This message is from: "Pasqual, Tish" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Well, it has been a truly terrific winter and spring for me and Elph. He spent the winter at a boarding stable, which is something I have never done (always had him at a friend's place with just a few other horses), but they have an indoor arena, and with how fat he was last fall I wanted to be able to get more consistent work on him. Plus I never felt comfortable riding him - he always felt like he was going to explode - and the trainer there has worked wonders. I'm sure part of it is just the day-in, day-out work. She is also very sympathetic to his nature and has effectively used the resistant-free type of training with him, which suits both of us. She has been riding him twice a week all winter, plus my husband and I have both been taking riding lessons from her, so he gets ridden a minimum of four times a week, and we are all using exactly the same cues. As a result we are now venturing out on trail, and everything is going very smoothly. I envy those people who! have just "thrown a saddle on their Fjords at three and gone trail-riding" - Elph is now five, and while driving was incredible easy for him to learn, riding has not been as natural for him. But, half a year of consistent work and he is getting quite lovely. My son, who doesn't ride much, rode him on Mother's Day and he was just perfect for him, not trying to muscle over the rail to stand by us and other horses the way he would have a year ago. As the trainer says "he had a lot of brakes on him when we started" and now I think he is just more trusting and understanding of what we want.
And then this week I finally got my cart fixed, motorcycle wheels put on, and we are ready to roll! There are a couple of nice paved dead-end roads, and also some cross-country trails to try. I hitched him up yesterday for the first time in probably eight months, and he was perfect! I have my reining board set up in the kitchen (advice of Ursula Jensen at the Midwest Winter Meeting) and I have been practicing my Auchenbach every day, and it was thrilling to get out on the road, try it out, and find that it is a very effective way to handle the reins. I am still grinning today, can't wait to get out again. I love these long spring evenings. We have quite a bit of work to do, there is the North Star Morgan Show over the 4th of July, am considering that because Bill Long will be judging and offering a day of lessons; also a new ADS show at Howard Lake MN which has some fun classes featured (including "driving Minnesotan"!) and of course Blue Earth. We will be showing in ! my little Frontier Easy Entry, sigh, but my Sporting Gig is now being built (by Steve Waddell, Chamberlain Carriage Works), and my husband says "well of course you are going to need a new leather harness to show in (russet, please) and I think we should start looking at trailers . . ." Ahhhh, love. Linda L: I hope to be out soon, I will call before I come. Saddles that fit: My Orthoflex Patriot fits very well, even after his weight loss of about 125 pounds!!! Beautiful baby pictures everyone, and does "Beila" mean "beautiful" they way it would in Italy? Barefoot: Elph has never had shoes, is now five. I will see how he goes on the pavement, may look into the easyboots. I just hate the idea of starting yet another money/time intensive effort. That's more than enough from me, Tish and Elph in Minneapolis
