A connection

Hello All,
    I keep telling my self "this will be the last snow strom or this will be the last really cold day...." and then we get another one.  I'm going to give up any hope for an early spring and just assume we have another month of winter left.

So Abby is doing okay after her several vet appointments but she is down to only being ridden 10 minutes at a time at a walk :-(    We are both so bored but it's for the best.  I just hop on her bareback with a halter and walk around.  To keep it fun I've been trying to steer her with only my seat and legs if needed.  She is very good at feeling any movement I make so we've done a few figure eights and stuff with no contact to the face.  We were suppose to go to a clinic in Ill this weekend but the Vet said no so I'll be riding a different horse in it.  I'm still planning on taking her to the Midwest Horse Fair which is coming up all too quickly.  Our Curly group did such a great job last year at the fair that we've scored an awesome location in one of the front barns and both of our breed demos will be in the main Coliseum so I'm pretty excited about that!

Theo and I have been getting back our "connection" he's relaxed alot in the last week.  We went to a clinic on Saturday with the trainer I've been taking lessons with.  We both are having a hard time getting Theo's right lead so we worked on that some as well as asking Theo to raise his poll and sit back on his haunches more for 2nd level work.  The poor guy trys so hard and he thinks he knows what you want so he keeps doing walk to canter transitions before he's asked but if he gets the wrong lead he will immediately stop and trot.  Last night I think we had a break through though because he picked up the right lead three times!  I've been trying my Farriers Freedom treeless saddle out on him and I really think it's helping him relax over his topline especially in his loin which he normally holds a little tension.  I'm almost completely sold on them I just need to ride a little bit more to make sure it's not causing any soreness. 
The biggest news though is today I should have a package in the mail and in that package will be Theo's heart rate monitor so we can start training based on heart rate for endurance.  It will also log the miles we ride out side and I can save everything on the computer and make charts (I'm a nerd)!  It will also allow me to see instandtly how quickly he recovers to a normal heart rate after working which is key to understanding how fit he is. I'm sure Theo is just as excited...

I"ll keep you all updated on thier progress!