What could this be about now? Horses?...;)

Horses indeed ;) Well, my lesson with Mette was cancelled but since I was already 'dressage minded' and had Columbus standing next to me with his angelic expression on a wide forehead I decided to make him go like a dressage pony. With the whole 17.2hh of him and 5'3ft of me it was probably as far from stylish as you can imagine but we managed to fit all the circles, canters and serpentines withing the 40x60 arena which I was very proud of;) Riding him is a funny adventure to me as there is no pressure on his performance really and we just go along step by step exploring the possibilities. More on our Thursday session HERE.
I discovered this nice little programme on my computer, called PhotoImpact and I am having a lot of fun playing with photos, adding frames etc Started with Columbus's pictures and continued on pictures that Ricky and I took on a day trip to Seaford on Saturday. It was my darling Monster's treat and we had a fabulous day :)
There is nothing more relaxing than seaside once the 'seaside season' is over!! Those empty stretches of pebbly or sandy beaches, the sound of the waves hitting against each other, the sea gulls crying out loud and the infinite beauty of the powerful water filling your eyes up to the horizon - a bliss!



In the Sunday morning, today that is, I set off to take Wilastra to her 'showground session' which was a great success, she behaved very well, was a brave girl 90% of the time and only spooked at a few things. All in all, a brilliant educational session - more HERE.
While wandering about the show ground I was really surprised at the amount of people who seemed to treat the outing as an exercise for own desire to go out and about regardless the horse's way of going. I have always been trained and have personally believed that a show or a competition is to literally show the best in your horse and test its schooling and abilities. I cannot possibly comprehend what can be gained out of chasing your horse around the fences, kicking the guts out of it and trying to hold for dear life. We went there to educate a 4 year old and it looked like a lot of people like to skip on this educational phase which is a real shame.
Well done Wilastra!

Now, a few things that I have been forgetting to mention! First of all, if anybody reading this is looking for a sports pony to compete and enjoy please have a look on here: Albion Elite.
I was asked some time ago to school and compete this stunning pony but as I have no time available at the moment I had to say no. If you like the pony and are interested, have a word with Ann - details on website once you click the link.

Also, a few days ago a friend of mine sent me this article to read - it is about the importance of alternating between the stretch and work (i.e. outline) during training sessions. Definitely an interesting read for anybody, also those familiar with the subject: Alternating Muscle Work to Optimize Training & Motivation (more article also available).