It is now late October, and I am soon to head for the USA where I teach for the next six weeks. Leaving home is proving more demanding than ever, with the number of things I have to do and think about significantly increased by the presense of my builders, who are doing a fantastic job (albeit slower than I had hoped). I am so looking forward to coming back to a house where I can live in more than the two rooms that have been home to two of us for the last seven months! It could have been hell, although it has actually been quite fun - but you can have too much of even a good thing!
I have recovered remarkably well from the surgery I had in early summer, and the last few months have been busy. I have now written three quarters of my next book, and have had a great time doing it. Writing gets easier with age and practice! I have also had a very good time with Quite, my very opinionated Lusitano, who is really changing for the better. I shall be very sad to leave him and the work we are doing, which has given me some fantastic feels and a clear sense of where the next level of improvement will come from. That narrow/wide paradox seems to be an unending source of brain-and-body teasers that have so much pay-off once they are solved. Given that learning to ride well is like peeling away the layers of an onion that would seem to have no middle,I am both celebrating this layer, and preparing myself for the next!
My season of teaching in the UK ends with the Teacher Training courses in late September, which were challenging and fun as always, with a very encouraging level of skill being shown by the trainee coaches who attended the basic course. It is interesting how, a few years ago, would-be coaches who came into the system seemed to struggle with it much more than people do now. I do not know if that says more about me, or about the people who are attracted to my work, but either way, it is a very good sign. Our network of coaches will sooon be expanding to include some more very good people!