It’s been one of those weeks where I’m running around frantically and it’s not going to get better over the weekend. All good stuff, mind you, but it’s still…crazy times, my friends, crazy times.
Barring nasty hard rain tomorrow (Saturday), Mocha and I will be off to a small horse show at Mt. Hood Equestrian Center. Now this is the venue of her first show, and I’m hoping that she doesn’t turn into the same screaming maniac she was then. I don’t think she will, but she definitely knows something’s up. Of course, my spending about an hour carefully trimming up her fuzzy legs and spending extra time on grooming probably is a dead giveaway to a smart and sensitive horse. All I know is that she gave me all the cues of “somewhat on the muscle, ready to work hard” yesterday while tacking up…quiet, coiled, arching her neck thoughtfully while I got her ready. The work was very much the same, with a lot of eager anticipating of cues, good rollbacks, lots of energy. My back is now up to tolerating a good solid fifty minute ride, and she was still full of pep at the end of a rather aggressive schooling session, including some very nice two-tracking at the jog.
But. On the muscle, for sure. I ever compete that horse for more than one or two shows a year, and the sting that’s always lurking slightly below the surface is gonna come out. No doubt about it. She likes the challenge of schooling and hard working, and I just wish I was a better rider so as to push her a little bit more. Work though I can, I’m not always at my best with the timing and that’s what we need.
School stuff has been full of the intensive small group and one-on-one work I tend to do well. I’m hopeful that I’m seeing some progress with some of my tougher kids…maybe a breakthrough has been made. I sure hope so.
Sped law conference today. First special ed-oriented workshop I’ve been able to go to for several years, and I’m quietly excited about that.
It’s also been the case that I need to choose between blogging and eking out a few moments for Netwalker Uprising rewrites. Editor handed me a big rewrite assignment, with the plea “please do rewrite this, it deserves it and you can so do it.” So I am. And what’s coming out of it is also clarifying some things for Netwalk’s Children. Right now, looks like that will be taking longer to come out, and The Netwalk Sequence publication timeline needs to be pushed out a bit. Oh well, it’s what’s needed.
So conference today, horse show tomorrow (weather depending), ballet and possibly skiing on Sunday. Then back to the regular spin of work.
Not exactly quiet times here. Onward!
