Sunday, November 22, 2015

Nothing ever lasts even a cold November rain

It's taken me a while to write this post.

My Fall was already packed and going strong but around the end of October, things took a quick turn south and then proceeded to turn more south.

Between William's accident, scrambling unsuccessfully for Mary King to come over, coordinating Fahrenheit's delayed arrival and keeping Flair going I was overwhelmed and very much running on empty.

Then came the series of minor little incidents. The time switch and I lost hours of daylight alongside the reminder that I'm not heading South for winter, not being in control of my own schedule, odd bills showing up, some random theft, some untimely deaths and a few other situations that just knocked me off my flow. I felt like I lost ground and whatever momentum I gained from the summer.

All of it happened within a span of two weeks, whatever motivation I had pretty much went out the window. It wasn't anyone's fault.
Things are slowly returning to a proverbial normal thanks to going and teaching, gaining a few new sponsors, some new clients, and planning 2016. It's still a long way off of wherever I feel like I need to be, and somedays are still tough.
The horses are thankfully, going right along. 

Flair continues to develop with me. She's solidly riding five days with me and going out and doing sets as long as the footing remains consistent.

Her personality has really come out, she, like Sinari, is the queen bee of the barn, you know exactly where you stand with her. She's more sensitive than the pony- both in personality and in physical nature.

There are days that her gut bothers her (rapid weather change isn't helping), or that she doesn't feel quite up to the task. Sometimes her personality is easily offended, which is to be expected, but for the most part she likes to work.

She has found more of her gaits, but the canter remains a tad overwhelmingly powerful. She's also starting to turn heads. She is also still playing catch up. The idea is to keep her developing throughout 2016 with minimal show obligations, going back to keuring and maybe going out to the shows as an HC. 

Fahrenheit has begun work. He's everything I remembered when I first saw him, incredible rideable
personality and three good gaits.

He's gone from unbroke to lunging in a matter of a week without so much as a hitch.

I have a few thoughts for his schedule but until he's actively under tack I'm holding off anything. He's set up to be backed next weekend by my usual guy. It was supposed to be this weekend, but I was feeling not so prudent about starting a horse in 30mph winds and a 30 degree temperature drop.

His focus is on the next 90 or so days, and developing condition to do the work for 2016. 


Joining the herd in the next few weeks are two more mares in for winter training (and one for sale). I'm really pleased to see the quality grow.

Europe has also been on my mind lately.

Not just for the attacks in Paris and abroad but the big question on everyone's mind is if I'll go back for an extended stay.

The short answer is no.

With horses actively developing under tack, coming in to ride, the most I can get away with is two weeks. So I'm trying to condense four countries, all the shopping, looking at horses, awards, and business meetings within those 14 days.

Overall, I'm already looking forward to spring.