Dammit, Summer

I hate summer. With every fiber of my existence, like seriously. The only good thing about summer is being tan and horse shows and even then, I'm awkwardly tan thanks to riding and horse shows are miserable because of the heat and humdity.

So basically nothing good comes from summer.

Can we please talk about the worst things about summer?
Flies. Humidity. Hay prices. Tornado sirens. Tornadoes. Thunderstorms. Lightning. Bugs. Heat. Sweating. Bugs. Tan lines. Sweating. Cutting grass in the heat. Driving with no working AC. Sleeping in my house, with no working AC. Summer school. Heat. Sweating. Melted icecream. Traffic. Hot horses.  Buying fly spray.

And it came early this year.

I hate everything.

Today, I woke up sweating. I walked outside, sweating, at 8:30 AM to go to my car to feed my horse. It was 78 degrees. Let me just remind you that it was about 40 degrees not 2 days ago.

Poor Yankee was standing at the gate, looking absolutely  miserable and pathetic. He yelled at me, letting me know that 8:45AM is way too late of a breakfast time and that he would appreciate an earlier arrival. Will do, buddy. The sun, heat, humidity and bugs were AWFUL. Poor guy was beside himself.

Remember the turnout post? Yeah, he HATES bugs. He is such a baby. I don't blame  him though, they swarm him! I put off turning him out wihtout a fly sheet as long as I can, because I doubt they are comfortable, and probably make him hotter, but he seems to be OK with it as long as the bugs can't harrass him.

(Sidenote: By 10 AM it was already 81. I may or may not be a wimp, but I don't care. Too hot.)

I also just bought this for his majesty...

He's going to have to deal with purple. I wanted blue, but they were out.  Got this bad boy for $7, $15 total with shipping. Not bad. Poor college student find FTW!

I don't know if you guys know this, but Yankee is a master at losing fly masks and about drives me insane. I started putting one on about a month ago and he promptly shrugged off 2 different masks in less than 3 days. Still lost in the pasture depths. Awesome.

I hope this tighter version is more comfortable for him and harder to get off. I also opted for no ears. In the past (Ohio farm) he got really bad ear bites, so I bought masks with ears. Now I leave the hair long in there, hoping to fend them off. Perhaps the ears on the fly masks were bothering him.

In other news, we haven't been riding much due to finals. I hate finals...they're so..final. And daunting. Luckily this is my second to last finals week! I shouldn't be blogging either, since I have a wicked hard exam tomorrow, but lets be serious..I am the QUEEN of ProcrastiNation. Sorry I'm not sorry.... for blogging!

Finals "week" at Mizzou actually lasts 2 weeks and I've been SWAMPED with projects. I had 3 presentations yesterday (mega anxiety) and my final art portfolio was due. It was a bitch and I about died.

I digress.

I've ridden twice in the past 8 days, lastly on Monday, and I don't think Jackie has ridden more than that either. Both rides were ABSOLUTELY stellar though. I can't even....

So good. He was exceptionally loose, free, engaged, obedient and bendy. It was AWESOME. Makes me re-think leasing him out, because he is so fun to ride. Who cares if he ever qualifies for the AEC's or moves up to 3*?

HAH. Kidding.

Both times we worked on transitions and keeping the balance. Also, perfecting out halts!! I never have praticed them with him, and rarely are they worthy of even a 6 in a dressage test. Sometimes he gets his front legs even, but usually not. He CAN halt square, I just never practice. So I did, and he was flawless.

Something like this :D

 After 5 times of backing/scootching forward little bits (when he halted allllmost perfectly, but not quite), I got his legs even and praised the absolute shit outta him. He was pretty clever and realized that 'when mom is preparing me through engagement and riding the halt, I should be square'. I could almost see the lightbulb go off in his head!!

Until the dread of tomorrow's exam is over (PHEW), I can't even think about riding. Like I would want to in this heat. There is a charity schooling show Sunday my landlord is putting on that we might go to, but since my next exam is Tuesday and I am almost broke again, might not happen.

After that, my last exam is May 10, then I walk at graduation (even though I don't graduate till August) May 12. Affter ALLLLLL of that THEN I can finally ride again and get serious. Our first real USEA event is in the begining of June (Jackie is riding, but I am her "coach") so we need to practice practice practice.

PRACTICE ALL OF THE THINGS.