NO REST FOR THE WICKED....

It all started around 7:20 am when I headed out to the barn.  Gary was helping me clean stalls before the horses even got their feed.

Bright sun... but crispy...fed them in the back paddock where they would be protected from the wind.  I left at 9 to participate in a driving clinic at Glen Darach Farm....Gary left at 9:30 with Kevin to go pick up our grandaughters in Binghamton.  Their other grandparents brought them up from New York (Whitestone) where they stayed for the past 10 days.

When I arrived at the clinic, Alex was finishing up stalls for his Mom.

The turnout was excellent!  A full slate of participants and many auditors.  The goal for the day was to learn more about everything from lounging to conditioning.  Andrea is licensed by the British Horse Society (she came over from England many years ago and worked with Abdullah...a Trakehner stallion who went to the Olympics, and the sire of Berlin's Dam).  Most of her career has been spent working with Eventers, but the driving bug has bitten her and she is very good at it.  Her attention to detail works for the horses and their owners.

This is my friend Jill...she is also from England and has been boarding at Glen Darach for years.

The horses in the clinic came in all shapes and sizes.  Billy was the biggest.

This is Sue...she also happens to be one of my art students (an excellent quilter, a black belt, has shown dogs and surprises me with all her experience).

Andrea was teaching me how to lounge the correct way, which is something I have never been taught.  I'm a mush and she is a technician.  I have lounged and free lounged, but did not know that I was to pivot on my heel while stepping back with my outside foot.  With the lounge line in one hand and the remaining section looped in my other....while I was holding the whip, leaning back, forming a triangle with the line, whip and my body...urging her forward at the hock, keeping her out at the shoulder and slowing her down with the whip in the front (always keeping it well below her belly)...clucking once for the walk, twice for the trot...asking her to move on...not letting the line get to loopy...keeping a nice steady tempo....  As a matter of fact, I was aware of most of these things, but didn't practice them the way I should.  So, I learned something and will attempt to improve myself.

When we were finished, Abbe went back to solitary in her little paddock.  She is accepting of the change, but will feel great freedom when she comes home to her herd.

This little boy had a lesson after ours.

By 10:45, the wind was cold and Andrea needed a winter jacket to stay warm.

At 4:30 pm, Jenny drove in the driveway with the boys and within 15 seconds Gary and Kevin drove in with the girls.

Ariana went with me to the barn wearing one of my amazing ensembles.

A few minutes before these pictures were taken, all of the horses were running around like crazy, as tho the wind was chasing them.

When they had their fill, they stopped to sunbathe.

Even tho the pasture is available to them, they always go to the outdoor ring in the late afternoon.  In the summertime, they do the same, and then at 7 pm find their way into the indoor, where they stay until it is dark

Even with his knee blown up with arthritis, Masterpiece still thinks he can canter....it scares Jenny to watch him, but he knows how to do it.  Could this 30 yo boy get a little more dust on his body????

Target and Winnie look like twins.

Speaking of Winnie, her owners brought up this bike for Cooper.  Ethan has outgrown it and the Coop Da'Ville finds it to be "amazing."

I needed to get a few more shots of the flowers, so Ariana came along for the ride....

The kids love to be together and spent a couple hours out in the elements...long enough to work up some pretty big appetites.  We grilled out tonight.

Phoebe and Gucci were loving all the activity and attention.  Ice was joining in all the fun.

Then, a bigger bike showed up at the Farm and the boys had a photo shoot.  Hot Stuff!

Now it's quiet.  Everyone has gone home and the girls are in bed watching a little tv...

Good night David....Good night Chet.  Tomorrow is another day.