Fantasy vs. Reality

Where I wish I was this weekend:

Where I am / what I'm actually doing this weekend:

However, while I'm beating my head against a wall getting ready for my Civ Pro exam on Wednesday, you can be sure that Rolex will be live streaming from the USEF network site on my iPad straight through to my TV!  I can't explain how excited I am that this will work... I tested it out on some old videos on USEF, and they seem compatible with my Apple TV!  Does it get any better?  Well.. yes, being there would be better, especially considering how close I am to Lexington, but given that actually attending isn't an option, it probably DOESN'T ACTUALLY get any better.  Maybe next year I can attend...

"Today is the greatest..."

Snapfish was running a deal on framed collages, so I bought this, which is now hanging in my living room...

I think it pretty well sums up the greatest mare*.  On another note, I was speaking with Steph the other day, and she actually said that while she never thought it would be the case, she actually thought Dee was a pretty awesome horse.  I knew she ended up liking her more towards the end, but it was really great to hear her say that she actually finds her to be nice.  I know that I just adore her!  While it terrifies me to think that I'm going to have two mouths to feed when I graduate school [mine and hers, with hers being more important], I have big plans to grow old with this mare.  Somehow, some way.

*I have to qualify that statement by saying she ties Dusty for that title.  

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

So, I'm not going to say too much yet, because it's all very tentative, but it looks like there might be a life change in the works for Dee.
H has begun working full-time and hasn't been able to ride much, and L is going for her PhD at the moment.  B might know someone who would like to take over the ride for a bit, and it might be an eventer.
I will keep updating as I know more, but there might be some fun changes in store for my baby.

Meanwhile, I'm feeling like I'm on a runaway freight car, heading straight into exam week.  I might have some interesting plans for the summer, too.  But again, I'll update as I know more!

Paddy's Day!

Teachers Part 6 - Sitka

Sitka began life as a combined driving horse. She didn't spend too much time doing canter work - she was new to the sport, and a carriage accident left her too freaked out to really continue. From what I gathered, another carriage horse came at her head on and there was a collision. This made it really fun for me in the small warm-up arena at Rocking Horse, where she had flashbacks and wigged out when other horses came at her.
Anyway, Sitka was hands down one of my best / favorite teachers. She was a TB/Percheron, and got the best of both breeds. She had the laid-back attitude of a draft with the quick reactions and sensitivities of a thoroughbred. She also loved to cuddle and mooch treats by looking at you with great big eyes and pricking her great big ears. Honestly, if I had the money, I would have bought her in an instant, because she was such a good girl.
Now, anyone who has ever watched a rom com knows that every love story starts off with the two people getting off to a rocky start. Sitka and I were really no different. The first time I rode her was more than a disaster. It was actually probably just sad. She was rushing through my hand like a freight train, with a high head and a hollow back. Her canter went in seven directions at once, all while flying in the very general direction of forward at heart-stopping speeds. I was mortified. But, as these things do, it got better.
You see, that first ride was sans-Steph. The next time I rode her, I had Steph giving me instructions from the ground. Of course, this wasn't helping. I still felt like I was being dragged around the ring by a runaway truck. So, ever-patient, Steph got on board to show me what to do. This was a turning point for me. When I got back on, I was suddenly able to feel how it should be, and having watched Steph make it happen, I was also able to replicate it.
Now, that was just on the flat. Jumping still kind of looked like an episode of wild n' crazy kids. I distinctly remember heading down what was supposed to be a 4-stride line, and just knowing we were going to do it in three and that I had no say in the matter. That last stride, I basically just gave up trying for the four, put my leg on, and went with it. Thankfully, Sitka was fantastic on the fly. In fact, that was her favorite thing to do. Pat the ground? Nuh-uh. No sir. We don't sit on our bums and leave from a deep spot. Obviously, this was to become a major talking point between Sitka and I.
Over the next few months, Sitka and I put our noses to the grindstone and really got to work. On the flat, I learned the art of "rattling the cage". "Rattling the cage" refers to lighting a fire under the horses tail and reminding them that YES, you do have hind legs, and they move when my leg closes. For some horses, this takes a little swat with the whip (Dee), or a big swat with the whip (Kes). With Sitka, it took a little bump of the leg. If I really wanted rattle her cage (sometimes she liked to be stubborn and not respond as well as she should be... thus was usually on days when I got on her before breakfast. I think she was just angry at me) I would give a tiny tap with the whip. This usually resulted in a scoot and a little rear, but always managed to get the fire lit.
Over fences, we were working just as hard. As I said before, Sitka never wanted to sit down and pat the ground for a deep one. She would much rather just take the flyer. While this is sometimes acceptable over cross-country fences, it is not so acceptable over show jumps... especially when you have a tight line, or otherwise need your horse to give you anything resembling collection before the fence. To fix this, we worked on lots of little fences on tight turns, short [and I mean SHORT] one-stride lines, which sometimes devolved into Sitka and I bouncing through the last few. Eventually, though, it started to click. We could do the short gymnastic lines the way they were meant to be done, we could do the 10-meter circle to fence exercise like pros, and best of all, we could jump around a stadium course with collection and normal spots in front of the fences. Sometimes she would even take the deep spot.
Needless to say, I was having a blast making all of this progress with Sitka, and when Steph told me that she was coming to Florida and could ride her in a few events, I was thrilled.
Shortly before we left for Florida, Steph got on her for the first time on the flat in a long while, and she actually told me that she was impressed with how awesome Sitka felt! I can't tell you how great that made me feel as her lowly working student who had worked my butt off with this horse.
Once in Florida, we started really gearing up for our first event - Ocala. Fitness was a pretty big concern, since the weather was drastically hotter than it had been at home, and our only "real" conditioning had been doing ring work. So, i accordance, [and because I don't wear one going Novice], I planned to leave the watch in the trailer for cross-country and just let Sitka tell me what was best.
When we got to Florida, Steph and I had our hands full. We had 10 horses with us, and only 3 didn't need to be competition fit [Abbett, a client's youngster named Breezy, and Kes]. I continued to hone my skills on Sitka, and we were doing a last minute scramble to get our canter work in tip-top shape before Ocala. See, she was doing much, much better in the canter work, but she had begun 4-beating it sometimes, and I had to toe a fine line between strung-out and 4-beats to get the canter where it needed to be. I also took her for our first cross-country school as a team. I wasn't sure what to expect, considering how difficult it was to condense and change her canter stride on flat ground. But, much to my pleasant surprise, Sitka was a cross-country machine. She was balanced, responsive, and gung-ho for everything I pointed her at. The best part was that she felt pretty darn fit. This was especially good, since she had begun to balloon up on the fantastic alfalfa we had, and we were doing pretty much all we could to keep weight off of her.

