I keep putting off the blog entry in hopes of some nice weather to take new photos. I don’t think it’s going to happen any time soon. It is way too wet to take my precious camera outside. We will all be in the indoor arena tomorrow, we had snow here this evening….blech!. Solo is going well whether he is indoors or outside. He seems to have grown up all of a sudden. I wouldn’t go as far as to say he is ready for your granny to hack, but he is definitely back in my good books. His stable routine is very up and down just now, some nights they are indoors and some they are out in the pasture. We follow the weather. He is taking the changes really well, a big improvement from last Fall when he got quite upset as the timetables were adjusted and re-adjusted. Of course this time last year he was wrapped from head to toe in cotton wool to keep him ‘pretty’ for the Royal. I have been asked over and over again how we stopped him throwing his head around – the answer is that we didn’t. He stopped it himself when he started to go more forward. He was never as determined to toss it about after he fell over. Now that I can put my leg on and get the result I was hoping for, his head tossing days are over. He who tosses his head and neck around has to stop going forward to do it! Our second Pat Burgess clinic this year is next Tuesday and Wednesday the 24th and 25th of October. Selena and I are presently arguing about who gets to ride Solo. I feel it’s my turn since she got to ride him on the Spring PB clinic, but she says that she has to ride him in Florida this Winter, so she needs the lessons. We will argue on, but I am determined to get one clinic in on him before he disappears to Ocala. Once he is competing properly I will only get to school him now and then. Since the clinic will no doubt be indoors, I hope to have some new photos for you soon. He hasn’t jumped since Millbrook, other than the odd log out hacking. We have been concentrating on his flat work and getting him a lot more in front of the leg. I doubt if I will do any jumping on him before the clinic. He has never had any problems with jumping and I know he will enjoy the clinic atmosphere. He loves an audience and he loves to work in company. All in all Solo is quite a social fellow. When you call him in the field he comes at the gallop. He also squeeks and trumpets with excitement, it’s rather cute. One of these days I am going to post a wav file so that you can hear how vocal he is, he is quite the talker. One of the big tasks coming up is to get all the horses clipped out. Before Solo leaves in January he will have to be clipped from head to toe. I can’t wait to see how handsome he will be.