I took the group photos and it was just as bad as I thought it might be.  I don't think that I'm made for human photography because ALL THE FACES!  And personalities.  But I did make this:

You know what?  I'm pushing that little Bugger forward and it's working.  Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.  Forward, forward, forward.  Friday, since I had a little bit of time, was a little conditioning ride.  And, dudes, seriously, either my horse has a breathing problem or I'm too fat for him.  I'm probably too fat for him.  But around lap three or so, I swear to god that he is swallowing air.  If this continues, if it isn't just a poor conditioning thing, I'm calling the vet ASAP.

Also?  I walked him to the road and back and while I was doing all that, a guy with a big ass truck backed up and down the road.  Then he got out of the truck and started barking at me.  He wanted to inquire about some wood BO had and I ripped him a new one.

Saturday, we did our downward transitions and he felt very, very good.  Until I asked for a little right lead canter and the pony exploded.  I think it hurts, but I can't figure out why.  He explodes, crow hopping and bucking.  We walk for a second and I ask again.  Then I can push him forward into a little canter, but its tight and springy and up.  I wonder if it's just because we haven't focused on cantering as much since he was adjusted last.

After that, we went on another walking trail ride and were somewhat chased by the rooster.  Yay, for the forward walk whilest retreating!

Don't let the innocence fool you.

Sunday, we did more conditioning work followed by some figure-eights.  In the center of the figures, I would ask him to do a trot-halt-trot transition.  That pissed him off a lot, but I praised profusely.  And we ended the work on a trot-halt-back-trot transition.  It was ugly, but the idea was there.

The week before last, I ran zero miles.  This week, I ran six.  But I got very distracted on my second run.

Josephine.

I need my teeth whitened.  Don't let it distract you from the bird!

We went to the gym on Saturday and I did some rando workouts.  10 minutes on the row machine.  Some machine abs.  Some squats.  Some lower ab work.  I'm desperate to lose weight because D looks phenomenal and I look chubby.  And I don't want to be the chubby wife.  I know the bigger part of it is the things that I'm shoveling into my mouth, but I feel more productive when I actually exercise.

And soccer.  We had our asses handed to us.  It was horrible.  D came to watch and took photos.  Another incentive to lose some weight.