Getting organized

for the Rob Gage Clinic I'm the organizer of! Confused? Me too.

Don't have too much left to do that can be done before hand. I do need to go pick up the wireless microphone and get it tested to make sure it works. I don't know what I am going to do if it doesn't, I should have done this way in advance but..... well you know the drill.

Pip's been good, weird but good. He is fat as a tick, but he looks great. He will be participating in the clinic, Morgan has three rides over three days. I think Pip might protest and think he is being abused but he will survive. I will just make sure he has lots of food!

Pip, Pip, Pip, Pip......

He has been stellar this week. Finding the perfect spot on a line that was set short and ADJUSTING his step to find the sensible spot, not the flyer!!! YAHOO!!! Not only doing it once doing it multiple times. Getting the right number of strides, winding up leaving the ground from the same spot EVERY TIME through and it was a larger oxer on the out side of the line. Morgan says he is getting to be really fun to ride, less work for Morgan. Excellent. There is hope for him yet.

The horse is still a goof ball. At home for flat schools he is on some kind of timetable or something. Walk around the ring so many times, trot around this many, then he decides it is time to CANTER. A year ago getting him to canter was a bit of a chore, now he just decides it is time to. He does this big weird flourish with his front legs when he is deciding it's "Canter Time" - we call it his Liberace canter. He never does it anywhere but home and only when he has decided it is time to canter.

Maybe he has a meeting or something to go to. He is just very odd, amusing, but odd.

Allergy shots are going well. He hates them but that is pretty much it. We are up to every 1o days on this set of vials, which will take us through November, then on to the last set for the initial desensitization which will start December 5th and go through June.

He is very shiny and in perfect weight and he has grown. He is starting to look BIG, but he still has a pony face, and because his neck is set on low looks shorter than he is. I'm so excited for his PreGreen year. That is if he stays consistent. Wish us luck!

Finally getting it!

Pip had great schools all this week. On Friday he was so good he and Morgan went out to the track and motored around. He probably opened his step another 2 feet while they "galloped" the track. He probably has a 15 foot stride or there abouts. At the shows with the lower fences he needs to figure out the 12 foot step to make the lines work and not look awkward and no leaving out a step either.

That is what they have been working on and he is waiting to the jumps, jumping out of the deep one instead of the long one. Although he still protests at times, it is vocally not physically. He really is coming along.

He is getting bigger too. I need to buy him a new blanket in a 76 or 78. His 72 isn't going to fit this year. He is going to be wearing one of Scooter's old Stoney Ridge blankets for awhile since it fits. I thought I had a navy one but I must have given it away. I can't find it. Of course, I haven't really looked for it either. Scooter's big Rambos are at the barn for turn outs and an old cooler is there too, along with one of my old Irish knits. Pip is using Scooter's old Stoney Ridge Irish knit and I will take his dress sheet down today. It is covered in Pippi hair.

He gets body clipped today. Poor punkin'.

The boxes of The Plaid Horse magazine have arrived and been taken to the farm. Pip saw the cover and was very impressed with himself. He loves paper with writing on it. He must touch it. Maybe he can read and we don't know. He is always putting his nose and sometimes teeth on the course diagrams at the shows.

Off to make the beet pulp.

Pip says

HI!!!!!!

This horse is a nut...

Training continues - Pip walks so slow out to the ring one thinks he is an old man... he marched around on the flat like a good boy and then Morgan added some jumps. Little cross rail bounce with placement rails on either end. Now he is awake! Tries to canter the exercise, won't stop when he canters away, doesn't go any faster just won't stop.

He FINALLY decides to listen, jumps through correctly so Morgan got off and decided to turn him loose in the indoor ring. Pip and Morgan were chasing each other around, Morgan would kick dirt at him and Pip would swing his butt to him and kick dirt back at Morgan. Oy. Pip wasn't that interested in running around but did airs above the ground and carried on a bit.

Then Morgan ties the lead rope to the other side of the halter, gets on him bareback and rides him back to the groom stall. Pip goes like an old man again.

Pip is a nut and so is Morgan.

A Star is Born

Pip and Morgan will be featured on the cover of The Plaid Horse October issue! What a surprise!! Thank you Cindy Taylor and Bill Rube, also Becca Brebner for taking the picture. We have always loved The Plaid Horse and The Paisley Pony, now we love them even more.

This is from Thunderbird in August, it poured on Wednesday and Thursday, he had never shown in the rain!

Oh and my web site for events is One Horse Productions, LLC

Tia and Morgan are working hard to drum up business. If I make money Morgan gets most of it via Pip showing. They are smart cookies!

I need to take pictures of Pip enjoying his beet pulp. I've added flax seed to it. What a greasy mess! He usually has it all over his muzzle. Looks like a little kid who has been eating chocolate cake!