Chaos!

Today was such a chaotic mess of a day!  I arrived at the barn around 9:30am, as the woman who had committed to buy my horse trailer was scheduled to arrive at the barn around 10:00am.  Keith and I waited... and waited... and called...left voicemail messages... and waited... and called.  This inconsiderate, cowardly woman did not show up and did not even bother to call me.  I was LIVID!!  I had emailed her several times throughout the week, gotten reassurance after reassurance from her, passed up other offers (one even offering me MORE than my asking price!) and I put them all on hold because I had given this despicable woman my word.  So at 10:30am, I called someone else who showed extreme interest in the trailer and had said that he could come out right away on Saturday morning.  He answered and stated that his wife needed to finish cleaning stalls and then they would be out.

Shelley promptly arrived at 11:30am for our lesson and hopped right on J.  Our lesson today was to quicken my aids for a half halt and get a more genuine response to that half halt.  We didn't worry so much about suppleness or keeping him round, just on quickening his hind end and getting a prompt response.  Some moments did not look too pretty, but he did get the idea as to what our goal was, as did I.  Shelley had me ask him to hesitate, with a very short rein aid, then immediately use my whip with very gentle but annoying taps to get an immediate response, concluding with another short rein aid to keep him from diving on the forehand during the burst of foreword movement that he gave.  I had to be very careful not to overlap my rein and whip aids, not use my reins to get in his way or punish him from going forward and get a big push from behind as quickly as possible.  It was tough, but I can see where it is heading once he is more consistent and reliable.

In the middle of my lesson, my niece and her mother showed up at the barn, as we are spending the weekend with Jaden since she is moving to California with her mother in less than a month.  So Jaden and Laura were waiting around during my lesson, with four year old Jaden chasing cats, jumping off tack trunks and generally not sitting still- LOL!

As I was dismounting from my lesson and Shelley was giving me a wrap-up lecture, the interested buyers in the trailer showed up.  I felt like I was rude to Shelley and hurried her to leave, but I later sent an apologetic text.  I showed the trailer to the prospective buyers and while the husband was very quiet, the wife expressed interest.  They asked if they could call me later today with an answer, which I agreed.

I am still waiting to hear back from the potential buyers, they intially low-balled me, but I am holding out.  They only have a few more minutes to decide and then I've got a plan.  I am going to email all the people who are interested in buying the trailer and tell them that they have from 12:30pm-2:30pm tomorrow to come out and take a look at the trailer.  First one with the cash will take the trailer home.  I gave the potential buyers until 5pm to make a decision and of course, they just texted me at 4:59pm and offered me nearly all the asking price.  I turned them down- I'm only taking full asking price now.  We'll see if they cave or if I'm composing a mass email!