New Developments

Hello All! First I must tell you about the new feature! You can now become a "SKY FAN" and officially follow my blog! Please add yourself to the list as a reader so I can figure out who is reading about Sky and I. I have decided my goal this summer is to see how many people I can get to read my blog and follow our crazy adventures!

So, this morning I was woken up by a man who wasn't my husband - now that I have your attention... Yeah - it was Frank. Frank rides with the clan when we go to East Corinth.. He has ridden with others there for years and I have had the privilage to get to know him in the past few seasons. Frank is in his 80s and puts every single one of you to shame with his time spent in the saddle. He is the only person I know, retired or not, who can ride 5 hours and call that a short ride! He even broke his ribs last year and was riding six weeks after... he's a super character and one hell of a guy and when he is driving through for one reason or another he calls me up and we meet up. So, this morning I was woken up by Frank and he invited me to meet him for coffee. After grudgingly taking Sadie out to pee, I managed to drag my unshowered, dragged out of bed, creases still on my face self down the road!

It was well worth it, as Frank is always full of stories and great to get a laugh. We chatted about his possibly joining the few I am trying to get togehter to camp out near Marsh Billings sometime in June, about when he is headed to Otter Creek in NY in May (I am SO JEALOUS - I've wanted to go there forever... if only I had a trailer of my own!) and about people who we both know... but of course, never in a gossipy way! :)

Anyway, after that I nursed my sore wrist, which Lisa swears is sore b/c of the recent rain... I refuse to believe I am that decrepit yet! Then it was up to Lisa's b/c John called and had a few minutes to spend with Sky and I regarding her troubles at the lope.

I was very excited, mostly b/c John hasn't seen her since the fall and I was anxious to get a starting point to really kick off my hard work to get us into a w/t/c class this year. So, I rode her in the yard to warm her up and when he arrived, he hopped on her and started some work...

OH, SKY - she is a character like no person I know! It was obvious from my unique vantage point on the ground that she was wondering in her horsey mind what this guy was doing up there! I think it became clear to her soon enough that 'this guy' was there to make her work and although she did great, she wasn't too thrilled about it at first.

He showed me how to use a 'railing'. (I use quotes here b/c we don't have any fence in the yard yet so we used poles on the ground to simulate where a railing would be) He would turn Sky into the railing so she had to spin on her haunches to turn her body the other way which makes her push off with her outside hind leg and reach forward with her inside front leg - perfect timing there to ask for the lope.... Ok this is where I felt like a retard b/c we did a TON of that at all gaits in NM at Joshs'! I cannot for the life of me think of why I didn't think to do that!

So he showed me how to get her to stretch and use her outside hind leg, from sidepassing off the rail, then turning, to simply doing small circles at the walk in order to get her to use it. This all made sense to me and I was patiently waiting for my turn to try, but I think John got into a groove and as humid as it is today, Sky was getting all the workout she needed. He loped her quite a bit and got her very collected.

He told me that she needed a lot of work - lots of wet saddle pads... this I knew but I wasn't sure where to start. Now I have some skills to do - lots of transition work and lots of trotting and working at the lope both ways... I should and probably will write down the excersises I want to do and plan ahead a little better.

Because I cannot resist starting right away I plan to ride her this afternoon after a few hours of rest for her... Should be good.

So don't forget to become a "sky fan" and I'll see you next time!

Thanks John for the time - I appreciate it a lot!

C