Meet Sam. And some other news.

After painfully slow couple of months the work is slowly coming back. I ran my first Intensive Training Day of 2011 yesterday and it was great to get back into it. According to my records it was the 150th Intensive Training Day since I started doing them in 2009. When I get to the 200th I am going to celebrate I think ;)
The rider, who has been riding with me regularly as well as Case Studied the Foundation Programme for me is now being moved onto the Development Programme. I'm adding lunge lessons for her again to further improve her seat and she is also ready to learn about the whole new world of schooling the horse.
We were both rather tired at the end of that day!

I have another very interesting Case Study coming up this year - but first, you just have to meet Sam!

Photo: Rosie meet Sam. Sam meet Rosie. 

We had a lovely visit from Anja and J. today and the three weeks old Sam [aka EdGal] who was nice and quiet around horses as a good horseman would ;) He is sporting an all-orange attire because he is well and truly Dutch (well, half Dutch actually but orange seem to have dominated over the German and English part!). Rosie approves.

Now we just need to wait a couple of months for Anja to be allowed back in the saddle and we shall proceed with 'Coming back into riding after having a baby' Case Study! Can't wait :) 

On Thursday I spent another fantastic day with Anna Ross Davies and everybody at Altogether Equestrian. Having so little opportunity to train and have lessons myself, those days are my way to switch off from everything and enjoy my very own learning experience. I watch lessons, listen, ride and try to absorb what I am told! 

Going back to the weekend and more news - on Saturday I met with one of the managers of a riding club I am going into partnership with. R. came to visit the venue I will be using for assessments and Intensive Training Days for the club's members. It was a final "inspection" before all the formalities are ticked off and we are officially up and running the services for them. Thankfully she loved the friendly atmosphere, the horses and the set up so their website will be updated over the weekend. I will post the link as soon as it goes online :) 

Yet another interesting thing happening is a Polish edition of Nic Barker and Sarah Braithwaite book:

Nic mentioned this back in October last year shortly after we took Kingsley to Rockley Farm and I thought it was a great offer from a Polish publisher and offered my help if there was anything I could do. 

It turns out the biggest issue has been with translating the title as well as some parts about nutrition and feed stuffs. 

I've received emails from Polish publisher with some pointers as to how they want to see the title and I must say choosing the right combination of words is not as easy as it might sound. For example there is no word like "performance" in Polish language or at least not the one that would convey the same meaning. I made some suggestions but I am not sure what their final decision is going to be. Large section of Polish equestrian industry (and certainly the competitive part), not unlike here in the UK, still sees barefoot as "some hippy way of keeping horses'. Having an unshod horse is considered a good thing for someone who follows Parelli and other "natural" horsemanship techniques. The title has to appeal to wide audience and grab attention of 'traditional' parts of the industry as well as the already curious one.

I am very much looking forward to the Polish edition! 

My personal view is that we have still a lot to learn about management of horses. There are no mentions of metal shoes by Xenophon and I doubt he had Martin Collins surfaced arenas to train the military cavalry...

I am not saying we should de-shod entire equine population but perhaps there is something we are overlooking since there is more and more evidence of lame horses becoming sound after barefoot rehabilitation. 

P.S. Pauline saw Kingsley boy today and she managed to find him among his himalayan bear fur ;) Photos and videos to follow as soon as I receive them.