Dealing with rudeness and boys who just don't understand

This weekend was pretty busy. I feel like I need another weekend to recover from it. But that could be the 4 hours of sleep talking.

Saturday was the worst (and best) of the two days. 

I got up extra early because I am unaccustomed to my new hair, and was used to it taking 20+ minutes to dry and 40+ minutes to straighten. I had to look good, and needed to do both of those things, plus put make up on -- oh horrors. So, at 7:15, on a Saturday, I was out of bed and in the shower. Eww.

I left the house around 8:30 or so. Impressive, huh?

On my way north, I had to stop at the dealership to resign the new car's paperwork. They are just past the halfway mark to my boyfriend's house (have I mentioned he's an hour away right now? ugh). I chose not to get the gap insurance, so the original bank they approached didn't want the loan. They had no trouble with the second bank, and everything has been straightened out. While I was doing that, I asked them to check the nitrogen in my tires, as the left rear was reading low, according to my very intelligent car. :) They had it in, filled and back to me in no time. No charge, and super friendly and helpful about it. I like these guys.

Then I continued on my way. I stopped at the Dollar Tree that's about 15 minutes from his place and got some of the things I knew he was low on last weekend - that *I* legitimately require him to have in the house, lol. Paper towels. Tin foil. And paper plates for him, because he has an aversion to doing dishes unless he wants me to cook (this works out well, he cleans the kitchen, I cook. Occasionally, we switch. I'm good with that.)

Unpacked all of that stuff, he got ready and we went to get his hair cut. That was interesting. He is incredibly picky...which is hysterical to me, because when it's newly cut, he is about 2 steps away from shaved completely.Like, literally about 1/4 inch of hair at the top and then it is faded down the back of his head. It's the fade that presents the problem for his hair cut satisfaction, apparently. And the guy he really liked last time he cut it apparently no longer works there, and apparently the ladies there didn't care for him. The boy caused a bit of a stir by asking for him. The manager ended up cutting his hair while the other girls all talked my ear off. 

Back to his place so he could rewash his freshly cut hair, and then we went to IHOP for brunch. (Yea, kitchen wasn't clean, yet, lol.) After that, we went to JC Penney's for our portrait appointment. We had fun and got some really nice shots. But, both of us felt like we should have had more shots to choose from, and the fact that the studio was running behind should not have affected our shoot. After all, we were on time for our appointment and had to wait. We tried to do a kiss photo, and I think I look more horrified in that one than the one where he is trying to kiss my cheek and I am trying like hell to get away from him (that one is cute, lol, and was intentionally staged because I liked a similar shot in the lobby.) 

Anyway, we've resolved to take my digital out with us more, and bring the tripod so we can try to get more pictures of us that are more candid. Maybe even find a nice field or something to try to get some portrait like shots. We literally have like 4 pictures of us from 2.5 years of dating because he and I never have a camera and so we only have our pictures taken when we're with the family during the holidays.

I need to take some new pictures of Promise, anyway. 

Which brings me to that. After the pictures were done and we'd paid for the ones we wanted (that we have to wait TWO WEEKS for -- boo) we headed over to the barn.

Oh.my.god.demon.mare.must.get.valium.

Honestly, it's been so long since she's been bad tied that I truly can't recall the last time. I've never been big on tying in the stall, but I don't care for the cross tie set up, and since there's a ring attached to the post in the stall, I've been using it. She's been great, not moving a muscle, and being generally cooperative. I'm not sure what her malfunction was on Saturday, but if she swung her butt at me one more time, or danced completely away from me for no apparent reason, I think my boyfriend might have had a heart attack, and I might have just unhinged her hind legs temporarily so she couldn't move her hind end even if she wanted to. (I know, I'm mean. O:))

I'm not sure why he gets nervous when she acts up. (Ok, I guess I know that's not entirely true.) But she was being so rancid that he was really getting upset. He kept telling me I should back off and maybe I shouldn't take her out; what's wrong with her today?, I've never seen her like this, etc. I finally looked at him after the third time he asked me to back off, and said, I understand your concerns, but I need you to back off and let me do what I need to do. She's being rude and disrespectful of my space and I can't let her get away with it.

