sooooo ...

Ooh. If only I could wait another week, it would be a year to the day since the last update.

Heh. Sorry.

A lot of things have changed in the year.

My student E. was not my student for long after that last entry. She moved to another barn, a dressage barn, and the last time we spoke, it sounded like she was doing well. She invited me to a thing that unfortunately was happening on a Saturday, which is my Hell Day, and I didn't make it to her thing; I haven't heard from her since, and I kind of fear she might have been insulted. Her move also coincided with a client implosion and the departure of a client who took several clients with her. Many odd things have become clear since that one left, and although it's quieter at the barn now, that's just fine.

The upshot is my student A. still rides Royal on Saturdays, and he is still teaching her lateral work, and doing very well. She weighs about half of me, and he is happy to go for her.

Soon after my last post here, I got really sick, and it took several months to sort out and treat all the things that were wrong. Aaaand, some of the pills make me fat. Fatter. So I'm a big cow, and I've switched to in-hand work rather than riding - it's a lot more exercise for me, and a lot less carrying-around-the-cow for my poor elderly pets. If you really want the detailed whingeing, feel free to read my MySpace blog. Friend me there and you can get in.

But in-hand work is fantastic.

It's making me a more observant and attentive handler, and my two old pets into more obedient, attentive horses. The Kindest Clinic Hostess in the World has been letting me use her school horses, and the Bestest Instructors in the World have been generous with their instruction. There's a lot of info that I can't sort out here, and some of it can be summed up as: Small horses are way easier to do this with.

With Jo I have found it useful to alternate the Portuguese method, holding the reins from the bridle, with working in cavesson-surcingle-side reins. He is more stiff and finds it more difficult to balance, leans on his right shoulder a lot, and frequent transitions also help. Littybitty Royal has a much easier time balancing, whichever method you use.

I'll have to play with them more and then report on one particular day. This post is mainly to tell all y'all readers ::cough cough:: that I'm not dead.