While I wouldn’t really advocate riding and reading, Sadie did make a surprisingly comfy reading pillow.

The book is marketed as YA, but I think anyone who enjoys the Romance genre (and PONIES!!) will like it– the horse stuff (focusing mostly on jumpers and polo ponies) is spot-on (well, from what I can tell– I don’t know anything about polo).  I will say, as a disclaimer, that it deals with mature issues so it might be better for older teen readers.

I admit, the cover is what grabbed my attention.

But then I read the book, and it turns out the cover isn’t the only interesting thing about it.  

You can read my full review HERE, on Horse Nation.

But sometimes the goal I have in mind doesn’t seem so great once I feel what horse I’m sitting on.  As in, am I riding perfect project pony Lindy, or am I riding her ADHD twin?  Am I astride lazy Sadie or zippy Sadie?  Am I on Professor Clue or Racehorse Clue?  I’ve learned (and re-learned) it’s a good thing to check in with your horse’s mood and adjust accordingly, because it is just counter-productive to try to force an agenda.

For instance, the other day I rode Lindy for the first time in over a week (turns out I wasn’t feeling too hardcore when it finally decided to rain and rain the other week).  I really wanted to ride, but Sadie pulled both her front shoes (darn rain!) and the farrier and I decided to leave her barefoot since more rain is coming.  She’s still feeling a bit sore.  Anyway, Lindy got put into rotation since she needs to work sometime. I thought she might be too silly to even be worth riding, so I lunged her.  She was better than expected.  I thought cool!  We’ll be able to pick up right where we left off the last time I rode her.

Nope.

But that’s OK.  We managed to get some decent bending and some semi-coordinating work over poles done and then I called it quits.  It was a little bit of a bummer since the last time I rode her, Lindy was so fabulous.  As in, I came inside gushing about what a cool horse she is turning into and how nice she’s going be.  Those things are still true, but some days she still *really* feels  like a super green project pony.  If I’d stayed focused on the idea that Lindy was going to be fabulous every time I rode her, I have a feeling we’d both end up pretty frustrated.  But thankfully I remembered (and I don’t always) to adjust my goal to the horse I was sitting on;  we were able to get some good work done, and neither of us was frustrated by the end.

Now let’s hope I can squeeze in a few more rides in between the rain.  Because another thing that really helps with horse training is consistency.

Here’s the latest one on Horse Nation, about Georgina Bloomberg’s just-released YA Novel, the second in her series, My Favorite Mistake: An A Circuit Novel (Circuit Novels).  I’m still trying to figure out why that’s the title!

(also, be warned, there’s a major spoiler in the review)