Today was pretty quiet both sides of the border. The ponies in Ocala did trot sets, which means they work in pairs. Anne Marie and Selena will ride one horse and lead either one or two more and go out and do ‘trot sets.’ Trot sets are an absolute necessity if the horses are going to stay strong and fit. They stay at around two trots of 20-minute duration with a three-minute break in between while they are at Training and Prelim. The Intermediate and Advanced horses may do longer sets closer to their biggest competitions. The riders get pretty fit too. Virtually all our competing horses do ‘trot sets’ regularly all through the competition season to keep them hard without over stressing them.
Here at home we are still working away at ‘through’ and ‘engaged’ and ‘in connection.’ It has been our theme for the winter. “Feel” is the word of the day. I sometimes feel like we nag our riders to death, however, it must be worth it, since they hang in there and the horses are looking great this winter, lots of soft muscle, just the shape they should be in at the end of February. I once heard someone describing our barn to a prospective boarder/student, “intense” was the word they used. We have an “intense” program here and we love it.
Tomorrow is going to be ‘intense.’ In Ocala they have a tornado watch and here we have a freezing rain advisory for the day. It should be fun. Tomorrow is the schooling day at the Florida Horse Park and I know that Selena and Anne Marie have a very busy day lined up. I hope the weather doesn’t throw them off.
Both Anne Marie and Selena have their dogs with them in Florida (of course). Maizey, who belongs to Anne Marie has taken to frog hunting in the water jump (the squirrels are way too fast in the hot weather). She stands staring then leaps from a great height and lands with her paws and her nose in the mud. It is her favourite thing to do right now. No matter how much she gets bathed she is starting to look a bit disreputable with black paws and a black face!
