Back In the Saddle

So much has happened, that I just kept putting off writing because there was too much to write about :). Soooo, I'm just going to jump right in and update things as succinctly as I can:

• Rogo was off for much of the summer and the fall until last week - first a horse fly allergy and then a stone bruise.
• I've just started riding him regularly again a few days ago, after months off, and it's heaven. As I write this I realize I wasn't motivated to write when I wasn't riding.
• Our arena facility opened the third week of September - we've hosted a Tom McDowell clinic (Tom is a great horseman from Oklahoma who came all the way to Nova Scotia to give the four day clinic), the Canadian Pony Club Provincial Dressage Championships, a dressage test riding clinic, a provincially sanctioned dressage show that included western dressage, an equine photography short course and weekly Pony Club dressage or jumping lessons. I could write many, many pages about these events but for now I'll just say I'm honored to have the opportunity to watch the events, meet the people and learn from all of them. 
• One of my best times was sitting around in the evening in our partially finished arena lounge with Level 3 Dressage Coach Susan Fraser and equine photographer Reg Corkum (he was a fashion photographer in Europe for years), cooking, drinking wine, and enjoying discussion about the horse world. We had trailers for each of them to stay the night and Doug and I were staying in our trailer, so it was really fun to kick back and bask in the horse talk - they've known and worked with some of the greats.

That's it in a nutshell - I'm up to date! Bringing me to Rogo :). He's currently equi-packed in his left fore to protect the stone bruise area, and is going quite well considering all the downtime we've had. We're working on getting our fitness back (mostly mine). I'm doing lots of walking, and transitions within walk - slow, medium, fast or shorten and lengthen stride. Then we do trot circles and serpentines, canter large and then some lateral work for just a few minutes. Today I added in just two 10 M canter circles each way and was pleased with how he 'sat' at the end of a long side lengthen in order to go into a nice circle. He went a little wide in the left, but we'll work on it. We're at the new facility, so can ride in or out - it's thrilling to be able to do this at our own place.
The weather is still perfect for riding outside many days - crisp but sunny, with no flies!
Okay, I'm off to catch up on reading. Can't wait to see what's happening with my blog world friends.