The lack of daylight hours is truly bothersome. Working full time means my chances of getting outside during the day is very limited. I can still make some changes to manage *some* time but the best scenario will be when winter is done! I guess as long as I live in the mid-atlantic region of the U.S., this is going to be a problem I'll have to contend with.
Training is going slowly. It's just the nature of the beast I guess. Because there is little to report, I thought I'd go back to talking about goals. We've already talked about my goal of getting Izzy driving a cart this year. The other primary focus this year will be getting both Missy and Ethel prepared for show season that begins with the Fun and Fuzzy clinic in April.
This is Missy. She has been my "main" show horse the last two seasons. We tried showing both her and Baby but I decided after the first season that I needed to focus on one horse this past year. Also, Baby's conformation is a little lacking. We still took Baby to the shows but only to keep Missy company
We did really well this year, placing 1st in our age group/gender in all 4 shows (of 5) we attended. We even garnered Reserve Champion for Mares at the first show in May.
I did not spend as much time working with her as I should have before and during show season. I also got lazy in the grooming department toward the end. These are two things I plan to improve upon for the coming season.
The other decision I have to make is whether I can somehow show both Missy *and* Ethel in Halter classes. Sarah does not want to attend shows with me anymore let alone show anyone. The problem is that both Missy and Ethel would fall into the Senior Mare class this year and you can't be in the ring with two horses at the same time! I'm hoping to find someone who wouldn't mind taking one (probably Missy) into the ring for me. Otherwise, I'm going to have to choose one over the other. And that's something I'm going to need outside help to do. I'm "barn blind" and can't decide which one would be the better one to put in the ring over the other.
In addition to the Halter class, I want to do Obstacle and Hunter. In my head, I think Ethel will excel in these areas, but I want to train them both. I'm thinking I can run them both through each class as i don't have to be in the ring at the same time with each. I just need someone to hold one while I run the other through the course.
The way I see it is that I go a long way to attend our club shows (2 hours one way!). I want to go and stay longer and participate more. I think year 3 is a good time to do this.
Now to put some concrete plans into place. I'm going to be talking with a great lady who happens to offer her services for horse/handler training in the coming weeks. Yes, Linda...I mean you :P With her help, I hope to put a plan into place with these goals in mind and come April 15th...we'll hit the ground running this show season!
