10 Hours

Of work. Agh. Busy night, not enough workers scheduled.

Anyway, I'm going out to see my girl tomorrow and ride. Still trying to schedule that vet check, and the longer we put it off the more nervous I get. PLEASE be healthy Amber, for goodness sake.

I wanted to post and announce I have officially chosen Amber's show name.

I thought I was sold on Made You Look, but a name came to me that I think really, really fits her better. Evening Sunsong. I think it's beautiful and classy, and makes one think of a fiery sunset, which plays up the bright, bright red she is with her shorter summer coat.

I'm ordering a nice engraved plate for the halter, and a plate for her stall. And of course a tag for her stable halter.

I definitely don't want her halter to get mixed up and lost, because if I move to a new barn I don't want to have to buy yet another stable halter because hers got lost amongst a sea of public-use halters. Kind of thinking of duct taping her lead to the halter too...because I know people will borrow a lead and forget to return it to the halter they got it off.

Also, I believe Amber and I will be moving to Avalon Equestrian Center on January 1. Assuming her PPE goes fine.

The trainer has a stall open now, and I have talked to Casey and she is fine with it, said the choice is mine, just make sure the horses are well cared for there. Which, I'd do that anyway. The barn has taken in USERL horses, so that speaks volumes because their guidelines are tough and you won't get a horse and you won't keep a horse from them if you aren't doing things right.

I'm very happy that Casey is supportive of this, and is supportive of my desire to further my dressage education. I think Amber will be happy wherever she is, so long as she has food, water, shelter and love, all of which she will have plenty of with me.

Obviously it's a lot to think about, and I am still mulling it over, but I think it would be a positive move to make.

Amber can take a few days to get adjusted to the new barn, and then I'm going to make a general 'outline' for our training for the 2011 show season. I don't tend to strictly follow outlines - if something isn't working right away, I will move onto something that comes easier, but it does help to have some structure to what you want to accomplish. She's already getting the idea of leg yields, and has good crossover at the walk already. She's got a very soft mouth, and her transitions are good. Her down transitions are just BAM, on a dime. The foundation we have is good already, and she hasn't been in proper arena work training for long at all.