Feb. 18th - Feb. 23rd

Feb. 18 - Arrival at Barbs only took us from 8:30am until 1:30. It was a smooth trip through the Inspection Station at Jax, with no problems. One of the girls from Southern Pines was there and had forgotten their Coggins Tests, so they had to sit there until the Fax from the Vet came in.

I pulled up to Barbs, put Harry right into the small paddock so he could stretch and roll. That didn't take long.


All the photos of that first day at Barbs are here: http://imageevent.com/nadasy43/winter2009

The rest of the week, I unloaded, got more hay and shavings and helped around the farm. Karen and Mark Alexander are here but leaving at the end of February to go home. I started riding Harry on Saturday, after giving him a few days to settle in, and he has been a really good boy, having to learn a new place, seeing peacocks for the first time, and there is an adjacent farm to the paddock I turned him out in that had a gigantic hog across the fence. Well, that didn't go well, but I got him out of there quickly and Barb and I decided that particular paddock would be off limits-
Yesterday I rode him again, and actually got some great work. We were able to start more trotting, and keeping him occupied and busy with Shoulder-in and out, leg-yields, and turns on forehand and haunches. We also had some good canter work, which produced a much more free moving trot with his hind end. He was pushing forward from the back, and to finish off his favorite exercise of stretching over his back at the trot coming up the little grade. He loves stretching, and I've been able to go back to that frequently, as much as he needs to supple and help him come through.