Isn't this meant to be fun?

I drove to the yard on Wednesday oozing good intentions with plans to school, plans to work on suppleness and bend, plans to get on the Olympic team...

And came back down to earth with a bump when I realised Cady was not on the same page.

She wanted to know what I'd bought for her - carrots or apples - and when I was going to put them in her feed bowl so she could hoover them up in one go and blend them together in her mouth to make one giant, dribbly smoothie (her teeth are fine btw - this is just another of her little quirks!)

But I tacked up anyway and dragged her out into the freezing cold night feeling sure I could convince her to look where she's going on a 20m circle. My schooling plans quickly became more like an Ancient Greek Odyssey.

First we had to get past the mounting block with the hole in the side (where dragons were nesting I'm sure) then we had to navigate the treacherous new posters in the arena (sideways canter anyone?) and then we had to face the worst peril of all - small children next door...talking!!! The horror.

I'm laughing about it now but I was not amused at the time. As we spooked and shivered past these obstacles I could feel myself getting really annoyed. And the more annoyed I got, the more Cady enjoyed herself, flinging herself about even more and determined not to pay a bit of attention to the cross, boring lady on top of her trying to get her to do something or other with her legs.

Cady's general attitude is 'Meh..'

At times like these I try to take a deeeeep breath and remember how far she's come - she might still be oggling scary posters but she's not rearing at the same time or spinning on a sixpence in a nap-attack. By the next night I'd regained my cool and decided to spend my evening doing a bit of groundwork with her, treating her to a proper neck scratch and removing the field from her scruffy little face.

Rome wasn't built in a day and if I want her to be well schooled I'm going to have to convince her that I'm more interesting than the clacking noise going on next door. Which reminds me of some wise words from someone who'll I'll be interviewing on this blog very soon: "Learn to be tough on yourself and easy on your horse and leave your emotions at the gate."