A Horseman's Christmas - Doris Eraldi

It's the night before Christmas, we're out in the barn
Blanketing horses to keep them all warm
They're eating their dinners, tucked in cozy stalls
Not aware that it's Christmas or any special day at all

They can dream of spring pastures from their pine-scented beds
No visions of sugarplums dance in their heads
But we people are thinking of merry parties and such
Maybe feeling a little sad at missing so much

This season is special but the horses don't know
We've got work to do before we can go
We finish the chores and head on inside
To get ready for dinner and our own yuletide

It's nearly midnight, the carols are sung
I remember a story I was told when I was young
How at midnight on Christmas Eve
The creatures of the barnyard can speak to us with ease

I am called to the barn, I wade through the rain
I know I must go, I can't really explain
I slide open the door, pause for a while
Then slowly walk down that dimly lit aisle

A nicker from Casey, a wink from JD
Sleepy old Alibi waking to see
Tucker rustling his bedding, a snort soft and light
Each horse gave a greeting as I walked through the night

I thought about parties bright lit and warm
The ones we don't go to 'cause we have the barn
And vacations and holidays that we don't get
When we're working long hours for bills to be met

Walking all the way to the end of the aisle
I stop to stroke Bonnie, it brings me a smile
She snuffles my face, hot breath on my skin
It starts me to thinking about my horses, my kin

I could be at parties with laughter and mirth
But where I am right now is the best place on Earth.

Mare-y Christmas!

Christmas Horse Cookies!

I'm a little sad that I only got to see the washington horses for Christmas! Miss Dee is doing very well, though, so that's a good thing. I went up again on Wednesday, and she was quite lovely. Her walk and trot are looking fabulous, and the canter has glimmers of glory. She's weak, so the canter is still hard, but she IS trying. She would get herself into a really nice frame for a few strides, and then she just couldn't hold it anymore. I was VERY glad to see that they aren't pushing the issue, they're letting her do it herself, because when she's ready, I know she'll go where she needs to with her head, she's very good that way and they respect that in her. They did the same thing with the trot work... they have her trotting around on light contact, and she carries herself very nicely.
On another note, I'm pretty sure she's getting bigger. I mentioned in passing that she looks taller, and Garry said he'd been thinking the same thing, but thought that it was just because he saw her everyday. She looks pretty good, though! AAANNDD, while she was trotting around, Garry said that she is very fancy, which just made my day! I mean, I think she's fancy, but I'm biased, because she's my baby, so it's nice to hear someone else say it.
More updates next week!

Work Ethic!

I went to see Dee on Wednesday, and am VERY pleased with how she's doing. She is now walking, trotting and cantering nicely (most of the time). The breaks-on, snarky behavior is greatly reduced, and I think that it will be gone soon. Garry seems to think shell be just fine, which is exciting. Another good thing? She is much more respectful on the ground! She hasn't kicked or bitten anyone, and apparently now she's pretty much stopped trying!

Pony Blues!

Wow, it's only been 5 days since I've seen Dee, but I can't stop thinking about her, and all I want is to be able to visit her, or call the barn every minute for updates.
I know they told me that no news is good news, but I'm going out of my mind. It seems like AGES since I've seen her! It doesn't help that it's been a LONG time since I've put my horses care solely in the hands of someone else.
I'll update again when I actually have news.

Dee's new Digs!

Well, I moved miss Dee in the middle of what resembled a cold tropical storm yesterday. The barn is really nice, with a great big indoor. She wasn't pleased with me, but I think she'll settle in. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos. It was a deluge of rain with vicious wind gusts, so even if I had taken photos, it wouldn't have come out very well.
Now, when you drop a young child off boarding school, standard practice is that the parents shouldn't contact the child at first, to let her get acclimated. Much to my dismay, Garry has the same policy, and wants me to wait ten days to visit. I already want to go see her and I dropped her off yesterday! The only good thing is that I've got finals coming up and about a million different projects due, so I should be kept busy enough to not think about missing Dee too much. I know she's in good hands, but I haven't had someone else doing the majority of care in a LONG time, and I've NEVER sent a horse out for training without me. I'm feeling a little lost, and I definitely felt like a terrible parent leaving her there when she was clearly worried. I gave her lots of pats and told her how much I loved her and that she needed to be at least somewhat well behaved, then braved the storm back home.

