So NOW what?

So now, it's January of 2008, and I'm getting spring fever: it's kinda like when you start getting seed catalogues, when there's still 2 feet of snow outside (except that in E-burg, the wind tends to blow 2 feet of snow into 6 foot drifts!). But I have a brown thumb when it comes to flora--my forte is growing horsies, not flowers!

So, anyway, I'm starting to think about how much Fun! I'm gonna have with Kate once it warms up. And starting to worry about how much "fun" I'm gonna have with Maddie when it warms up. And I get an idea: How about taking some of my tax refund and working with a trainer, of all people, to get her going. And then I see a "blurb" about "schooling horse applications" for a horse expo about 200 miles east of us in Spokane.

Now, at this time, both Kate and Maddie were both officially "for sale" and not only would it be nice to have someone else put the first couple of rides on Maddie for me, it would be good exposure for her, in a much bigger market. So I send in an application for Maddie to be a demo horse. The gal can't promise anything for sure, because it depends a lot on what the trainers want to work with, but mine is the first application she got, and she liked Maddie's looks, so she promises to make sure I get in with someone. And there are some pretty big "someones" coming!
So I put any plans with starting Maddie's ground work up again on hold until I hear who she'll be matched with, and what, if anything, they want done with her before the event.