The Boob Rule

I promise to explain the meaning of my title later in this post! First, I'll provide an update on QTee's injury. I arrived at the farm on Saturday just in time to see Bill changing QTee's bandages. Only the best treatment for QTee.

That's a betadine scrub, not blood!

The wound looked really gross. But really, it is healing very nicely. As I say, I get squeamish around meaty looking wounds. QTee is very lucky the wound did not extend into her joint.

QTee has terrific manners. But she did keep moving her foot around like she did not like Bill touching it. Bill thinks QTee will be out of commission for at least a month. Looks like Christine will be riding other horses for a while!

After the doctoring, it was time to head down to the ring. Bill had plowed it so it was all ready for us. Although this is quite a nice picture of Bella's bum, you see Lilly and me down by the gate to get our lesson started.
Now what is this? Another picture of Bella's bum?!

Brandon was along on Saturday as the photgrapher and videographer. Look at all that orange he is wearing. Sometimes he complains the ring is too boring (and too cold). He'd feel differently if he were actually riding like we are! On Saturday he made a few really fun videos, including this one. This video will also detail how my own dog has terrible manners around big horses.

Lilly's mood is better in the ring if I have something for her to work on. And also if another horse is down there with us. So it was extra nice to be with Jackie and Pokey.

Jackie said she's a terrible rider. But the rest of us know better. She's a natural. She handles Pokey and his big, at times bossy, personality just fine. Plus, she loves him as if he were her own. And here's another thing: the girl cannot take a bad photograph to save her life! She always looks so good! To see Jackie riding Pokey, click here!

I cannot describe how much I love riding Lilly. I love just sitting on her.

I decided that in the spring I want to set up barrels and get good at darting around them. I've been lugging big clumps of snow into the ring that are supposed to be barrels so Lilly and I can get started training. Poor Bill, he plows the ring out and then I litter it with humuculous icy mounds of snow.

One of my issues is that I look down too much at Lilly when I am riding. I guess I like looking at her. But I need to start looking straight ahead. After all, I will need to get my eyes on barrel #2 when we are still at barrel #1. Oh look, another big ole horse bum in the photo.

This brings me to the Boob Rule. On Sunday I was back in the ring with Christine. Jackie couldn't make it, so Christine was on Pokey. Because Lilly does so much better in the ring when she has a task, Christine said we should try doing serpentines. So we set up a course and were serpenting all over. This was a great time to practice keeping my eyes forward and getting used to watching Lilly's head in my peripheral vision. The Boob Rule: Christine said if you use your boobs to point the direction you want to go, you will naturally look up. You just follow your boobs all over. (!) This is good to because if you want to go right, say, and you point your boobs right, your shoulders and torso will naturally move too. So riding is from the core, and your eyes are up! I tried it and felt it really helped me a lot. Next weekend I will be back in the ring, incorporating the Boob Rule some more.

After a productive time in the ring, I groomed Lilly again and returned her to the pasture. When I did this, these three came up looking for a handout.

If you'd like to see some turkeys that Bill filmed this weekend while in his car right by the trail, then just click here! I love wild turkeys! They are weird and prehistoric and hey, for such big birds, they can really fly! This video might give you a little chuckle.