I found this funny list called "A Horse's View of The World"... I bolded the one's that I think Dee would agree with:
Arena: Place where humans can take the fun out of forward motion.
Bit: Means by which a rider's every motion is transmitted to the sensitive tissues of the mouth.
Bucking: counterirritant
Crossties: Gymnastic apparatus.
Dressage: Process by which some riders can eventually be taught to respect the bit.
Fence: Barrier that protects good grazing.
Grain: Sole virtue of domestication.
Hitching rail: Means by which to test one's strength.
Horse trailer: Mobile cave bear den.
Hotwalker: The lesser of two evils.
Jump: An opportunity for self-expression.
Latch: Type of puzzle.
Longeing: Procedure for keeping a prospective rider at bay.
Owner: Human assigned responsibility for one's feeding.
Rider: Owner overstepping its bounds.
Farrier: Disposable surrogate owner; useful for acting out aggression without compromising food supply.
Trainer: Owner with mob connections.
Veterinarian: Flightless albino vulture <-- I LOVE that one... but Dee loves Dr. S, so it doesn't apply!

And one more, non horse related funny:
Dog vs. Cat…..
Exerpt from a Dog’s Diary:

8:00 am – Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am – A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am – A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am – Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm – Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm – Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm – Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm – Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm – Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm – Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm – Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

Excerpts from a Cat’s Daily Diary…

Day 983 of my captivity.

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.

They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.

The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a ‘ good little hunter ‘ I am. Bastards.

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of ‘allergies.’ I must learn what this means and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow — but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released – and seems to be mor e than willing to return. He is obviously retarded.

The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicating with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe. For now…………….

Happy Thanksgiving

Yesterday, I got to spend the day with every single one of the animals that I care about. It doesn't really get any better than that.

Making the Move

December 1st, Dee and I will be moving! Granted, it's about half an hour down the road, but still, it's a big deal! She'll be learning the western ropes with a world champion quarter horse trainer, and I can't wait to watch her transform from a cheeky baby to an educated adult. I've seen this trainer work miracles, and while I don't think Dee needs a miracle, I do think she needs a firmer, more educated hand than my own, and he's the best in town.
Anyway, life on the Dee front has been uneventful. On the other hand, life with the horses in washington has been CRAZY. We've got one with mud fever that keeps on flaring up despite keeping his legs as dry and clean as possible and smz's. Banamine and smz's seem to be keeping it in check for now. Then we have another who blew an abscess a few weeks ago and went suddenly lame on the other front foot yesterday morning. However, last night and this morning, he looked 100% sound and could care less about getting the feet handled. No heat, no sensitivity... I guess there goes our theory about him blowing another abscess? Who knows. Maybe the banamine helped.

Winter, here we come.

Dee and I have had an interesting year, full of ups and downs. On one hand, I'm very pleased with what we accomplished this summer... she started over fences and the canter work improved markedly. On the other hand, I'm incredibly disappointed and feel like we've slid back quite a bit in the last few months. She's just SO incredibly herdbound and nappy at home. I kept thinking it must just be me, so I finally had Nikki come sit on her. Let's just say it's not me. I haven't actually been on her in weeks - she's just been lunging (and being fantastic on the lunge), so part of me expected Dee to behave with Nikki. I mean, if it's me, she hasn't had me up in weeks, she's just been going forward nicely on the lunge line. As soon as Nikki got on, she sucked back and got defensive, and that was without Nikki even having any real contact. The whole ride was a disaster - exactly what I've been experiencing with her lately.
The thought of getting through the winter with her behaving so poorly is not at all appealing. Upon some thought, I've decided it might be in both out best interests for her to spend some time getting drilled on the basics 6 days a week. I'm going to send her to Garry Mcallister for two months (starting the 1st of December), and hopefully he can work out the kinks. He's a world champion quarter horse trainer who I've seen make huge progress in horses with all sorts of issues. I just think that she'll think twice about trying some of her antics with a tough cowboy, and being in a solid program with someone who won't take her crap for two months is just what she needs. Garry isn't too far from me, so I'll definitely be visiting her and updating about her progress.

attack of the killer blanket!

