After 6 months of being home, I return to the traveling consultant lifestyle. I'll be driving to the DC area through October for project work. While I'll probably not keep my platinum status with Delta for next year, I'm ok with being only 3 hours away from home.
Since the last blog, Fred has returned to full work. He had a lesson with Sarah on Friday. We worked on canter departs. Right now that is the most glaring issue in our dressage tests. I figure we have all winter to make us a real dressage team. While the weather's warm, we're going for the basics in order to get out and earn mileage competing.
Fred also rode in my trailer Friday! He had a small bit of chemical relaxation, I won't hide that fact. He was very well behaved getting on and off the trailer and while we drove around the block.
Yesterday morning I took him outside and let him jump. Oh boy, was he happy to jump. It was a month since I last jumped him. Thankfully, I knew what to expect after the fences. I trotted a single fence and made him stop on a straight line several times. There was a lot of happy dancing/flailing on the other side of the fences. I managed to stay with him, pretty or not, and by the end we were cantering around over two jumps with normal flailing.
Thankfully, Fred and I had 6 months to figure each other out and I think we can adapt to my work schedule going forward. Of course this means I've asked Lauren to ride him once a week. Yet again, she said she would. :P
My parents' and the Susquehanna Yacht club hosted a successful 4Diamonds Boating Day for the 4Diamond kids at Hershey. We all got a little wet at lunch but managed to get out on the river before the next round of weather came in. Well done, everyone!
While I had a little break between projects this week, I did some fall planning:
August 21: help the HVS crew at Carousel HT
August 31 - Sept 3: Quentin Riding Club fall show (helping out as I can)
September 10: Fair Hill Starter Trial
September 17: Beaufort Hunter Trials
September 18: Olney Starter Trial (Fred is entered!)
September 24: Penn State vs. E Michigan. We have seats 11 rows from the field! You can hear the helmets crash at that level.
September 27 - October 2: Dressage at Devon. I've never been but might go this year.
October 2: Burgundy Hollow mix 'n match. Hoping for N dressage and stadium with a BN XC round.
October 12 - 16: Fair Hill **/***. Maybe I'll spectate this year.
October 30: Plantation Starter Trial
"Riding a horse is not a gentle hobby, to be picked up and laid down like a game of solitaire. It is a grand passion. It seizes a person whole and once it has done so, he/she will have to accept that his life will be radically changed." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
No comments:
Post a Comment