Just as I was starting to get my pair (and me) in shape and "improving" this darn weather hits & makes it difficult to get good drives in. Whoever said that owning your own business lets you set your own schedule never owned his or her own business! Be that as it may, I try to have a 2-3 hour block of time several times each week to drive my horses on our 20 acres. Between thunder storms, heat waves, vacations and other excuses, I haven't been working the horses as much as I would like. BUT I realized that the heat wave is actually going to help me improve my driving skills and my team!! Why? Because it is forcing me to go back to the basics! The last issue of the WHIP talked about teaching our horses to STAND. It discussed how all of our driving horses should behave like cart horses and I agree. But being all American, I tend to walk more than stand. So I have started to drive the boys single (and do some ground work) to get them back to really listening and standing. In only a few sessions, I can see the improvement and have said to myself "self you should have been doing this a long time ago" But lets face it, if a cool breeze is blowing and the sun is shining, most of us want to be out driving the country side not watching our watch while horses practice "whoa". And, leave our driving team harnessed and tied??? Why only draft people do that!! _________________________________________________________ To Unsubscribe, change to Digest or Vacation mode go to: http://www.drivingpairs.com/index.php?pg=2 `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````