I got a phone call from Pete yesterday when I got to the barn to tell me that Dee had gotten herself into a big mess that morning. You know how the belly straps of a blanket double up when you adjust them? Well, she apparently got her hind leg stuck in the doubled part of her belly strap. Luckily, Pete seems to have found her right after it happened, because there are no cuts and the leg isn't swollen. The strap was apparently very tight on her hock, so I can only imagine how badly things might have ended if it hadn't been noticed quickly.
Poor Pete had no cut the strap in order to get it off of her, because he couldn't budge it with his hands. When I got there, I didn't notice any heat or swelling, but I did notice that she was very sensitive to touch. I gave her 2g of bute just in case and will check her again today. I would really like to know how she managed to get her hind leg through her belly strap, though.

Nikki, another one of stephie's former working students, is going to come up soon to ride my baby! I'm hoping to get some video of it so that I can use it for my class presentation.

plague

I've been incredibly unmotivated this week as far as horses go - I seem to contracted the plague. My time at the barn has been fleeting, since I've been more concerned with burrowing under my covers and sniffling/coughing the night away.
I'm STILL waiting for my trailer to be fixed, too. Ugh. They're apparently having some issues with the tailgate latch. I'm pretty frustrated, but getting by on the notion that I'll have a great, like-new trailer when they're done.
I've been thinking about what to do with Dee's furriness. If I body clip, I'll need to both borrow a set of body clippers from someone and procure some sort of sedative from the vet (If she gets cranky about a curry comb, I can't IMAGINE the crankiness with a body clipper). However, if I DON'T body clip, i'm going to have a fuzzy, sweaty nightmare every time she works. Plus, if she goes to florida, she'll need to be clipped anyway. I dunno. We'll see how it goes.

Oh oh, Witchy woman!

Bounce!

Dee has been doing LOTS of trot poles lately. Tuesday, we did 4 poles instead of the 3 that we've been doing. I set it up on the circle and had the first pole on the ground, the second two raised, and the fourth on the ground. She trotted through to the left REALLY nicely - there was no dragging of the LH. She didn't start out as well to the right, but I think it was mostly because it was hard for her to see the poles. She was trotting right into the sun, and just seemed surprised when some poles turned up in front of her. Once she knew they were there, she was much better, and very cleverly (I thought) approaching with her head very low. I mean, she stretches going left, too, but it just seemed like she figured out that if she stretched her nose long and low enough, the sun wasn't such an issue.
Yesterday I decided to up the ante a little. I set up 3 trot poles on one side of the ring and a small bounce on the other. We began over the trot poles, which she did very nicely, and then moved on to the bounce, which is a whole new experience for her. The first time through, she didn't quite know what to make of it and just treated it like a weird trot pole set-up. With a little extra encouragement the second time, she actually jumped it properly. After that, she was popping through the bounce like an old pro. The only issues she had was swapping between the bounce and the trot poles. Once or twice she got confused and either tried to jump the trot poles or trot the bounce, but then she'd realize the mistake and correct herself the next time.
I would just like to add that she is possibly the cutest thing ever. I set up the exercises while she was in the ring, and I just left her in the middle of the ring. She didn't move a muscle the entire time I was setting up - she just watched everything I was doing. Too adorable. I should add that she wasn't wearing any tack while I was setting up - just her halter - so if she had done something silly, it wouldn't have been a big deal. I wouldn't have left her to her own devices if she was wearing her tack!

LSATs are FINALLY OVER! In three weeks I will get my scores, so until then I won't know if I'm done with the LSAT forever or just for now. Here's to hoping I got a good score so it will be forever!

