I don’t EVER tuck my jeans in my boots but it’s muddy where I feed and I need to run to the grocery store when I leave here so you do what ya gotta do. I put on my big girl pants today and rode since I have a kiddo free afternoon. The wind blew, my colt tried to run away with me, and I’m still working through a pulling back issue with my mare. It all ended on a good note and you can’t ask for more than that. To be starting all over again at my age training horses is a blessing that I can still do it but I still think to myself on occasion “what in the world are you doing?!?” I like training though. It’s amazing when you find that rhythm with a horse. The connection you build with one is not like anything you’ll have with a finished and trained horse. But to get to that connection and feel the rhythm you get with a really nice trained horse definitely has some growing pains and takes time. I saw a little glimpse of that when I finally got a nice round balanced circle at a lope with my young horse today. A few minutes before that he was fighting me and trying to run off. But we found the rhythm with each other. Not very pretty, not a perfectly round circle (more like a wobbly oval) but I can see the potential. Life is like a young horse. Sometimes days are good and sometimes days are an exercise of patience while you wait out a tantrum but trying your best to end on a good note is important and necessary. Like an old cowboy buddy told me once the first time he saw me ride my old black mare, “Always make it fun. If she ever gets mad at you she’ll hurt you so do your best to make life fun for her. Never make it work.” Words of wisdom from the arena rail that apply to most anything.