Sunday, May 31, 2009

a weekend of horses!!!!

It's late, and I haven't been home very long..... but I know that some of my loyal readers will be looking for a new blog... so, I am taking the time to get it posted. What a wonderful weekend!!! and there is so much to tell, that I know I won't get half of it printed in the blog... but, at least I can give you a report.

I spent the weekend at the farm of our friends, Becky and Butch. They were the hosts to a training seminar with Patrick Benson (www.patrickbenson.com) . As most seminars go, you come home happy, excited, tired and overwhelmed with information, but all in all, great fun!!! Tonka was a great boy and not because he is my horse, but he turned out to be quite the favorite with the other riders and with Patrick himself. Tonka doesn't look like your typical dressage horse, but he has talent, and it didn't take too long for him to show that off. Course, he and I have been working on it for the past few years, so he does know his work... but being a "draft type", you don't know it when you look at him.





Patrick rode him a few times over the weekend, and Tonka proved to him how athletic he really is. He has a nice bend to him, and can be very light on his feet. It was fun to "show off " with him.











Beside the fact that I had 11 hours of riding this weekend (and NO I am not sore in case you are wondering!!!) the whole idea of traveling with your horse, being away from "home" for the entire weekend (sleep overs with your friends).... proved to be a wonderful experience.( and certainly way different from travleing with your dog over a weekend of dog shows!!!!) We also learned some new riding moves and made some new friends!!!









This is my friend Becky on her horse, Major....




It was a small clinic in that there were only five riders, but that was nice in a way, because we got a lot of personal attention. The arena was very nice, but smaller that some, but, for the five of us, there was just enough room. That was also another good experience for Tonka... to ride in an arena with other horses. I have done it in the past with another horse, but not with him. It's a different experience in riding, when you need to keep an eye open for someone else, pay attention to where you are going, and be polite to the other riders in the ring. Our group got along quite well, and we really had a good time riding together.


Course, a visit to Becky's and Butch's is always the best when you get a chance to be behind the Belgians. On Saturday, when we were done riding, Butch hitched the team and took us for a ride thru the woods. It was just a perfect way to end a day of riding and training work!!!! We pretty much crashed after that.
Today was more riding, answering questions, and just tweaking our new work.... then it was packing up and heading home once again. I know that my own bed will look really good tonite, and Tonka seemed pretty happy to see his own stall again. I'll give him the day off tomorrow, but we'll be "back at work" before the end of the week, working on some new things Patrick taught us, and then going to see Laura for our weekly lesson.......
I hope this blog makes sense... I am quite tired and probably will read it tomorrow and think.."why did I say that?" so.. it's off to bed.... and I may change this blog around tomorrow......