Full Tilt

Nothing like hitting the ground running, and that's what's happening since the days got longer and the snow is nearly gone. Rubber boots and mud galore, but we're going! The wild and wooly clinic was great! I received some wonderful emails back from parents and participants. So glad it all went well. Our next amazing adventure... Ali and I took Phillippe and Jasmine to the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium at the end of March to meet the Artistic Director, Francesco, and a number of the cast and crew from the Alberta Ballet. They are preparing for the May production of Don Quixote and are wanting to encorporate a mini horse pulling a cart on stage for the production. I have such a pony who is capable! We brought Phillippe along for this encounter as there is a donkey as part of the original storyline as well! Everything went so well, the littles met everyone, had no issues being inside the building, and posed for loads of pictures. They have decided to have Jasmine in the Calgary productions to keep it simplified, but Phillippe may come along for company. There are 4 shows in Calgary May 1 - 3 and then 2 additional shows in Edmonton May 9 and 10. We're very excited to have this opportunity. I love adventures! I'm not a trainer. I don't train for other people or even teach clinics of any form anymore. I enjoy helping my friends out and spending time helping them grow, if I'm able. It's a fine line I find. Anyways, this situation has delivered me 2 small animals to start in driving. Groot, I mentioned previously, now dubbed Binkerton, Duke of Sammich, has 14 hitches at this point and is doing just fantastic! He's very ready for his own person to continue adventuring with. The other, now Sparky, is a tiny appy gelding. He's a feisty little manimal (he's gelded) with a lot of big feelings and questions. I actually quite like him and have spent the first month with him just listening, learning and interacting. I think we are now at the place where we are ready to move towards hitching to the cart. He has pulled the tire twice and isn't afraid of working hard. He is fairly reactive to sounds behind him though. That's fair, we can help him through that. I feel like he'll be ready to hitch in the next couple of weeks. Long lining clinic this weekend. Falcor is going to come with. He just started his riding career (at just shy of 18 years young!) as my niece is wanting to ride in horse shows. So they are working on learning about riding and what that entails. I think Falcor will come along with it all just fine in short order. Practise makes perfect! And then Horse Expo! Phillippe is going solo, unless we head directly to Calgary from there... we shall see. (For some reason, blogger is now allowing me to upload my photos... sorry!) There we go, throttle full speed and bring on those adventures! And Happy Horseing!