Sunday, May 15, 2011

Long time, no news!

It's been a LONG time since I posted a blog update. Indy has been essentially turned out for about 2 or 3 months. I'm sure she doesn't mind, not one bit!!!

When I decided to take Scarlett hunting, I needed to dedicate time to getting her fit, which meant squeezing in as many rides a week as I could, as well as riding with a purpose.

While the weather is dodgy and I have limited horse time, I decided to focus on Scarlett. She is safe, dependable, the same after a week (or month) off... I know her inside out. I do not feel it would do Indy justice - or that it's a partciularly safety-conscious thing for me to do! - for me to deal with indy only imtermittently.

I've also had a lot to finish up before Finals: I've done about 8 mentor days with Carmen in the last several weeks, been going over assignments, and still trying to get horses trimmed in between bouts of crappy weather. We will be in Christchurch again in June... just four weeks to go!

I have a grand total of one more Mentor day to complete.

Today I started putting my four case studies together; Scarlett & Indy's will not take long, as I can continue from the 6-month case studies I've already done. For my two client horses, I have to start from scratch!

I managed to skip riding today due to the weather, but caught a fine break and took Indy to do a little groundwork. She is not supple or used to my cues; she had a few moments of feet-in-the-air, but even those have come a long way from the beginning. She is much more balanced and has a better way of going. I did a bit of one-line work on both sides (walk and trot), then a wee bit up close, and then a bit more one-line work at walk, then back to the paddock.

As we get further into winter, I will not ride very much (unless Annika wants to come and ride Scarlett) so need to get my A into G and start with groundwork. I have to consider they will have at least a few weeks off in June, for finals, then I go in to get key-hole surgery done on my knee straight after that. Carmen will come and trim for me at least once so I can make sure I am really 100% before I get back under a horse.

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