Quick update, more later

Wow what a month.  I am happy to report that Fiona is over her strangles and back in fine shape. Her trainer has been doing a great job getting her muscle tone back up so she’s ready to ride again. While Fiona was in sick bay, the stables have been getting a major overhaul. There are new barns going in and a new tack room. The construction has been going on right outside Fiona’s stall, which has been remarkably good for her. The first few days she was NOT very comfortable with all the commotion, but now she just kind of ignores it for the most part.

Drill team is also going well. I rode Zach again two weeks ago and he was wonderful. He’s a little slow, but that’s better than the alternative for the moment. I am scheduled to ride him 3 times this week while his owner is on vacation. I am definitely looking forward to that. Apparently he has a little buck leading into his cantor. That should make the week interesting. J He’s already spooked with me once. It was nothing major, but it got my attention. He shyed away from a noise on the other side of a wall. There are houses on the other side of the wall and someone had the audacity (sarcasm) to make a noise in their backyard. It caught him off guard and he leapt sideways. I stayed on though and we kept riding. Good to know it’s not just my horse that does that stuff.

I am also continuing to watch a lot of Rick Gore’s videos. I like his approach to horsemanship. He really does take the horse’s needs into account first. It’s made me re-think a lot of what I have been doing and thinking about this process.  Check out the Gymkhana videos. WOW, that's all I am going to say.

I am going to try to take some more video of Fiona and post it soon.