Calm, Forward, Straight

Calm, Forward, Straight

Sunday, September 15, 2013

In the Arena #149 - Fifty Bales of Hay...

It's been a productive week at the farmette.

A trip up the road for supplies...


Seriously - what's sexier than a full trailer?


A barn full. Yummy.


Had to de-bug first... sorry wasps. :(



My back is definitely not feeling sexy.  Stacked six high... winter will be here before we know it.


And there were leftovers!



Fit in a trailer loading session... (selfie video not my strong suit, pardon the wiggles)

                     

and a couple of very nice rides. What's not nice - this is what the footing looks like lately.


No rain for ages. I can barely push the wheelbarrow through it. A quick review of the archives reminded me that this is what we usually have to deal with in a dry summer. I've found this to be an incredibly frustrating situation, but resolve to accept it for the time being. Until funds are available for a new arena and a new water source to irrigate it with, we'll work with what we have, because we have to.

In the meantime, our goals are:

-- to implement the position changes I've worked on with my new trainer
-- to keep Val absolutely in front of my leg, requiring minimal aids to stay forward
-- to improve my focus, so that I can maintain steady, elastic contact
-- to know when to quit (holy crap this one's important!)
-- to get fit (both of us... talking about you too Val!)

so we don't make fools of ourselves - at the clinic we're going to in October! (controlled myself on the exclamation points)

I had a second (really good) lesson at L's place in July, but we both feel that lessons on Val would be ideal. (even though I'm quite fond of the other grey ottb in my life - Tom Terrific - edited to add his handsome mug)


It's such a long way to L's farm in Md - a mini-clinic is the only way to make taking Val up there feasible. We'll head up on a Friday and stay through Monday. The plan is for four mounted lessons, and hopefully an unmounted biomechanics seminar with some local riders. Should the weather not cooperate, we can trailer to an indoor. We'll cook meals and watch dvd's in the evenings. All horses, all the time. To say I'm over the moon would be an understatement.

It's a good feeling to have something to work toward again.




It's hard out here for a horse... ;D

11 comments:

  1. Love the sound of your clinic! I, too, have decided that I need goals and focus. I've asked ALexandrine about regular lessons, for in-hand work and dressage. Must blog about that soon, actually, she's done really well nationally here in France in the Natural Horsemanship championships & she's qualified for the Dressage championships too. I shall shamelessly take advantage of her!!!
    This was my first REAL summer with horses - Ireland does not have a REAL summer. It's been an eye-opener, what with the flies and the suffocating heat in the middle of the day. I'm just glad I'm paying for livery and haven't had to shove wheel-barrows around in this heat!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Have a great weekend in Maryland! That sand is deep!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's always a good feeling to have enough hay for the winter. We just had six hundred bales delivered on Friday. So that should hold us for a while.

    How exciting about the clinic and new trainer. I hope you have great weather. I know you'll have a great time!!!!


    The arena looks tough to get through, maybe you'll be lucky and get some rain to tamp it down.

    ReplyDelete
  4. p.s. Val looks like a trailer loading star :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lauren -
    Definitely gives me tingly feelings ;D

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the promise of new and exciting adventures! How great is that.

    Yummy hay for winter. Sorry about your arena. That is tough for you both. Don't wish too hard for rain - never seems to be moderate anymore. You don't want a flood!

    Tom Terrific is cute - what does Val think of this?!

    Horsey fun in October - so great!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Goals make all the difference, don't they! I'm starting to research trainers in our area but I have to get fit (Winston too) before we actually try one out. It's great motivation. I don't want to die ten minutes into the lesson. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I wish I had all that hay too! So happy that you are back and in the saddle - we missed you. Both you and Val look good and happy.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your weekend clinic sounds like fun! Good for you.

    ReplyDelete

I love, love, love my readers, and knowing that you've stopped by - it really makes my day.

However, to avoid the new illegible blogger word verification, I've added comment moderation. Lesser of two evils.

Please don't let this stop you - keep those comments coming!! :)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...