What We've Been Up To For The Past 2 Weeks

• Riding. Lots of riding! Michael continues to get better and better, and I am now referring to him exclusively as "McLain Ward".  I hate him a little bit.
• Working! For those of you that don't know, I'm a real estate agent that sells horse farms in Pennsylvania. It's spring, and that means everyone and their mother is listing right now. I am eyeball-deep in internet advertising and crazy horse people and LOVING IT. (Shameless self-promotion: If you're looking to buy or sell, please get in touch with me! Our company seriously has some of the best customer service ever.)
• Spending way too much money to maintain my vehicles. Let's not even get into how while fixing one part of my car, another part broke, which incidentally can only be special-ordered from the dealership along with the other part that it's attached to, which didn't actually break. Cha-ching.
• Shedding out my pony. Dino is about halfway done, and his face is currently bald, while the rest of his body looks like an overgrown body-clip job. The hair just does. Not. End. So attractive. 
• Getting launched into oxers.

So about that last bit...

While Dino dutifully packs McLain around 2' courses like a total pro, the second I get on and ask him to actually do work and jump something that requires more than just a big canter stride, he turns into the pony version of Mr. Hyde. Now physically, he is just fine. There's no soreness, he's fit enough to do what I'm asking, and when he does buckle down and do his job he jumps absolutely beautifully and effortlessly. Dino is just a big fat stinker and has learned that his patented Dirty Sliding Stop generally gets me launched off, and reduces his workload to smaller fences so I don't die. Thankfully the last time he pulled that nonsense Jess was at the barn, and stepped in as jump crew to help me get him over the 2'9" oxer in small stages, which of course he then jumped like it was nothing with his knees up to his eyeballs.

Ponies.

So I'm planning on taking Dino up to my former trainer Elissa for a lesson this weekend. She doesn't take crap, has a great eye for the tiniest detail, and won't let me or Dino get away with any nonsense. I'm kind of nervous, but I know we both need a good butt-kicking!