Hey everyone! These posts are so fun for me to write. I love thinking about horses and horse cuddles so I love this time of the month. 

I had three lessons this month and I’m getting better at trotting bareback! It feels kind of weird because I can feel her skin moving over her body and it kinda freaks me out. Sapphire and I are basically inseparable now except I’m also sure she’d trade me for carrots if given the opportunity. Or apples.

I feel like Sapphire and I have really come a long way. I was so sure she hated me at first and now she tries to give me horse cuddles and gets a little upset if I walk away for too long. She also doesn’t fight too much when I tighten her saddle, although she’s still not really a fan. I’ve been doing this thing where I let her sniff her saddle pad and saddle first before gently putting it on. It’s maybe working, depends on the day!

Unfortunately I didn’t get a lesson this week, which is a shame because it was gorgeous out. The reason for this is because my instructor was half hour late, and even though I called her to ask where the saddle and bridle were she still asked why Sapphire wasn’t ready. I repeated that I couldn’t find anything that I normally use and didn’t know what would substitute well. She then realized that her husband, who had been riding with her, had the saddle and bridle on his horse.

At that point I was too annoyed so I just left saying I didn’t have time anymore for a lesson, which honestly I didn’t. By the time we would have gotten started I would have about half an hour before I had to leave, so I didn’t see the point in staying.

Poor Sapphire broke my heart though! She seemed really confused when I handed her back to my instructor and even tried to turn back towards me. Poor girl, I missed her so much. I suppose I could have tried just riding bareback but all I had was the halter and I’d never ridden with just a halter before. I’ll have to look into that in case this happens again!

Honestly though, I think I want to try to find a new place to ride. I have found a lot of other barns but they don’t have very good websites and don’t really answer their phones. A lot of them are also English only, and while I’d love to learn English riding, I’m kind of attached to Western now!

I was also considering trying to lease a horse, but it seems like a huge leap to go from one lesson a week to leasing. We’ll have to see what happens.

And that’s my riding month! Not a lot of new things, just trying to get good at what I do know. Let me know how your hobbies are going! And if you ride, how do you know it’s time to switch barns?

Thanks for reading!