Trot trot trot poles

Last thursday was Dee's first time doing serious trot poles! (Well, a proper SET, anyway) I set up three poles on a circle and started by lounging over them at the walk, which she understood perfectly. I then asked her to trot them, which she didn't understand so perfectly. It took her a few times of leaping into the middle of them and then tripping over the last, or trotting the first pole and leaping over the last two. After she'd figured out all the ways that didn't work, though, she finally did a slow motion trot-through. Realizing that doing it that ay worked, we didn't have any more issues and she trotted through in both directions with no issues. She did the middle, which was a normal trot, and the outside, which was a little wider. I'm not yet willing to encourage her to do the shorter side, because she doesn't understand collection, so I know that she will just shorten her stride by slowing down and cutting the engine.
She had the weekend off because I was up at Quinnipiac doing the LSAT prep. Monday, we picked up where we left off. She came out breathing fire a little bit. She didn't want to trot nicely through the first few times. At one point, she very handily made it into a double bounce without touching a single pole - sort of impressive. FINALLY, she settled down and started trotting through, so we did them a few times in both directions and then I made it a bit harder. I took two of the jump blocks and raised the middle pole up, so that she would have to lift those feet a little higher - be a little more careful. To the right, she was very good. She trotted through the middle perfectly and through the outside perfectly, as well. She found the left a little harder, and I think it's because of that weakness in the left hind. She clipped the raised pole two or three times with that left hind leg, which she didn't do going right. I'm hoping this sort of thing will get her stronger back there.
Yesterday she was really high again, so we just practiced the trot poles some more. I never really got her to settle, so I didn't make the exercise harder, like I'd planned. Our next step is to do four poles with the second and last pole raised. I only have two sets of jump blocks, so that's the best I can do. Ideally, I would like to have ALL the poles raised, but I figure this will force her to be careful and lift her feet, too. I took some photos of the exercise, but I forgot the camera at the barn, so I'll have to put them up later!
Bettina is away this week, but when she gets back and I finally get my trailer back (they're taking FOREVER), we're going to "operate" on Dee, as Bettina said. I'm pretty excited about it, and she said that Windhorse has stalls open, so I'm thinking of doing an overnight there - TWO DAYS of Bettina in a row!? How great would THAT be!?

Maid Mare-ion

Seriously? How cute is she? We got a little wet yesterday, and Dee wore the towel for a little while. How is it that she'll let me throw a towel over her face, but she gets mad when I put a blanket on her? And speaking of blankets, her sheet now barely fits her! Not too thrilled about that, especially since I'm pretty sure it's a size 82 and my midweight is smaller... I'll have to try that on her one of these days. We might be in the market for a new midweight.
Yesterday's ride was sort of a bust. We walked around for a little while, did a little trotting and then the heavens opened up. In .2 seconds we were both drenched, so I just headed back to the barn. Today went much better. Interestingly, trotting to the right, she kept alternating between wanting to break into canter or walk... ANYTHING but the trot. I let her canter around for a little while, but even after that she kept trying to go back to canter. Part of me wanted to let her, because HEY, she's FORWARD, but the other part of me said "no, she's STILL being disrespectful". I listened to voice number two and insisted we just trot. It wasn't like she had SO MUCH energy that she needed to blow off steam, she was actually very polite about breaking to canter, so after I insisted she just trot, we had a very nice time.
We had another day of left-lead difficulty, today... it took me lots of tries to get the left lead. The good news, though, is that I FINALLY got a left lead canter transition with absolutely NO fireworks. She's been very explosive to the left lately, so it was nice that she was very quiet in every single canter transition. During our trot work, we did have a bit of an explosion when she thought she saw something and scooted off, but it was just a minor spook and she settled right back down to work.
We still had a little bit of that stubborn-ness in going forward, but it seems to be getting better. Once my trailer gets back from the shop, I'm hoping to get her over to Bettina.

pictures!

These were taken on 9/15...


Such an attractive face she's making...







