dancinghorse | That Was the Weekend That Was

Oh, the wild social whirl.

Friday was work-work-get ready to go out-work-work-work-actually go out. The Rachael Sage concert was delightful. It was in the courtyard at Old Town Artisans downtown--old Spanish-style courtyard with little fairly lights and a koi pond and bistrol tables, and a stage for the performers. Since

smoemeth is RS's road manager, we sat with her for quite a bit of it, ate the buffet from the bar (black beans, Spanish rice, and a very good chile cheese casserole, all we could eat for $4), and enjoyed the ambience. It got rather cold later on in the evening, but wasn't intolerable. I should have brought a lap rug. Other than that. not bad.

Got back rather late from that, then had all the farm things to do. Following day was lunch/brunch at the Eclectic with the roadie and RS before they headed on to the gig in Phoenix. During which we discovered that my car was missing a taillight, so the trip home included a stop at Pep Boys, tra-la. And I stopped at the Saddle Shop's new home, many miles closer to me and on the main drag from PesMart to Arizona Feeds--very convenient--and they posted the Florian-clinic flyer right in the window, bless 'em. Once I got home, I fell over and didn't wake until horse dinnertime, then fell over Again.

Then this morning I had a lesson. Rode da Pook, who is seriously into clinic prep. Much work on straightness, balance, and more straightness. His left hind isn't weak this week, the right hind is taking over that duty, which is good--he's getting into condition. Concentrated on Elbows. And hands close together, making narrow path for him to go down. He wants very much to collect: engage behind, raise back, lift forehand. And he's getting nice and quick off the leg. My wonderful little dressage stallion. He's the first true collectamatic I've worked with consistently--Capria tends to go llama and is hard to get together--and I'm grooving on the things he does just because he's made that way. You can feel the muscles ripple up through his back from behind, and then the big arched check goes Up. He can't keep it there for long right now, he's out of shape, but he's getting there. Makes it really clear to me how and why Harald wanted me to do the things I did--they're tailor-made for this kind of horse.

After lessons I went over with Teacher to another student's house, to meet the Friesians. Baaaaaby Friesians! All fuzzy and snuggly and cute. Big Mama was looking spectacular. Harta, the sporthorse Friesian with the Lipizzan mind, let me know we could get along, you know? I wish I had a whole lotta money, I'd buy her--she's lovely. She has a short back, unusual in the breed these days, and lovely, light, suspended movement, very Lipp-like again. Reminds me of Camilla, and Marita. That kind of horse. My kind of horse. Hopefully Teacher can take her to the Florian clinic. That will give us a full gamut of baroque breeds, as Teacher's longest-running student is bringing her Andalusian as well. So far the roster includes the baroque breeds, an Anglo-Arab, and some Arabs, and possibly a WB or TB. It's a good and eclectic mix, which I like for clinics like this.

We do still need riders--auditors are piling in, but we could use a few more rides. However the ads are about to come out and we still have to post flyers, so it's early days yet.

Still proofing ms. amid all this. Tomorrow's project: Proof and print or die. Then I get to decide what to write next (and also, revise Serpent II, start Serpent III...).

I can't believe next week is Thanksgiving. Where did the year go?