Solo missed yet another weekend of work, not that he is complaining, the weather has been lovely and he and his buddy Waldo are enjoying the time in the paddocks. I was lucky enough to ride in the Mary Wanless clinic at the Royal Canadian Riding Academy near Newmarket, in Ontario. I had read Mary Wanless’s books and bought her tapes many years ago. It was great to finally meet her and take a lesson in person. I rode Elaine and Michael Davies’ Colombo on the clinic. It was a really interesting clinic and I am revved and ready to ride and teach today.
Solo leaves to go to the Royal Winter Fair a week tomorrow. The time seems to have flown by and suddenly we are looking at his final trim and having his shoes changed over to aluminum for the event. Solo has the fluffiest ears in the barn, he still has great long foal fluffies sticking out each ear, it’s very endearing LOL. He is going to look a lot older and a lot sharper when he loses the fluff. I will post a defluffed photo later in the week.
One of the things we had to consider was whether to pull his tail or braid it. As an ex Brit event type, my heart is with the pulled (NEVER shaved) tail, sharply banged at the base, around four inches below the hock. This is enough to make any good hunter judge worth her salt pass out!!! I decided to let more knowledgable types make the decision, and he will have his tail left long and braided. Oh well, that gives me a whole winter with it au natural, before I have to get it, and keep it, pulled for the upcoming show season. We are already getting excited about where he will go for his first event. I suppose we had better concentrate on the Royal Winter Fair for now, but it’s hard not to dream of the 3-days in the future.
I would like to thank everyone who has contacted me to tell me how much they are enjoying the blog, it’s a lot of fun to do.
