Many adventures
It's been a while since I last posted and I probably did some things in that time.
The major thing I've been doing is getting paid not to work. That is very awesome and gives me plenty of pony time, but as my notice ends with November I'm getting more of my job-seeker's head on now.
Zorro is still on box rest and doing surprisingly well, although a touch curmudgeonly as one might expect. The vet came out again last week and concurred with my judgement that he is clearly sounder than he was. He may not be right, yet, but he is better which suggests we are most likely to be looking at a soft tissue injury in which case more of the same should help. Today he seemed sound in walk and only a little off in trot, which is good progress.
Herecirm has been to visit a few times since Zorro has been shut in - it's harder to get to her what with needing to sort him out on box-rest - and that has been brilliant as always. We're not far off having been together six months and it's just all been excellent. Also she has been on hand to take some pictures of some of the other horsey stuff I've been up to, which is very generous.
I've been doing quite a bit of teaching as there are a few people interested in learning things I know and having the time to work during the week is good news for me. Here are a few pictures from a lesson on Sunday:
It was pretty misty in the arena. The cob is absolutely sweet - she seems to be appy from the colour of her, crossed with something very wide.
Demonstrating the feel I try to present down the reins. My gloves are very yellow...
Hopping on to sort out a couple of balance things so that Anne, my student, can feel what I am talking about.
I got to do some work with a young half-cleveland mare while Sari was down a couple of weeks back as well- the mare was a bit more troubled and it was nice for her to see me working with a more tricky horse. We got quite a bit done, but that pony has a long road ahead of her.
I've been doing some schooling with Xefira as well. Her trot is so smooth and refined it is actually easier to sit to the trot than to rise to it, which is quite unusual in my experience. There doesn't seem to be enough up-and-down in her back to make rising easy, it's just like sitting on a slide. The thing with her is to make sure that you only get that wonderful smooth trot when you have asked for it, rather than whenever she feels like it.
Cash meanwhile is doing beautifully well. He's still finding it hard to gather up the bravery for riding out alone ( in company he is fine but like most horses that doesn't really affect how he gets by without other horses ) and I have been working on trying to get him far enough that he is pushing his comfort zone without going so far that I blow his mind.
Sari came with us on foot on Saturday, which I thought would be more reassuring for Cash than he found it. At one point he span and set off for home up the lane after a small boy with a dog walked up the pavement towards us. After a few brisk and slightly sweary strides I got things under control and we turned back but the small boy had gone. It was only later I realised that I couldn't see a place for him to have gone, so maybe he was an actual for-reals ghost, which would explain why Cash was so flustered.
We weren't far from the common then, so we pressed on and used the big open sandy trail there as an arena while I helped him get his brain back in his head, which he did fine though we still marched home at twice the rate we rode out.
He has also taken to coming in as close to black as he possibly can be, especially when he doesn't have a rug, which given the warm ( for the season ) weather lately has been often. He's adorable but he is also a horrible muddy rolly pest.
tl:dr; life good, ponies cute, teaching fun, doing alright, need to find a job.
The major thing I've been doing is getting paid not to work. That is very awesome and gives me plenty of pony time, but as my notice ends with November I'm getting more of my job-seeker's head on now.
Zorro is still on box rest and doing surprisingly well, although a touch curmudgeonly as one might expect. The vet came out again last week and concurred with my judgement that he is clearly sounder than he was. He may not be right, yet, but he is better which suggests we are most likely to be looking at a soft tissue injury in which case more of the same should help. Today he seemed sound in walk and only a little off in trot, which is good progress.
Herecirm has been to visit a few times since Zorro has been shut in - it's harder to get to her what with needing to sort him out on box-rest - and that has been brilliant as always. We're not far off having been together six months and it's just all been excellent. Also she has been on hand to take some pictures of some of the other horsey stuff I've been up to, which is very generous.
I've been doing quite a bit of teaching as there are a few people interested in learning things I know and having the time to work during the week is good news for me. Here are a few pictures from a lesson on Sunday:
It was pretty misty in the arena. The cob is absolutely sweet - she seems to be appy from the colour of her, crossed with something very wide.
Demonstrating the feel I try to present down the reins. My gloves are very yellow...
Hopping on to sort out a couple of balance things so that Anne, my student, can feel what I am talking about.
I got to do some work with a young half-cleveland mare while Sari was down a couple of weeks back as well- the mare was a bit more troubled and it was nice for her to see me working with a more tricky horse. We got quite a bit done, but that pony has a long road ahead of her.
I've been doing some schooling with Xefira as well. Her trot is so smooth and refined it is actually easier to sit to the trot than to rise to it, which is quite unusual in my experience. There doesn't seem to be enough up-and-down in her back to make rising easy, it's just like sitting on a slide. The thing with her is to make sure that you only get that wonderful smooth trot when you have asked for it, rather than whenever she feels like it.
Cash meanwhile is doing beautifully well. He's still finding it hard to gather up the bravery for riding out alone ( in company he is fine but like most horses that doesn't really affect how he gets by without other horses ) and I have been working on trying to get him far enough that he is pushing his comfort zone without going so far that I blow his mind.
Sari came with us on foot on Saturday, which I thought would be more reassuring for Cash than he found it. At one point he span and set off for home up the lane after a small boy with a dog walked up the pavement towards us. After a few brisk and slightly sweary strides I got things under control and we turned back but the small boy had gone. It was only later I realised that I couldn't see a place for him to have gone, so maybe he was an actual for-reals ghost, which would explain why Cash was so flustered.
We weren't far from the common then, so we pressed on and used the big open sandy trail there as an arena while I helped him get his brain back in his head, which he did fine though we still marched home at twice the rate we rode out.
He has also taken to coming in as close to black as he possibly can be, especially when he doesn't have a rug, which given the warm ( for the season ) weather lately has been often. He's adorable but he is also a horrible muddy rolly pest.
tl:dr; life good, ponies cute, teaching fun, doing alright, need to find a job.