Neck Shot, 9/26:


Freshly Pulled mane, 9/26:




Around the Farm, 9/26:




And this one is from today, at Lyman's Orchard in Middlefield. We were sitting on the hill near this couple, and my friend snapped the shot when we got to the car because they were SO adorable, sitting there, reading a book together...

Clearing out the Scruff

I've been completely engrossed in studying for the LSATS, so my time spent in the barn has been minimal. We've done some lounging, and she's been very good. Yesterday, I gave her a little mini-spa day. She's not very good about getting her mane pulled, but I decided to give it a go. True to form, she acted like a total cow at first. I then tried the twitch, which also went as badly as usual. HOWEVER, when I took the twitch OFF, I tried to pull her mane ONE more time. Maybe the twitch made an impression, because she actually stood very nicely for me while I pulled her entire mane. (Well, very nicely in Dee terms... she's ALWAYS sort of fidgety). I used the system of pulling a small piece and then telling her how absolutely wonderful she is (which she loves to hear). Once we finished I gave her cookies and grass. All in all? It was a great day and Deer Run Spa!
I have a few pictures, which I will update with later.

Progress is a good thing...

...I mean hey, we could all be cavemen with scummy fingernails trying to hunt down a wooly mammoth.

After mild success on Wednesday, I got up on Dee planning to continue with my reverse-psychology style riding. This seems to be working, as we had another fairly decent ride. She was doing a very nice, stretchy working trot all over the arena and focusing more on me than what was going on outside of the arena. Our right lead canter was very nice, though she's getting a little bit into the habit of leaning on her forehand. On the one hand, I'm thrilled that she wants to stretch down in the canter. I mean, she doesn't rush around out of balance, but on the other hand, she is VERY much heavy on the forehand. I've been leaving it be for now because I don't want to be telling her 'stretch stretch stretch' at the trot and then TOTALLY contradict myself by saying 'no, I don't want you there' at the canter. She's got a pretty good natural balance, so I don't think it will be hard to pick her up and teach her to canter uphill when the time comes. For now, I'm just happy that she's behaving and steady.
Going left, I DID manage to get the correct lead. It took us a few tries, and at one point we went from trotting along very nicely to broncing straight towards the arena fence (which I think happened because the cat appeared suddenly outside of the ring... I wasn't actually asking for canter at that point), but we finally nailed the left lead. Once she had the correct lead, the canter felt quite good. I think part of the problem is that she's weaker on the left hind, so stepping under and picking up the left lead is more difficult. In her mind, it's easier to throw her weight the other way and pick up the right lead, so unless I'm VERY careful to have her in the PERFECT balance, she just has trouble with that lead. I know that will sort itself out as she gets stronger.

On another note, I took my trailer to get serviced on Friday. They've got some work to do, but I'm hoping to have it back by the end of this week or the beginning of next. Once I have that sorted out, we can get back to lesson-taking.

Wide-Eyed and Legless

Dee has been excellent on the lounge line lately. We've been doing lots of transitions, and she's been getting better and better. Today, I decided that I would get on and do a little after our session. Well, it didn't go exactly as I hoped. As soon as I got on, she was right into her snarky, "i'm not going forward attitude". I handled things a little differently today, though. Nancy told me to stop worrying about things and JUST GO FORWARD. Well, when she gets in these moods, the more I push about going from walk to trot, the less forward she goes. With this knowledge, I just stopped asking for trot. Instead, I decided that since we were walking already, we would continue to walk, but we would do the MOST FORWARD walk we possibly could. Well, it worked exactly like I wanted it to, because she got fed up with marching along at the walk and started trying to break into trot. However, I insisted that we stay walking, because she has to know that she doesn't dictate what we do. Once she stopped trying to break into trot and resigned herself to marching along, I asked for trot. Guess what? She marched forward in working trot! My only goal in the trot was forwardness. Tilt your head to the side? Pretend to be a giraffe? Be my guest. Just keep trotting forward. Eventually, she realized that it was easier to keep going forward if she stopped fussing, and she actually ended up stretching into my contact and marching along. We even managed some nice canter work going right. Our left lead canter, on the other hand, seems to have disappeared. I think part of the problem going left was that I didn't have her straight enough, so every time I asked for canter, she picked up the right lead. Interestingly enough, at one point, I asked for canter and got a very impressive saddle bronc move from her - head between knees, back rounded, all four feet off the ground. When all four feet ended up back on the ground, I was excited to find her on the left lead, so we just went with it. She didn't work hard today, but we DID do an awful lot. I think I was on her for an hour, and I'll tell you what - I'm sure my legs will be yelling at me tomorrow!

