Marathon Day

One of my favorite co-workers in 'ye olden times' was one of my favorite co-workers because any time we had a big job to do we always knuckled down to do it and if at all possible...turned it into a game.  We were fierce competitors, but before you knew it, the job was finished and we'd had good fun getting it done.  

Twenty plus years later, I still use that technique to get work done.  For example, when Miss B and I skirt fleeces, as we roll the fleece and place it in a bag, we each pick up the bag and "weigh" it, make our predictions and then put it on the scale to see who "wins".  

It rained most of the day Saturday and the ground was saturated.  Sunday dawned cloudy, cold and damp and our scheduled driving lesson and virtual horse show.......ugh......  I could have easily been talked out of it, but I knew if I skipped this month, it would be pretty easy to skip more months this summer. If I completed two in a row, it would then be harder to not keep on going.  Enter a game!

The arena was too wet to use so we moved into the side field.  The terrain in there is slightly hilly and more conducive to cross country driving, so...why not!  In a combined driving event you compete in dressage, cones and marathon.  It's just like a ridden event, but with a carriage.  Dressage is dressage, cones replaces stadium jumping and marathon replaces cross country.

We built two very simple driving obstacles complete with red and white directional letters like a real horse show.  I pulled out all the marathon gear - protective wraps and boots, colorful harness pads.  Leslie  braided Frankie's tail for better ventilation (I did not know that was the purpose) and we headed out to play.

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I think Frankie liked all the dress up gear.  It wasn't necessary, but it was fun :-).

I know he loves Leslie.

Leslie Cashion has done a great job getting into Frankie's head and figuring out what he's thinking and how to motivate him and give him the confidence to learn, trust and enjoy his new job.  We had a super fun drive yesterday and I'm so glad I put out the effort.  Job done!