After having Tom for a week shy of two months, we cantered under saddle for the first time yesterday. It went very well, and I am pleased that we waited long enough that it was done in a relaxed and comfortable manner. The astonishing discovery I made yesterday, however, had nothing to do with the canter. It was about me looking straight ahead. All morning, Tom was wandering all over, rather than moving in a straight line. I get sort of annoyed at this, but chalk it up to him being green. Yet, when I concentrated my eyes forward at the end of the ring, rather than down which is my habit, he moved straight. Proving again, that we are often the very cause of other's annoying behavior. This will be my main focus over the next couple weeks. To pay attention to where my eyes are. This involves spending no money, the cost is simply the the admission that I am responsible for Tom's bad movement.

And again a lot of time has past since I last wrote. And again so much has changed. I have finally found the horse that had been waiting for me, or so I believe. His name is Tom's Thunder and he is an ex-racer who has been off the track for the last two years. He earned almost 500,000 for people. What a wierd concept. It seems to me that horses who win money, should have by law their own bank acct. Similar to the child stars. But I digress.

I simply want to tell you what a joy it is being around this guy. He goes by the barn name Tom, but I usually call him Tombo. Which amazingly enough means Dragonfly in Japanese. Seems a totally fitting name as he is already in the process of transforming me, as well as himself.

When he first arrived on Dec. 4, He fit right in. No weaving as he had done in his other place when stalled. He loves the little kids that wander around with treats. He loves treats mostly, but I think he also enjoys the children. He adores attention, unless he's eating or feeling a nap coming on. What he did not understand was riding in the small indoor (which is large as far as indoors are concerned) with other horses. We have worked on getting comfortable, without forcing him to do things that stress him out. When he gets stressed, there is no reaching him. I wil write later more details about how he is doing.

What this boils down to for the blog, is that I can finally do what really set out to do here. Test products to see how the help or hinder my riding.....Keep in touch.