Tuesday, September 27, 2011

I wanna go

Mary Phelps, Whip; K. Gage, Groom. Phelps Photo
It's been busy out here.

The year end stuff has finally caught up with us and it's the final drive to October.

Most of my last two weeks have been spent on the road, training, grooming, finishing up 2011 or planning out 2012.I haven't really seen my guys, or ridden any of my usuals.

I partly blame the weather. My outdoors have been under water now for the last two weeks. So, I've spent the weeks finishing out my paperwork so I can go forward with graduating the L, attend  few conferences and figure out winter.

But needless to say it hasn't been short of adventurous. 

After getting to ride 17.1 hand giants (a nice mare and two lovely geldings), clipping a few ponies (see above photo for results) I was conscripted into service by Sterling Graburn for the weekend for a HDT in Louisville.

I'm not an exact stranger to driving, but I am a complete novice when it comes to the particulars and morays. Within an entire weekend, I think I managed to get grasp on the basics of it. I even groomed and navigated. I ran into old friends and even made a few new ones.

The quality of horses here ranged from VSE to international caliber. It was incredibly pleasant to experience that range and hospitality of both competitor and organizer.  

It felt nice to step out of my discipline for a bit and go in to a place that is a little out of my depth, but not too unfamiliar at the same time.

Now I'm back at home, readying for the final go for October, sending Sincere off for his first 30 days and trying to gain more saddle time while closing out the last bit of the year.

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