5 Day Challenge//Day 2

Riding today, probably gonna head out in about an hour, so I'll probably blog all about it tomorrow or maybe tonight, but I thought it'd be fun to catch up on the 5 day challenge over at Tracy's blog before I do my next post.

6. Favorite equestrian book and movie

I LOVE the Heartland books, Black Beauty and The Black Stallion. I'd say my favorite movie would be The Black Stallion....as a huge natural horsemanship lover, nothing tickles me more than seeing a person really at one with their horse, riding tackless and just riding to ride, not just to win.

7. Most common riding misconception

 I'm not sure if I'm supposed to answer this with a personal answer or something, but I'd say a very large misconception would be that riding isn't hard work, or that we're all rich. Nothing grates on me more than when someone says I just sit there, or that I'm loaded because I'm able to have a horse. Honestly, I'm poor because I have a horse. Hahaha!!! For a more personal answer, I fool myself into thinking that I'm just a beginner that can't handle anything. I know that I'm not a professional, and that I HAVE to work on some stuff, I'm not the best rider, but I really am a good rider. I just need to hammer that into my head.

8. 2 riding strengths and 1 riding weaknesses

Strengths:

1. My legs are really strong, I'm able to keep my legs in a good position for a longer time, although I have issues with my left leg occasionally. 
2. I'm able to keep my seat well enough, I guess this kind of ties in with the strong leg thing, though. One thing that I pride myself on is the ability to ride any gait on any horse, rough or smooth, and I keep my EQ as well as I ever have.

Weakness:

1. Reining is my biggest struggle. If I keep them low, I feel like I won't be able to stop him and that makes me nervous. If I keep them too high, we're both uncomfortable and my EQ suffers. I need to find my happy place when it comes to reins.

9. Least favorite thing about horses and/or riding

The drama. I hate that I can't post every picture I take because my EQ isn't perfect, my horse doesn't look 100% beautiful because I know I'll get hate from someone. Who stinkin' cares if my heels aren't down all the time?? I'm NOT in a show ring, I'm in trails, people. But I post one photo with bad EQ, and everyone attacks. It bugs me so bad. Everyone has something they need to work on, I know I need to work on my heels, but it's not the end of the world and despite what some people have tried to tell me, it's not horse abuse when I keep my heels up.

10. What do you feed your horse?

I don't know the exacts, is that horrible??? While I don't know brands, I do know the gist of it. Red gets a  feed with no starch since he's so sensitive-remember that founder? Haha!-and because he doesn't need to gain any more weight. ;) He gets the plain no-starch grain, plus a couple supplements for his sweet itch and weight. In the winter, he gets alfafa pellets-very small amounts-and hay. Most of everything is natural and low-starch.