Well, my horse has been shedding out for a month now, so it has been a constant battle of little white-ish blonde hairs in my car, on my clothes and even in my house. I keep thinking that one day soon I am going to whip off his blanket and he is going to be bald, but that has not happened yet. I had clipped him in the fall and have not clipped him since as he is really slick! I would imagine that it's because Tawney has him bundled up in nearly every blanket I own and he is in a heated barn. I really enjoy not having to do a second (or even third) clip of the season!
So we have battled through the hair with lots of brushing with both the curry and the "flower" brush and have been able to have some good rides the past two days. I have been really working on keeping him working to the outside rein while staying supple at the same time. I vary between flexing him to the inside (while keeping his head out of that hole), making him straight, both while doing lateral work and straight work. Most importantly I have been keeping his tempo, which makes him very exhausted, but is making a noticeable difference. He is less fussy in the bridle and more honest and reliable about his contact, which feels great. I also notice that he is much easier to sit in his trot, as he is working better over his back and giving me a good place to sit.
I had an exciting ride yesterday as I got to use my new "gadget"- it's portable speakers that are small enough to clip onto my saddle, but loud enough to really pump out some noise without a lot of distortion. I was able to ride to my freestyle music- for the first time since summer- and it was immediately apparent that I was able to keep the tempo better throughout the entire piece! I felt great about our progress since last year and it made me even more excited to be able to show my freestyle this season!
Speaking of show season, the schedule complete with Judges was finally published on the Internet this week. I get a little OCD about planning show season, as it takes budgeting, time management, vacation planning, etc. And while I want to continue showing with Shelley, I'm not sure how it will all work out. So Shelley and I have agreed that while it will be great to show together, I am ready to do some shows on my own and be able to hold my own. So today I took a good look at the schedule and got a rough draft together. Hopefully I'll be able to go to a majority of the shows with Shelley, but we shall see after she gets her schedule worked out.
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