Bel Joeor

Very mixed; Tris was doing spectacularly for a little while, and then on Tuesday we had the most godawful ride we've had in months. He was not willing to be cooperative, I succumbed to getting good and pissed off instead of staying impassive and correct, and T. had to remind me, once again, that ain't nothing going to get done unless I can actually keep my $#@$@ leg on my $#@$@ horse.

But, in lieu of that, a fun story.

Among the things you probably don't know about my horse: he farts. Like, a lot. Like, he's known for it. Lead him off the cross ties - fart with every step down the aisle. Step into the ring - let a long one loose.

Then he tenses up for the first 10 minutes or so of the ride, and then he lets loose with every stride, sometimes as long as a few 20m circles. It's rather amusing, and I've decided to take it as a sign that he's releasing tension. T. says he's also making room to suck his belly up and engage his core muscles, come up through his back.

During my lesson last Tuesday, several of the young girls were cooling out their ponies bareback during my warmup, and Tris, as he does, let loose. I learned then that a) they think it's hilarious, and b) that they've decided it's part of his system of locomotion.

I quote, "how else is he going to get the extra push he needs to go forward?"

So nice to have a horse with capital-P-Personality...