Viva Las Vegas!

Ok, so I haven't updated in a WHILE, but I also haven't had any updates to make, since I've been on a much needed vacation. I started out in Las Vegas, and then after I got home, spent a very nice 3 day stint with my father and brother at the Rock n Roll hall of fame. Needless to say, the mare's been a little neglected.
Today she's officially back to work, although for a moment, I thought that might not be the case. She had a puffy knee (from a small cut) and was VERY sensitive when I picked at it to see if it was a nick or some sort of puncture. She was being a squirrelly jerk about letting me look at it, but I was 99% sure it was just a cut. Needless to say, I was convinced that she would be hopping lame (or at least slightly off) on it.
When I got her up to the ring for our lounge session, we had a brief spook fest at the shiny silver ribbons still adorning the fence from the barn owner's daughter's wedding on Saturday, but she got over it and got to work. To my GREAT surprise, she looked AWESOME. I don't think I've ever seen that mare trot with so much suspension... she's pretty fancy when she wants to be. I did about a half hour with her, and she was pretty well behaved (only one or two attempts to go galloping off), doing lots of trot - canter transitions.
The knee was still a bit puffy after I worked her, but considering that she was 100% sound on it, I'm not too worried. She DOES seem to swell up at the smallest nick (is that a thoroughbred thing? Tango was the same way).
Now that she's back in work, and I'm about to start school, I'll have regular updates.

I'm a Big Girl now!

Dee is officially beginning to be a grown-up! Today, she got on the trailer and let me walk around back to put the butt bar up. I know, I know, it doesn't sound like much, but she usually just gets back off the trailer as soon as I walk around back. I don't think she's being bad, I think she just figures "well, you USUALLY ask me to get off when you go round back...". It took me quite a few tries, but I finally convinced her that she didn't have to get off when I left her. Even better was that when we left Nancy's to go home, she marched onto the trailer and stood like a soldier while I put the back up. What a smart girl!
Our ride today was excellent, too. We had 20 minutes of no fighting and forward going. It was absolute bliss and I quit after 20ish minutes because she'd been great and she was absolutely DRIPPING with sweat. It was around 90 with enough humidity to make you think the world somehow ended up underwater, so I decided not to make her keep going when she'd been an angel. I know Nancy would have wanted me to trot over a bunch of cavaletti, but the mare was just SO good and SO sweaty... I couldn't do that to her.

Back (on track?)

Well, today I had a lesson scheduled with Nancy, but I awoke this morning to a VERY sore back. It took me about 10 minutes just to roll myself out of bed. I remained optimistic, thinking that maybe a few ibuprofin would help, but it really didn't. Luckily, Nancy was happy to get on and ride for me, since I figured that even if I got myself INTO the saddle, I would a)be useless and b)probably not be able to get back OUT of the saddle later. Bummer.
It was really cool to be able to watch Dee go, though, and I'm glad that now Nancy has a feel for what I'm sitting on. She rode for about 40 minutes or so, just walk, trot, canter and then some cavaletti. It took about 15 minutes for Dee to settle in, and then she was very good. She's also quite fancy! I never knew! And, she's a VERY cute jumper (she had to over-jump all of the cavaletti).
I'm going to truck her back up to Nancy's Thursday to ride her around a bit. Nancy will be at Millbrook, but she said to just go up and use the ring. I'm hoping I can get there, because I had some issues on the way home today. There appears to be something weird going on with the trailer breaks... they started breaking of their own volition. I'm going to try some electrical grease on the connector, because I think my connection may be the issue.
Now, my back has been pretty good lately. I'm not entirely sure what I did to make it hurt so badly, but I assume it's just something that's going to happen now and again. One of my friends just got her massage license, so I'm thinking of going to her soon. I mean, it can't hurt. Today was pretty terrible, pain-wise, and I even had my leg go numb at one point on the way home. Not good. It's a little better tonight. I've been wearing my back on track brace all day, which is a godsend, and I've taken lots of ibuprofin. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be back to my usual low-grade pain.

