This evening Daisy and I took the dogs and mapped out the trails around the house. All together from the barn, around each of the loops, and back to the barn comes to 2.57 miles. I’m feeling like we have a great geographic base to build on now for sone conditioning rides.
Here is the little bit of video I captured before I realized the bird was alive.
We have a beautiful foggy morning today, and while I was out feeding horses Blu came parading out of the barn holding quite a large bird in his mouth. Blu was meowing away, talking with his mouth full, as if to tell me the incredible story of how he caught such a large prize. I started to video him speaking with his mouth full when suddenly he loosened his grip on the bird. As it began to screech and flap its wings I realized it was still very much alive and in need of rescue! Immediately I approached Blu and made him drop the bird who promptly flew into the top of the nearest tree, squawking the whole time. A disappointment for Blu for sure, but a lucky save for the bird.
Happy fall! The horses are starting to get wooly, except Miss Pea. I've known her since she was five (she's now 12) and she's never grown much of a coat. She keeps her slicked out shiny fur year round, but I'm hoping that here where it rarely gets below freezing she won't need so much of her winter wardrobe. Dewey is working on his winter fluff, so it will be interesting to see how furry everyone gets this first winter here in VA.
I mean, look at the buns on that OTTB!
The barn cats, Sabbath and Orzo, appear to be enjoying the cooler temperatures too. This morning they were sitting together in the sunshine at the corner of the barn while I was feeding everyone and doing morning chores.
Highboy eats his mash in this paddock so that Note doesn't steal it (Highboy eats extremely slowly and Note is much faster). This morning I was texting with a friend and Highboy wanted to make sure I told her hello from him.
The Centered Riding instructor update last week was a fantastic clinic! I took my camera with me again and got some very fun photos of the other riders, instructors, and even some artsy shots of the lesson horses.
Callie was teaching Sue and riding Feargus.
Dana, who owns the facility we used for the clinic, was updating her own instructor certification as well. She taught Morgan and rode Bert.
Once again Deb Moynihan was our level IV fearless leader, teaching the instructor course and guiding us as instructors with our teaching.
Katie is a veterinarian in the area, and also a Centered Riding instructor who was updating with us. She had this gorgeous percheron cross who was her own personal horse, though he had a very friesian look to him! She was teaching Maliha.
Janet rode with Margo as her instructor and we were all drooling over her gorgeous chestnut with the flaxen mane and tail.
This clinic had three Kims in it... This Kim rode a couple different horses for her riding lessons. Kermit was the appaloosa, and I'm not sure of the name of the gorgeous chestnut with the flaxen mane and tail. Kim taught another Kim, on her paint horse Tulsa.
Margo and I rode together so I didn't get any photos of her with her Fjord since I was also in the saddle, but we did get this one shot of both of us with Deb and our horses.
Kim and Tulsa did a lovely job together in their lessons, and everyone thought the "Buckle Up, Buttercup" tshirt summarized the canter riding lesson quite nicely.
Sue rode this fancy chestnut for her lessons, and I was really impressed with their balance and how Sue was able to get him to really use himself well, especially his hind end.
Maliha had her matchy-matchy game on point for her lessons. Her chestnut is a thoroughbred as well, with the nicest disposition and willing attitude.
Here are some of the headshots and artsy pics I got during the week.
Highboy got some turnout in the round pen to dispose of his Yee-Hawww before I rode him on the last couple days. This was helpful since he usually lives outside and stall life can make him a little stir-crazy.
We did our unmounted work in the classroom upstairs in the covered arena. There was a lot of great discussion and many laughs as we worked with the various teaching aids and helped each other discover new ways to teach the basics. We don't attain mastery by practicing advanced techniques, we attain mastery by practicing the basics, and Centered Riding helps us focus on those basics of breathing, centering, soft eyes, building blocks. By doing these things the horses are able to move better and more naturally, since they can only do with their bodies what we do with ours in the saddle.
This pool noodle exercise was interesting. I tucked it into my vest so it would lie along the front of my shoulders. Turning from the bottom of my ribcage and bringing the pool noodle with me gave me a heightened awareness of my center versus my upper body, and I was focused so hard on that sensation that I didn't realize I wasn't taking my head and eyes with me! I realized I had gone into hard eyes as I was so focused in search of how it felt, instead of softening my eyes and making sure my nose stayed in front of my sternum through the turns. I later rode Highboy with the pool noodle positioned here as well, but we didn't get any photos of it. Riding with the noodle helped me realize that when we did tight turns at any gait, I would stop moving my seat bones and just turn my upper body. Realizing that my "seat feet" had to continue moving in order to get Highboy's hind feet to continue moving on a small circle (and in the future doing pirouettes) was a game changer for me.
Once again we had a fabulous time at a great clinic. I always learn so much at these events and take home all kinds of new ways to teach important core concepts. It's such fun to reconnect with the folks I met last time, and to make new friends. Plus getting new photos of cute horses to draw is a bonus!
Here is a link to the google drive with all the photos. There are several on the drive that I didn't include in the blog, so it's worth a look if you or your horse were at the clinic! Please do credit Bit of Honey Training if you choose to use the photos on social media, it took a long time to get them all sorted, edited, and posted!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1D_J7C6G5TbHPe1EPUwByx2PVI4Vk2B2L?usp=sharing