He, of course, probably thinks I'm being mean to her when I smack her to correct her and that my safety is on the line. To a point, the second part is right. But isn't it always when dealing with horses? I wish I could figure out an analogy that he would be able to grasp as to why I can't allow that behavior and just walk away. But he likes motorcycles, and they don't need to be corrected like an animal does. And he is new to horses.

Note to self (again): I need to buy a lead rope with a shank on it, or at least buy the chain to attach to the one I have. 

I despise the fact that she's not listening to just the lead rope. Herd mentality setting in, I suppose. But damn, it's obnoxious that I have to keep going for the lunge line so I have a shank so she actually listens. Mind you, I don't have to use it, it just has to be across her nose. It's crap. And I'm not impressed by it.

I know, I know. More groundwork. I'm on it.

Anyway, I attached the lunge line and made her stand completely still while I finished grooming her. Amazingly enough, she listened! (insert sigh and roll eyes) I started to walk her out and he starts with the, are you sure? stuff again. I can't fault him for caring, truly. Yes, I'm sure. If there was something wrong, causing her to behave like that, it was not at skin level. No cuts, no bruises, no swelling, no heat. (Her leg looks better, too, by the way. Still a bit raised, but definitely healing.) 

I dunno. I assumed she was just full of herself with the cooler weather and she looks like she's cycling into heat. 

Brought her out to the arena. One of the ladies brought in the horse that was turned out there for me, so I could turn her out and not just lunge. (I think she saw the trouble we were having in the stall, lol.) I undid the shank and she stood politely until I shooed her away. Then she took off at a full gallop. She went around at a pretty good clip with minimal egging from me. No bucking. Weirdo.

She almost ran into a tree...not smart. But I think my favorite part was when she went to the paddock on the far end to be nosy and bug those horses, and misjudged whether there was solid ground between the fence and the pond. There wasn't, and in she splashed, up to her belly in water. She had a few seconds of that "Oh MY god, I'm wet, I can't believe I'm wet...oh my GOD." look, but she didn't panic. I talked to her through my laughter, told her she was fine and called her name to encourage her to finish walking out. After a couple of minutes, she headed toward the edge and picked her way out then came galloping back toward me, and never went back to the side with the pond, lol. 

I can't decide if that is going to help or hinder the river crossing. I hope it will help, especially since she didn't panic and stood there of her own accord for at least 2 minutes before walking out. Won't know till it warms up enough to try it again.

She was considerably politer after running around for 20 minutes or so. Not huffing uncontrollably. It seemed about normal for the level of exertion. And, other than thinking she was going to barge into the barn and go straight for her stall after running me over, there were no further episodes of rudeness. (I guess it was close to dinner time, but uhm...exCUSE me, young lady? I don't even think so.) So, we did some ground work in the aisle. Walk 5 steps, back 10. Walk 15 steps, back 10. Walk past the stall, back past the stall. Ad nauseam. I worked a bit on controlling each front foot. Back the left front, right hind; then back the right front, left hind. Then walk the right front back up one step, etc. When she stood beside me at the door to the stall and didn't move, we walked in. Lucky for her, she decided to be polite about that, so didn't have to walk in and out 10 times.

I wiped her legs off and picked her feet with her ground tied (it was hard to believe she has actually been taught to ground tie with that horrible behavior). And then fed her some candy canes and called it a day.

I had intended to ride her on Sunday and probably should have forced myself, but I just was not in the mood to deal with her. I didn't even want to look at her, to be honest. Isn't that terrible? I think when you start to feel that way about your kids, you ship them off to sleep over at a friend's house, right? lol. 

Oh well. I have to be in that area at the ass-crack of dawn on Saturday, so will go ride early before the therapy riding starts and then we're going to the Strawberry Festival for the day. Fun fun.