And so here I am, in Cortland, NY. Glad to have a day in between the update clinic and the creativity clinic. Am feeling a bit tired, mostly from the events of the previous few days. Not feeling super confident about what is to come. I think, a fairly predictable response.

I spent a chunk of the day checking out an off the grid farm where they milk about 70 sheep, and use draft horses to plow the fields and harvest the hay. The owners of the place, predictably, did not have time to give me a tour, so Colleen showed me the place. I really enjoyed checking out the sheep, which were comfortably bedded down in an airy, enclosed area.

And the draft horses – so powerful, so strong – and the driver and handlers, so self-assured. The area we were in is Amish country, so it’s common for those in the area to use draft horses for farm work. I did not get to ask if they use the horses for baling. I’ll bet they do. Colleen says that they have interns stay with them. I of course let my mind wander and think about what it would be like to live in a straw bale house and also milk sheep. Look out, because this is in my DNA.

But then, I am already living this sort of life – I will soon be milking one goat. And I will resume working with my horses. I doubt that I will ever plow with them, but I could drive Hrimmi.

The afternoon was spent getting the Sunday agility course set up. We decided to do it in the indoor arena because it was overcast and might rain, meaning we’d have to move the equipment. Fortunately, we are going with the April course, which I have already done with Hrimmi and Raudi. The obstacles include the tarp, the weave cones, the S-bend, an umbrella, the flag alley, the counter clockwise hula hoop, the step into the hula hoop, the curtain, and the sawhorse with the fun noodles across. Colleen helped me set up the course and I walked it, figuring out where I need to switch sides, and additionally the number of strides in between the obstacles.

I met one of the participants, a woman named Janet – talking with her about agility I felt like a real clinician. As in, imparting advice about how to connect with one’s horse while going through the course. Now, I don’t know all that much about agility – I have only worked with my own horses. The trick is to convince people and their horses that I do know something. For some reason, I am not worried about this. It would be far different if, say, I was all the sudden asked to pilot an airplane or do brain surgery.

Doing all I did, keeping busy, enabled me to put the events of the past few days out of my mind. Time to move forward, not backwards.

Next: 117. 4/27/17: The Teacher Appears when the Student is Ready