Being Backwards

Sometimes I feel like I must be the worst rider in the world. I'm incredibly frustrated with myself, but things may be looking up. Dee and I took a trip to Nancy's today to get some sense knocked into us and I'll tell you what, she had to do some pretty hard knocking. I've been riding terribly backwards, and while nancy blamed the fact that I ride in a small ring, I know that's not really it. The small ring makes it easier to ride backwards, but I've always had this problem and it's a bad habit that I quickly fall back into if someone isn't hassling me about it. It also doesn't help that I don't handle the spooking and bolting the way I should. Rather than sitting up and calmly handling the problem, I panic, lean forward and pull back... NOT the way to deal with it. I didn't really fix that today, but Nancy did have me riding a little bit less backward by the end, and seems to think that the issues we've been having aren't as huge as I've made them out to be.
I do love this mare, and I know that she's very nice. I just wish I rode her better. I think I may talk to my uncle about getting on one or two of his horses a few times a week, just to log more hours in the saddle. Before I do that, though, it looks like Dee and I may be spending a week at Nancy's! She's got a stall available, and I can afford to put Dee up there for a week. Riding in a huge ring for a week will do us a world of good.

Behavior

Since my last post, I've ridden twice. The first time could be considered a mild disaster, but also a minor breakthrough (maybe?). We started out well enough, but after a few figure eights, the resistance o the right began to escalate. At first, she was just a little bit stiff, but as I continued, she was more and more resistant.
Of course, the more she pushed into my right leg, the more I kicked back in response, but the more I kicked back, the less responsive she became. It was incredibly frustrating, and as I got increasingly frustrated, she just continued to fight me and act up. Finally, I was so frustrated and upset that I got off for a few minutes. I think that we both needed the break.
When I got back on, I tried a different tactic. Instead of fighting, I just sort of ignored the bad behavior and quietly rode through it. Magically, the more I just overlooked the behavior, the less of the bad behavior I saw. She actually became quite lovely by the end of the ride, so I took her out for a little mini-hack down the driveway to cool her down. This was the first time that we got all the way down the driveway, and she was a VERY good girl. At the point where the driveway crosses the river and a tree line (after you cross the river you can't see the barn or house anymore), she had a very minor tantrum about leaving her friends. For about a minute she was backing up and trying to turn around, but after a few failed attempts and some convincing from my end, she just marched on to a symphony of "Good girl!" I felt like a broken record, but the more I told her how wonderful she was, the more willing she seemed to keep going. I'll gladly look like a lunatic to passers-by if it makes mare happy!
The second time I rode, I once again employed the less-is-more technique of trying to overlook her shenanagins. Once again, the shenanagins disappeared when she couldn't get a rise out of me. What a cheeky minx. However, I shouldn't be surprised, considering Dusty was much the same. Overall, that was a very good ride. I did have one VERY odd moment, though. We were trotting along, she was being lovely, and then she did the most awkward, almost slow-motion little buck that I've ever seen. Then, she broke into a slow SLOW canter, did another REALLY slow little buck, and went right back to trotting around nicely. I have no idea where that came from. I can only guess that she had a horsefly on her or something, because slow, small bucks are NOT her m.o.











Day 10 - A song that makes you fall asleep - "Asleep" The Smiths

"And then the rains came. They came down from the hills and up from the sound."

Well, my plans to ride yesterday got washed out with the much-needed rain and thunder storm we had. I suppose it won't kill her.










Day 09 - A song that you can dance to - "Harder Better Faster Stronger" Daft Punk
And we did, in moustaches!