In which I deal with ill-trained animals.

I came accross this quote this morning and thought it spoke volumes: Easy reading is damn hard writing. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne. Isn’t that just the truth?!?! It’s so hard to write and it takes so long, but you can read a book that may have taken someone years to write in just a few hours! It really isn’t fair. But I guess life isn't fair so...

I am riding horses again! Two actually. These people we know have horses, but never ride them, so it is now my job it exercise them. Fun right? Well it would be better if they were trained. These horses have been mostly pasture horses for most of their lives and they hate the saddle or anything to do with horse tack. Rosie, the younger of the two, is so skittish about the saddle, that it takes me forever to get one on her. Get this, she doesn’t know what “trot” is. I try to get her to go faster than a walk and she spooks. Very annoying. Nathan helped me exercise the horses the other day, but there is no way I am letting him ride Rosie. I pray every time climb into that saddle that I’m not going to get thrown. It's times like these when I am very glad for my four and a half years of horse training.

The other horse is named Breezy. She’s more laid back and doesn't spook like Rosie, but she is stubborn! It’s nearly impossible to get her out and away from her pen. It takes two to saddle her because she dances around a lot and won’t let you tighten the girth! I pray for patience with these creatures. I almost think it would be better not to ride at all then to ride these two ill-trained animals.

The first time I was out on them, I was wearing a black tank top. I forgot sunscreen. I came back very burned. it was just my shoulders though. the part the tank didn't cover. but my shoulders and nose always burn the worst, but my nose was shaded by the helmet, so no damage done there. I've worn regular T-shirts since.