Day Off Update

Thought I would take a little time to update the blog as the ponies had a relaxing day off today and got to hang out this afternoon and do some grazing.  All is going well so far, the horses settled in well and have adjusted to their new home for the winter months, everyone had to have haircuts as they were all still wearing their winter fur from back home and were sweating in the humidity down here right away.  Nico settled right in and seems to remember his home from the past two winters quite well, Ocita and Landino also settled in though they were a bit more suspicious of things in their new winter home for a couple days, little bit more action at the barn down here so they had to get used to the new sights and sounds naturally.  I've got both Nico and Landino to ride in daily lessons which is great, they're both doing well and are good horses but also are very different horses physically and mentally so I feel like I'm getting twice as much knowledge from my lessons, it's always nice to get back into a lesson program myself for a few months, gives me lots of new knowledge and stuff to take back home with me to my clients and training horses at the end of the winter and just a chance to refresh the basics and focus on things, Ocita is continuing her regular training with me down here and is making good progress and basically just getting some more life experience, hacking out on the track etc, I'm quite happy with how she is doing, getting more consistent in her contact and generally feeling more supple, will be fun to see how much progress she makes over the next 3 months.  In lessons with Nico we have been working on getting him straighter (for Nico getting straighter means getting him more through the left rib cage and into the right rein as he always has the tendency to be a bit stiffer on the left side than the right) and getting him more in front of me and swinging with more power from two equal hindlegs without losing the relaxation and connection through all of the work, so important with him to stay quick (not only for him as I have to try to keep him moving quickly off the ground but also for me as the timing between my leg, half halt and softening has to be very quick otherwise he can either get stuck behind me or can get a bit flat and running, to keep him quick behind off the ground and over the back into a half halt and self carriage is the goal....sounds so easy!!:P) these things will all sound very familiar to my students back home I'm quite sure......yes we never stop working to improve those basics!;)  Generally speaking I have been quite pleased with Nico thus far down here, he has adjusted well and is trying very hard in our lessons and we go for a little hack after each session for his brain to relax a bit which he enjoys, my goal for him is to have him solid enough at the Grand Prix to show him regularly in BC and Alberta this year through the summer months and we might try and take in a couple shows down here in March depending on how the training goes.  With Landino we have been working to confirm everything, he is doing great and making steady progress up the levels, with him it's basically just about getting him stronger, straighter and more through to continue improving the overall quality of everything, again the basics that you always work to improve, outside of that he basically has all the pieces and now just needs time to get everything confirmed but he is coming along super well and I'm very pleased with how much he has achieved in a short while, I'm going to take him out to a show this weekend just to school as I've never taken him to a show before so thought this would be a good opportunity to get to know each other in a show environment without any pressure and then we're hoping to do a show in early Feb, am planning to keep things quite easy for our first couple outings planning to enter him in Third Level and basically just get around in a nice positive way and then we'll go from there and will hope to do a PSG at some point this year, we've played with the pieces a bit in schooling but of course it's always easier at home than in the show ring so I want to keep things easy in the beginning for him so that he has a positive experience to gain some confidence in the show ring and then I have no doubt he'll be sailing right along:)  Anyhow that's all for now, missing everyone (horses and humans) back home and sending warm weather wishes back home to you all!