It's Near...
This is my last Thursday of classes. Technically I'll have to go up next Thursday, but that's just to drop off the two paintings that are sitting in the living room so they can be graded. Today I paint feverishly and draw rabidly as well. Tuesday I have two critiques and then ... bliss.
There shall be a ritual cleaning of, well ... everything. Or at least I'll try. The house needs dusting and scrubbing. Miscellaneous paperwork needs to be destroyed or filed, and the horses themselves shall get a good spring scrubbing as well.
I need to get myself a schedule written up for working horses, namely a certain two-year-old who need some saddle time, Kash (who has been neglected far too long due to school), Panda who needs miles and some good ol' lovin' and hanging out, and Kitt, who also needs a lot of miles as well as ground work and some respect building. I'll probably alternate so that two of them get worked two days, and the other two get worked the other two days during the week and whoever needs some extra work, or a tune-up (like Chewy or Ruby) would get that fifth week-day as well. Of course there's going to be lessons and stuff in there as well, but I'm going to try really hard to get even just a few minutes of work in with them, no excuses. Because I now have none.
The other thing will be getting myself to work on art as well, set up a sacred studio time that shall not be disrupted (except by special occasions or extraneous circumstances).
I ended the training up in Peoria (I was spending four hours getting there, being there, and getting back ... the lesson was one hour), possibly to be resumed when it gets cooler again and I don't loose a whole days' riding my own horses by going up there. I did learn quite a bit and now have some handle on flying changes, which is good and makes me happy. Now I just need to teach the boy how to do it. The next venture will be learning how to drive. I've had a couple basic lessons from a friend, but don't feel competent at all in driving. Ground driving I'm okay, though still need some work and practice (and Kash is wonderfully patient with me ... usually). I have all these horses that know how to drive (Ruby, Panda, Kitt) and don't want that to simply go to waste. I am a member of the ACDS (Arizona Carriage and Driving Society) and would like to do something active with it rather than just reading the newsletter. Plus we have a cart that's been sitting around doing nothing. It needs a job.
In other news. Mom actually came out on Tuesday and worked with her colt, yay! Actually, I ended up doing most of the work. She messed with him the last few minutes after I worked through most of the resistance. Once we get him leading decently we can take him over to the round pen for some more ground work. I already mentioned to her "This would have been much easier had it been done four months ago." She could have gotten away with honestly working with him once a week had this started when she got him rather than trying to cram it into the last two weeks (well, three) before taking him to Utah. He's also being gelded Monday, which might interfere with some training time as he recovers, but it needs to be done before he goes. One: Grandpa doesn't need to worry about all of his mares getting pregnant (he has three) and Two: Grandpa shouldn't have to worry about taking care of a recently gelded colt.
And it sounds like she's here for round two. So I've gotta scootch and help her. (My helping is essentially her birthday/Mother's Day present.)
There shall be a ritual cleaning of, well ... everything. Or at least I'll try. The house needs dusting and scrubbing. Miscellaneous paperwork needs to be destroyed or filed, and the horses themselves shall get a good spring scrubbing as well.
I need to get myself a schedule written up for working horses, namely a certain two-year-old who need some saddle time, Kash (who has been neglected far too long due to school), Panda who needs miles and some good ol' lovin' and hanging out, and Kitt, who also needs a lot of miles as well as ground work and some respect building. I'll probably alternate so that two of them get worked two days, and the other two get worked the other two days during the week and whoever needs some extra work, or a tune-up (like Chewy or Ruby) would get that fifth week-day as well. Of course there's going to be lessons and stuff in there as well, but I'm going to try really hard to get even just a few minutes of work in with them, no excuses. Because I now have none.
The other thing will be getting myself to work on art as well, set up a sacred studio time that shall not be disrupted (except by special occasions or extraneous circumstances).
I ended the training up in Peoria (I was spending four hours getting there, being there, and getting back ... the lesson was one hour), possibly to be resumed when it gets cooler again and I don't loose a whole days' riding my own horses by going up there. I did learn quite a bit and now have some handle on flying changes, which is good and makes me happy. Now I just need to teach the boy how to do it. The next venture will be learning how to drive. I've had a couple basic lessons from a friend, but don't feel competent at all in driving. Ground driving I'm okay, though still need some work and practice (and Kash is wonderfully patient with me ... usually). I have all these horses that know how to drive (Ruby, Panda, Kitt) and don't want that to simply go to waste. I am a member of the ACDS (Arizona Carriage and Driving Society) and would like to do something active with it rather than just reading the newsletter. Plus we have a cart that's been sitting around doing nothing. It needs a job.
In other news. Mom actually came out on Tuesday and worked with her colt, yay! Actually, I ended up doing most of the work. She messed with him the last few minutes after I worked through most of the resistance. Once we get him leading decently we can take him over to the round pen for some more ground work. I already mentioned to her "This would have been much easier had it been done four months ago." She could have gotten away with honestly working with him once a week had this started when she got him rather than trying to cram it into the last two weeks (well, three) before taking him to Utah. He's also being gelded Monday, which might interfere with some training time as he recovers, but it needs to be done before he goes. One: Grandpa doesn't need to worry about all of his mares getting pregnant (he has three) and Two: Grandpa shouldn't have to worry about taking care of a recently gelded colt.
And it sounds like she's here for round two. So I've gotta scootch and help her. (My helping is essentially her birthday/Mother's Day present.)