My life flashed before my eyes...

Okay not really. But just a little! We had another riding lesson yesterday. Oh how I love these riding lessons! And I now own the first pair of cowboy boots I've EVER had. But back to the title of my post. Here I am on Bonnie, aka Bon Bon...

Bon Bon was sporting some ATTITUDE yesterday, testing this useless newbie ider for all she was worth. But I was doing fine, until all of a sudden, something spooked mah horse! Gordon thought a bug flew in front of her. I dunno what happened, but all of sudden we went from quietly sauntering along to crazy-ass jerking around... I don't even know how we ended up in the middle of the ring!

And then I prepared to die. Fortunately, my instructor's voice cut through my thoughts of imminent death, and I did the "spook circle" thing she'd taught us, pulling on just the right rein so that Bon Bon would turn in a circle instead of bolting forward. And it kind of worked, except (a) I was so freaked when she started to spook that I immediately wrapped the rein tightly around my right hand and (b) I forgot to ease off the rein once she was circling, so she kept spinning like a top and I kept squealing like a girl. For one brief moment, I thought "That's it, I'm going to fly off the back of this horse and it's going to hurt and rhen I'll die!" I think I had that feeling people have when they are about to drown. But then Linda, our teacher, called out to me to ease off the rein, and I did, and Bon Bon came to a halt.

So I survived my first spooking! In reality, I wasn't going to fly off, and Linda said I did mostly all the right things (including leaning forward on the horse) and that she was really pleased. And despite the fact that I wanted to run screaming from the riding ring at that point, Linda made me keep going. And it turned out to be a great lesson, because I learned that I can actually control a freaked-out horse. No, maybe I won't be able to all the time; I don't know. But I did this time!

I can see where that expression about "getting right back on the horse" comes from.

That Bon Bon was in some kind of mood yesterday! She was being such a pain that Linda took her around the ring a few times to remind her how to behave, then I got back on. But she was testing me on every corner as we did a posting  trot, until finally I sucked it up and became the leader again. And then I made Linda and her daughter laugh as I trotted past them and said, "I am not taking any more sh*t from this horse today!" 

Yeah, Bon Bon must have heard that, because we did great for the rest of the lesson. But  I think she knew I needed a little push so that I wouldn't get complacent. The horses we ride are actually very well behaved and well trained, but they are animals, not machines, so sometimes things happen!

I really wish I'd started this about 30 years ago, but better late than never. It's one of the things I love most in my life right now, so I hope not to break bones or get crushed or anything like that. They are big on teaching us safety, so fingers crossed that those lessons stick, because I really LOVE riding a horse.  

Speaking of which, here's how things are looking in the lower barn where the four box stalls are going...

Luc is pouring concrete next week, then the walls and doors will go up. Those posts are hemlock and weigh about 100 lbs each!

It's exciting to see all this progress down there. The pig palace is currently being winterized too! And we just had electricity put in the granary (where the pigs live), and we finally got a new barn door installed, so there's lots going on.

I took these pics out the bathroom window Wednesday...

It was a madhouse out there!

And today I took Missy to the vet...

She wasn't pleased, but she was a really good girl! We had her tested for toxoplasmosis (which killed her buddy Lionel.) In two weeks, we'll repeat the blood test. If she has it, and the levels have risen, they will know it's an active infection and treat accordingly. But I'm just hoping she's fine. The vet checked out thoroughly and found her healthy, and she got a FIV and Feline Leukemia vaccine (she already had the others.) So I think she's good to go! I had her microchipped as well.

I don't think Missy was too impressed with the pirate dog in the waiting room!

Have a superb weekend, my dear readers. I will try to catch up on my blog reading now that bee season is almost over.