Thursday, June 22, 2017

Back in the Saddle

It's been a few weeks since I've written. It's also been a few weeks since I have ridden. Oral surgery will keep you out of the saddle for a few days. Actually, it was ten days before I could ride again. Then we took a short vacation to Glacier National Park and to visit family near there. Spent a great week of hiking and even got to hike across some snow which is a real treat for a Texan in June.

As I was going to be out of the saddle for a significant period of time, I sent the horses to my trainer Rick Urban in Boerne, Texas so they could remain productive citizens. I took them to Boerne a day early so I could squeeze in one more horse show before the weather became too hot for Eliot (he doesn't sweat well). The show was fun and Eliot earned his first score of an 8 ever! I was very pleased with how well he did.

Rick has had the horses for a week and a half and I was eager to find out what he thought about Silk. I was delighted with what Rick had to say. He thinks Silk is a horse of high potential for either jumping or three day. He thought the horse has wonderful gaits and he likes his kind personality. He said he is a little concerned that Silk might be a bit much for me, he said his canter is very powerful and he advised me not to canter him in my open arena any time soon.

I assured Rick that cantering was way down on our list of accomplishments for the moment. I told him that all I had been working on was trying to maintain a consistent pace at the trot. He felt like that was a good project for me to work on.

I am heading to Dallas to start organizing the next Roses to Ribbons Horse Fair and I am leaving the horses with Rick for another week. Rick was very pleased to learn he would have Silk for more time. We said he was going to try him over some small fences just to get a feel for his form. Rick said with the power Silk has, he feels that Silk could jump the moon and not have to put much effort into it.

I look forward to hearing what Silk thinks about jumping. I am a little worried that as a small time rider, I may have stumbled onto a big time horse. Although, this is an exciting problem to have.