Horse Expo: Day 1 Continued

Another thing that was fun was wandering through the shopping centers, taking a break in the cool air - they now have 4 HUGE buildings that are just crammed with everything you could imagine related to horses! Lots of coupons and giveaways, too :-D

Bob Avila on Brother White ended up winning the Magnificent 7 - this is his second year to win! Bob Avila is so consistent with his performance. I've learned to expect the horse to be topnotch, and all the maneuvers to be precise. He doesn't always win, but he's always up there near the top.

Oh, yeah, the Parelli demo... I've always loved their demos where the Savvy Team comes out and everyone does tricks and demos with their horse at once, but I especially like when someone and their horse will exactly synchronize their gaits. For example, a person will skip around in a circle, and the horse will circle with them, loping in time with the person. It is so cool! I thought about training Mira to do that when I got her, but realized I probably shouldn't try small circles with her at her age and considering our footing... But, I realized while watching them, "DUH!!! Of course I can still do straight line trotting work!" Mira already slows down, stops, and speeds up without lead rope cues, so I know she's paying attention. First I want to see if I can get her to back up as I back up, while I face forward and stand by her shoulder. Eventually it would be REALLY cool if I could get her to do a piaffe (trot in place) with me, but we'll see!!!

Anyway, I got several ideas from several clinicians about things to work on, so the next few weeks will be fun. :-)

Hopefully I can get the pictures uploaded soon and post a few tomorrow. I look forward to catching up on how everybody's weekends went!


L