dancinghorse | The Weeks in Review

Filling in the blanks before I head to Columbus for the Lipizzan Convergence--a long weekend of association meetings, Spanish Riding School performances, receptions, clinics, lectures, and much much schmooze. I'm really sorry to miss WFC this year, but I'll be in Austin next year, oh yes. Got my membership already.

Favorite flist tyop today: NoNoWriMo. My sentiments exactly, whenever the deadlines start to tighten. I have to finish a book by year's end, so I'm writing daily No Matter What.

Except I don't plan to do any writing over the weekend. I need a mental-health break. So, no computer, and no daily pages. I'll concentrate on the equine half of the equation.

Which equine half is doing well. Tia took about three days to figure out the routine and stop melting down every time something changed, which is very fast considering how huge the changes were in her young life. Keed went from murderous to protective in a day and a half, which helped considerably. She's still separated from the herd as socialization of a baby who has never been in a herd is a slow process, and I didn't want to lay it on the farmsitter. She's quite happy to have her stall and run, with lots of room to run and play, and horses on all sides all the time, with whom she interacts regularly. Next week I'll start introducing her to the herd in small doses.

She's a delightful personality--very much her own person. And a definite My Lipizzan. She loves hugs and scritchies, lines up for the evening treat dispensary, makes her opinions clearly but politely known, and generally acts like a happy baby. The routine here suits her. She'll like it better when she's in the full herd, but meanwhile she's quite content.

Pook is back to work. He's not ready for prime time--we had a lesson yesterday and he got all wound up about the additional person in the mix--but one on one he's making rapid progress. He's got the steering thing down and the wither-lift thing is coming. The trot thing has gone from not really sure he wanted to do it (and forgetting to breathe) to nice basic-level forward gait. He's straighter and more balanced and is more accepting of my balancing aids, and that's a very good thing. He's a lot more under control in general.

Pandora is getting regular work as well. Pretty much the same parameters, with more relaxation and acceptance. She's got a fantastic trot, huge and free, though when she really gets into it she does the ribcage-expanding thing and I feel like a Thelwell kid: legs straight out, three feet above the very round pony's back. She doesn't throw me out of the saddle actually, she's very good about sucking me into her back, but the getting-wider trick is...interesting. She's getting bendier and softer, and little by little she's getting stronger. People who have ridden a draft horse or a large Warmblood know the size I'm dealing with, but she's as light to ride as any other Lipizzan--which puts her past even Arabian on the lightness scale. It's a rather amazing combination.

Keed has been enjoying his Teacher Torture immensely. She has him working in collection for increasing periods--he's actually at the point of being able to sit down and raise his front end. He's lost his lengthenings temporarily because he now wants to collect and turn them into mediums but he's not strong enough. That will come. His lateral work is good--he thinks it's fun--and his gaits are getting lighter, more rhythmic, and more suspended. He looks lovely when he's working.

Capria has been chief lesson pony lately. Thanks to her new saddle she no longer has the constant tension behind the withers, and she no longer rushes or goes llama. Some of that, Teacher says, is my having improved in use of seat and aids, but the saddle has a lot to do with it. We're on one of our back-to-basics kicks, this time riding perfect figures--circles, diagonals, serpentines--keeping her straight and balanced and through to the aids regardless of how many changes of bend or direction she goes through. It's challenging work, requiring a lot of coordination of aids, rhythm and tempo, balance, and precision. If she gets resistant or fussy, it's my fault; I need to recalibrate the aids. If the aids are correct, she can go on and on.

She used to be a very hard horse to ride, but lately she's been challenging but, well, all things considered, she's not hard to ride--as long as I keep all those juggly balls in the air.

So we're working on precision and coordination of the aids, and learning to maintain balance and straightness, and just sort of incidentally moving toward collected work (which is the bedrock of the advanced movements). She's happy and sound, and gets annoyed if she doesn't get her turn.

Camilla is trying her hoof at a new career: driving. No cart yet, but we're getting the ground-driving part down. She likes it a lot. For a strong-willed, not-forward horse like her, it's very good work toward eventually getting back to work under saddle.

The Girlz carry on with being kids. Ephiny has had a little ground-driving and done nicely. She'll get more--she's three and a half, it's time. Mostly she works hard on enjoying life.

Book in progress: Shattered Dance, Luna (third book of the horse series). It's due December 31st. After this weekend, I shall disappear into the bunker and finish it.

And that's all the news that's fit to be tied. Trip report after the holy pilgrimage. Yes.