A great day
Did not go to work. Instead, took my horse for a lesson with a visiting Victorian instructor, who doesn't use bits, horseshoes or rugs. My au-naturel, cheerful pony met with his approval. Today was a private lesson, tomorrow's an all-day clinic with a group.
App and Carlos. I'm told Carlos is very good-looking, but I only have eyes for the horse.
Carlos demonstrating some groundwork
On board
Closeup of bitless bridle. He was broken in with a bit, because I thought it would be better for him to know what one is in case something happens to me and he gets sold, but he's never worn one since.
Working on backing without rein contact. Before the lesson I would have said our backing up was very good, but thanks to one little adjustment (weight slightly more forward to free up his loins) it's much better now. I got my money's worth right there.
Not the nicest background in this shot, but he's powering along nicely
I always feel like I have to apologise for his mane to non-horsy people. It's supposed to stick up like this - it's a feature of the breed!
What could be more fun than having someone focus their attention on your pride and joy for an hour!
Then Mom and I burned fallen branches on the far side of the creek all afternoon. We've been trying for two months to find a day we were both free and the weather was right. I'm just about to head down there again and make sure the embers are out so I can go to bed. On one memorable occasion psycho_tabby might recall, things flared up and ignited a large bonfire on the neighbour's property after I was 100% sure it was safe to call it a night.
We had to keep the fires small and keep feeding them because of all the low branches nearby
Part of the mess, pre-burn. It's mostly wattle trees, which are short-lived, plus some long-dead large eucalypts that will be dropping branches for a long time to come.
Tonight I've been baking cookies to take tomorrow and re-watching Rome. New fandom highs excepted, life doesn't get much better than this!
App and Carlos. I'm told Carlos is very good-looking, but I only have eyes for the horse.
Carlos demonstrating some groundwork
On board
Closeup of bitless bridle. He was broken in with a bit, because I thought it would be better for him to know what one is in case something happens to me and he gets sold, but he's never worn one since.
Working on backing without rein contact. Before the lesson I would have said our backing up was very good, but thanks to one little adjustment (weight slightly more forward to free up his loins) it's much better now. I got my money's worth right there.
Not the nicest background in this shot, but he's powering along nicely
I always feel like I have to apologise for his mane to non-horsy people. It's supposed to stick up like this - it's a feature of the breed!
What could be more fun than having someone focus their attention on your pride and joy for an hour!
Then Mom and I burned fallen branches on the far side of the creek all afternoon. We've been trying for two months to find a day we were both free and the weather was right. I'm just about to head down there again and make sure the embers are out so I can go to bed. On one memorable occasion psycho_tabby might recall, things flared up and ignited a large bonfire on the neighbour's property after I was 100% sure it was safe to call it a night.
We had to keep the fires small and keep feeding them because of all the low branches nearby
Part of the mess, pre-burn. It's mostly wattle trees, which are short-lived, plus some long-dead large eucalypts that will be dropping branches for a long time to come.
Tonight I've been baking cookies to take tomorrow and re-watching Rome. New fandom highs excepted, life doesn't get much better than this!