It should be illegal to be this hot

I swear there are cooler days in Hell on a summer afternoon. It was one of those stagnant, humid days, where the sweat on your skin just never dries. But, being dedicated as I am, I rode. Well, sort of.

Bella had the day off. Her feet are just so bad that I didn't want to push her into something uncomfortable, and now the nails are starting to pop out in her front shoes. I didn't want to run the risk of her cutting herself (even with four polos and bellboots), so I just let her chill out in front of her fan on high. Thankfully, the new farrier arrives at 9am tomorrow morning, so hopefully that will be taken care of.

I decided to hop up on Bailey first today, because I'm getting more and more excited to ride her. Today I actually rode her in the chambon, and I still love it more and more each day. She really relaxed into it, and the great thing is, I can still have almost no contact with her mouth. That way, I'm not interfering with her, but she's still stretching out her topline and moving forward into the contact by her own choice. It's kind of a nifty little thing, and I'd never had any experience with them until Florida this winter. I really like it, and highly recommend it to anyone working with a young horse (provided you know how to use it, that is!).

Patrick was actually quite good today. I even let him go in my Antares, since he hasn't thrown himself to the ground recently! He had a super energetic ride today, despite the 90 degree heat and humidity. I let him stretch out a good bit before I decided to try a few new things. I decided I wasn't going to try to correct him today, since I wanted to keep things brief. But I did want to put him through some paces and see what we may need to work on.

I tried to ask him for a genuinely collected canter today. He actually almost had it to the left. It wasn't quite as uphill as it should be, but he also didn't fight me. I considered it a good place to start from. The right lead was a little more difficult, because it's his weaker lead. He fought the draw reins a little bit, but did give somewhat of an attempt. Oh well, something new to work on! His steering is finally to the point where any slight change of my seat indicates a change in his direction. I love my horses like that, but I know it might be a little intimidating for some younger riders (especially in jumping), so I'll have to be careful there.

I left all the training horses inside with their fans this afternoon. I figured they could use the break:D

So, on another note, I haven't really seen or heard from my trainer in about three weeks, and now he's going to Roanoke to show this coming week. I'm a little bit (or a lot of bit) disappointed and frustrated with this entire situation. After all of the crap I had to put up with in Florida (and all of the senseless money I spent in hopes that the horse I was working with would sell), I thought he would try a little harder to help me out once we got home. As I'm still coming to learn, it seems all horse people are really only concerned about their own agendas. They may mean well, but they'll drop you in the clutch. As much as I really want to be a top rider and competitor within the industry, it's times like these that make me wonder if I could ever truly be happy surrounded by people like that. I think I could just as easily make money doing what I do now: breaking and training young horses.

The dilemma I'm facing now is, do I hold out on the promises he made, that someday in the near future he'll have a barn of his own, where I can bring Bella and Bailey and work as his assistant trainer? Or do I give up on that potentially soul-crushing dream and find something else? I'm to the point where it hurts just to think about all I could be walking away from, especially since I know I won't find another trainer of his caliber that's willing to help me out and let me bring my two horses. However, unless I sell Patrick in the very near future, I'm running out of money:(

Sometimes being young just isn't all that great. I wish I could just pick up Bella and Bailey, and start over somewhere new, where no one knows our names. I really dream of moving back to Chicago:(

Anyways, Dad is taking me out to learn how to drive his truck and my trailer (FINALLY!). Wish me luck! I have more to talk about later, if I get around to it:D