Teachers Part 5 - Abby

(this is Steph on Abby, from her website. The link says it's at Fair Hill... looks more like King Oak to me.)

Abby was one of Steph's homebreds. When I first started riding her, she was not very strong, and incredibly locked up on the left rein. She had the tiniest little pony trot when she'd first start out, and occasionally she'd pull so hard on the left rein that I thought my arm was going to fall off. However, Abby taught me to let go. When she started hauling on my arm like a team of oxen, I learned to just release the contact and apply leg to keep her straight. She was also a fantastic horse for no-stirrup work [most of the time]. Once I learned her trick on the left rein, I actually quite enjoyed her on the flat, and was able to really work on myself when I rode her, because mostly, she was quite lovely and super uncomplicated. Even more fun was jumping Abby.
Abby inherited her mother's clever, clever jumping style. She would jump from anywhere and save your butt if need be. She was also incredibly quiet and steady to the fences, which really allowed me to sort out how I was tackling my rounds. The only tough part with her was that she naturally liked to go around a bit low in front, so I really had to pay attention through the turns and bump her up to get the balance right. This was especially good for me, as I was pretty good at the "post-jump coffee break", where I would just kind of let the horse cruise for a few strides. I think I got into this habit because of the fact that Dusty and Kess didn't need much management between fences. Dusty needed half-halts before the fences, and Kess was one of the most uncomplicated horses to jump in the world. On him, I mostly just had to not screw up and keep a positive attitude.
I'm not sure that I've mentioned it on here before, but Abby is also the horse who wrecked my ankle while I was in Florida. We were cross-country schooling at Rocking Horse, and I was riding miss Abby. Of course, spring was in the air, and everyone was feeling a bit cheeky. Abby was feeling like a herdbound cow. Steph asked me to go jump a little [tiny] log as a warm up, and it was away from the group of horses to my right. Well. Abby decided that she did not want to jump that log because her friends were over there!!!!!! The first time, she just kind of muscled through my outside aids and ran right. The second time, I closed the right door hard, and in response, Abby dropped that right shoulder and then, somehow bolted to the right. Well, I apparently continued in a forward trajectory and flew over her right shoulder, but my right ankle got stuck in the stirrup [this is a guess] and I tweaked it as I fell over. I then somehow fell underneath her, and she kicked me square in the face with a hind leg as she hurdled me. I just remember my first thought being "my face!" and clutched where she kicked me as I tried to get up. However, as soon as I got up, I fell right back down because I was not load-bearing on my ankle. At this point, Abby was reaking havoc around Rocking Horse, and if memory served, someone else then got dumped and we had two loose horses.
Poor Sitka had to sit on the trailer all day for nothing because Abby was my first ride and there was no one to get on Sitka later.
As you may have guessed, Abby was, occasionally, a problem child. Here are a few of my favorite examples:

