very nicely, though he had a little trouble picking up the right lead canter on the line. I think he's just not used to doing that on a tighter circle as opposed to the whole arena, and he was also probably tired from running around like an idiot.

Colleen and Jack showed up for their lesson around 3. I lunged Keno on the grass and he's dramatically better, but not 100%. I think he'll be sound on Saturday, and definitely on Tuesday if I have time. He was funny today- he wanted to eat grass, so whenever he got close I'd say "hey!". That offended him greatly and he'd take off a little before remembering that it was way easier just to walk or trot. I asked him to whoa and he really got his quarters under him, lazy boy.

I helped Robert, etc. tack up Rocky and set him free, then swept the aisle, shrugged and grabbed Reno and a bridle. Reno was a little more bouncy than usual but not terribly spooky, just head shakey. We rode for about ten or fifteen minutes, because I had no idea what time it was until I saw the feed truck going by the arena. Reno did not mind going back early, but he also didn't mind sharing the arena with Sunny the ancient pony.

After feeding, I pulled out Niki. She was seriously interested in the tiny person (aka Jack). After sniffing for a while she thought maybe she might try her teeth and was shocked to discover that I disapproved. She failed to try that again. Apparently Colleen had been regaled with tales of Niki the evil pony and couldn't get over how pretty she was and how sweet she seemed. She can be pretty nasty in her stall at feeding time, so it wasn't that surprising. Vic, whose only interactions with Niki are at feeding time, was similarly stunned at how happy she seemed to be. The six of us went to the arena and three of us walked around. We introduced steering from above, as well as stopping and starting. She doesn't seem inclined to do the goosey-start like she does with the tire, and she did a fairly nice halt after the first "you want me to do whaaaaat?" head tossy thing. Colleen has confirmed that my legs + pony = silly.

I'm qualling this weekend so no barn for me, but I should be back on Tuesday. Plans include riding Niki and Luca.