Winter Wonderland...When I was 10 maybe

So, yesterday we woke up to snow. And it snowed most of yesterday AND last night. It is SO cold. It has been near 10 degrees for the last two weeks so I haven't been able to work my two kids. They are feeling quite neglected. I got to work them once last week and they were both skittish, but well behaved.

Spotless does really well moving his rump and forehand from just a finger movement and his haunch turns for showmanship are coming along great. Now to get him to "set". That is the one that is going to be really hard with him. He hates standing square. We starting doing the squeezing exercise and he was picking that up really fast. Backing is going great, after the one horrible day and the next day where Melissa spent 10 minutes with him. She's a miracle worker.


Dazzle did MUCH better moving her rump and shoulders on cue with urgency. I didn't even have to touch her with the stick. After that review I introduced the baby roll-backs on the lead-rope and she was starting to watch my body to know when I was going to request a turn. She actually did two real roll-backs where she jumped her front end 180 degrees and kept moving. She also was halting on the circle on cue calmly and without walking out of the halt. Spotless is still working on that one.

My plan for Spotless is to have so much ground work on him that I will be able to pay for one or two months of training to get him going under saddle and get him sold next Spring or Summer. If the trainer doesn't have to waste time doing ground-work they should be able to move along quickly with his work ethic and temperament.



We found a girl at the barn that Melissa boards at that does jumping and is willing to try giving jumping lessons to Melissa. The plan is that she will take lessons on Sparkles for Trudy and on Dazzle for me. So, both will be properly started to jump by Spring. That will start after she gets back from Canada after Christmas break. So, I will pay for her to take jumping lessons from the lady at the barn and Dressage from Patricia and then her shows in the spring and summer. Then I will be able to start riding her again mid to late summer. In July she will go on the Trail Ride again and either Trudy will ride her or she will be rented out.