1. Abby and I were out for a hack with Jesse and Abby's brother, Abbett. As we walked down the road, a dog started barking at us. Abby did not like dogs. She started to get a little worried, and stopped in the middle of the road. As I was trying to coax her forward, a car started coming down the road towards us. Abby lost her marbles, went straight up in the air, and ran across the road on her hind legs at the car. She then hit the ground again, and did the rest of the hack on a looped rein.

2. Steph was sitting on Abby in the dressage warm-up at Rocking Horse. She had just finished her ride and was waiting on me to go. Well, Abby apparently decided that she'd had enough, and did a lovely capriole across the warm-up arena. She was asked to leave.

3. Steph and I were out for a hack, going to the farm next door for a jump school. Steph was on Abby and I was on Sitka. I'm not sure what happened, but when we hit the driveway, Abby took off, and I just remember Steph turning around in the tack, laughing, and saying "I can't stop her!"

For as terrible as she was as a young'un, though, she is now going INtermediate with her new owner.

Teachers Part 4 - Roo

Roo was Steph's Intermediate head case horse. In all of my years before Roo, I thought I knew how to really sit and finesse a canter. This was not true. Not at ALL true. The first time I asked Roo to canter, we were careening around the 20 meter circle like a runaway train. Stop. Start over. Adjust body. Don't ask for canter, just think it. Pull in a breath and lift the inside hip. Ok. Now let the canter pour into your hand without letting it escape. Ok. We're balanced! Now we're getting quick, on two wheels. Tighten through the lower abs. Slight hold in the lower back. Catch the energy. Redirect. Back to balance. Whew!
This was our endless cycle. I very quickly learned the fine art of keeping Roo balanced on four wheels in the canter. It was a wonderful feeling.
Roo also taught me about half-pass. Once I figured him out, Roo was incredibly fun to ride on the flat. However, I never caught on to the "fun" of Roo over fences. He actually kind of horrified me over fences, and after a few times over grids on him, I begged off ever jumping him again. This was because you basically had to ride him backwards to the fences or he jumped like crap. And even when you rode him backwards, he still always felt frenzied. It wasn't fun in any sense of the word for me.
Aside from being a great dressage teacher for me, Roo was also a pretty cool, super weird horse to be around. He weaved so much and so hard that the wood floor in his stall had two dents in it from Roo's hooves. In the mornings, if he had to wait to go out, he would stand there weaving faster and faster until we could take him outside. Talk about a neurotic boy. When Steph and I were in Florida, I hurt my ankle and ended up on crutches. When I went out to the barn, I learned how Roo earned that name. His eyes grew as big as saucers when he saw the crutches, and his ears pricked so far forward that they almost touched. He looked pretty much like this:

It was pretty adorable!
Speaking of adorable, during our trip to Florida, we often had the horses sleep out in the field at night. I mean, the weather was so nice, they deserved to enjoy it! Well, one morning, Steph and I padded out to the barn at dawn, as usual, and as the sun peeked over the horizon, through the mist we saw Roo and Kess, curled up and sleeping together in the sand near the pasture gate. To this day, I wish I had gotten a picture of that.
Anyway, while we were in Florida, Roo found a new person. It was a girl from Mississippi who got along brilliantly with him, and Steph was finally able to sell him. The girl absolutely adored him, and we were all happy to see him go to such a great new family. Unfortunately, round about a year later, maybe a little more, I was talking to Steph and asked about Roo. Turns out that he colicked pretty terribly and had to be put down. I think he was only 14 or 15. It still makes me sad to think about that happening to poor Roo, but at least we know he was with a family who loved him very much when he died. Thank-you, Roo! You are missed!