No riding lessons this week or next. Kari, our instructor, is away on vacation for two weeks, riding in Missouri. Speaking of training, Jim Jirkovsky called today and said that they are getting Luke ready for the Nebraska Horse Club Assoc. show in Grand Island next month. After that he has one more show and then they are taking him to Worlds! Jim really likes working with Luke and feels he is ready to go.

Our good Buddy Nancy was here yesterday. She had some extra time and came out to work and ride Java who absolutely loved it, especially since he missed his usual workout. Nancy is a great horsewoman and she had Java doing all kinds of things he probably didn’t know he could do! Like side passing and pivots. Nancy said he was very willing and let her be in total control. In fact, she tested him out by heading straight for the wall and stopping short just before. She said he looked a little like, “Um, are you sure you want to keep going??” but he did just what she asked.  Good boy!

We have been working diligently to try to get Matilda’s mane to flip over to one side or the other.  Since she was born it has pretty much split right in half and stubbornly refused to cooperate.  She has a nice silky mane and tail.  You might see a slinky on her this Fall for a month or two to help us out with the mane “training”. We don’t want to put one on her until the weather is really cool all the time.      

It seems like we can see the weanlings growing right before our eyes. We are going to have to find a different halter for Romeo pretty soon, as his is starting to get a little snug. He and Phoebe are still like two peas in a pod when they are together outside during the day, but are completely at ease being separated. We lead them in and out separately because they are getting so big, which at first caused an uproar for whoever was left behind. But they have figured out that it’s only for a few minutes and there’s hardly a peep from either one now!