Night riders

Last night was the kind of night that I wish would happen more often. I had an absolutely lovely ride with friends. It was sort of a last minute thing, and by the time we got on the sun had mostly set. My barn owner is an incredibly gracious person. She's always said I could use her horses for any friends that want to ride. My former barrel racing friend hadn't ridden in a long time, so she rode the western pleasure lesson horse. My other friend, a fellow SCAD Equestrian dropout, had never ridden a gaited horse. My barn owner has a little Tennessee Walker mare who is such an odd ride if you're not used to gaited things. It was hilarious on both counts. I rode Finn, and let everyone have a turn on him. We laughed, and played, had a beer or two, and sweated our butts off. Yes, even light riding after dark and I still came home soaked to the bone.

Anyway.

The latter of the two friends, has known Finn since I got him. Our horses are two months apart in age, so they both just turned 7. We've had them both since they were babies. We have decided that 7 is quite a good year. All of a sudden our babies have become "real horses". It's kind of hard to describe what we mean by that, but it's like all of a sudden they have come into themselves. Suddenly I have A Real Horse, and not a dimwit baby. He stands still, he travels in a straight line, he is polite. It's amazing. I mean, he still has his moments, but he's 99% better than he was even 6 months ago. He has just been blossoming and being all sorts of amazing lately (knock on wood). I'm so proud!!!!

Also... I have had the Finn-monster for 5 years this week. I plan on doing an anniversary post this weekend, after I take new conformation shots of him. Finn and I have quite a history in only 5 years together.

Tonight I am working on art stuff, but man... I lost a sketch I did for something and it's driving me crazy!!!! I had this great image in my head, I sketched it out so I wouldn't forget it, and I lost it. Crap.