Little Melodies

I often feel sorry for people who don't spend time outside, who never know the companionship of animals.  They always have the iThingies plugged in, television on, accelerator down.  Their senses are dulled, drowned in the meaningless cacophony that our culture hurls at us daily.  And they are missing the sweetest music I have ever heard.

Just today, I am struck with the notes:  in a peaceful, sunny barn aisle, my left hand rests on warm, red hair while my right guides a soft brush in its particular rhythmic chord over Solo's side.  Pay attention to that sound next time you groom your horse, there is a real, earthy caress in its tone.  In the stall next to us, there is the ever-present, ever-pleasant undertone of another gelding munching grass hay.  The burbling arpeggio of a bluebird wafts in the open doorway.  I can almost feel my heartbeat slowing and the aching tension slowly begins to leak out of my muscles.

It's a quiet symphony that continues as I sit bareback, Solo's head stretched down to some early spring grass along the fenceline.  He keeps up a steady rhythm of pull and chew while his tail makes a gentle, slow, swishing counterpoint at a few early stray gnats.  The soft breaths of an inquisitive mare through the fence boards add a higher harmony.

You may never hear it on the radio, although it's not because such peaceful music is rare.  It will never win a Grammy, but that is not because it is poorly arranged.  But drinking it in doesn't cost a thing other than allowing it an opening of silence through which to enter your life.  Take a sip; you may find yourself enriched in ways you never knew existed.  Maybe you too will know the joy of feeling your pulse hum in tune to the ancient song of horse, of nature, of life that persists beyond the edge of any attempts to drown it out.  It is always there, just waiting for you to listen.  

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Challenges Are Challenging

One of the things I did once I decided to event Solo was to read. Everything. I know, shocking, right? Nerd girl who reads everything read about her newly proclaimed hobby?! Any article I could google, follow a link to, or find in a magazine, I voraciously devoured. I read about conditioning, riding XC obstacles, about dressage for the eventer, about trainers, tack, rules, and training.

A primary question you are faced with when entering a discipline is (a) what level should I be at and (b) how do I know when to move up a level? In eventing today, this has become a particularly prickly question as we all want to make sure that when we DO move up, both we and our horses are truly ready to face the new challenges safely.

Oh, don't worry, there are even articles about this!

In all horsey things, even though I have spent decades on the back of horses, I have always competed at the lowest levels. Training and First Level dressage, 2'6" and lower hunters. So logically, I entered the Beginner Novice level in eventing (since I was pretty comfortable jumping a 2'6" vertical, I thought Maiden was a bit too small for me and Solo snorted disdainfully in agreement, citing that 8" logs weren't really worth his effort, TYVM.).

According to the experts, it's time to move up when, to put it most simply, your current level bores you. Of course, it's not actually that simple, because there are plenty of people who THINK they are bored at their level but they really still have a lot to learn. Another trap is people who think they have to be perfect at a level before moving up. You don't have to win a blue ribbon every trip out -- really, you don't have to win a blue ribbon ever, you just need to be able to safely, confidently, and competently navigate your level and finish feeling just as confident as when you started.

Of course, this is not to say that I have learned everything, but this was my thought process: the dressage test was easy. No, we did not get perfect, or even awesome scores as there are certainly things we needed to work on, but it was basically W/T/C with a few circles.

By last winter, I found the XC courses were very easy for both Solo and I, no obstacles were problematic, everything always went smoothly and I was often disappointed that the obstacles, to me, were too small and things like banks (I LOVE BANKS!) were often omitted.

Once we figured out how to go forward, the stadium courses were very simple -- all we had to do was not forget where we were going and I had no concerns, as Solo cleared everything by a mile.

Which all boiled down to -- I felt everything was very easy and we weren't learning anything new, except in the dressage. But the Novice dressage test is really not any different than the Beginner Novice test, there is just more bending. So if I was going to be annoyed by dressage anyway, why not be annoyed while learning from new and more exciting jump courses? The things we need to work on in the dressage arena are the same issues EVERYONE struggles with, more balance, more straightness, better connection. Nothing that's going to be solved by staying at BN forever!

It's a bit hard for me to elucidate it all because it really was a bit like a revelation to me one day as we walked a course with a Novice level friend and I thought, gee, I sure wish I was riding HER course because mine is kinda boring. Of course now, having committed to moving up, all of a sudden, the jump courses are a huge challenge all over again and I am daily tempted to back down to the "sure thing" that I already know we can do at BN. But then what would be the point if we never challenge ourselves to grow?

Are there others of you who have struggled with and made this choice? Do you think there are better ways for riders to answer the question? When did you know it was time to take that big step into the relative unknown of a new level in your riding?

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My Eyes Are Bigger Than My Stomach

The phrase is one my mother always said to me when I piled food on my plate in eager anticipation of satisfying my rumbling belly. Inevitably, what I thought I could easily eat turned out to be more than my body could actually accomodate! It appears to also be true for my eventing aspirations.

Saturday dawned sunny and warmed up to a balmy 58 degrees so three of us crazy gals met to do some XC schooling. It was Solo and I's first attempt at really schooling Novice. I thought, pshhh, no worries, this is going to be a piece of cake!

Damn eyes.

Some parts were easy. Solo hopped smoothly and obligingly up and down banks (I LOVE BANKS!), galloped through the water, and leaped neatly over logs.

Just a lil' warm up log.

Down we go, nice as you please.

No problem, mom!




A great one of Solo's pasture buddy, Jeff, coming up out of the water -- what a splash!


Solo, of course, has to make his own splash! Do not ask me what I am doing, as it is obviously my very best riding zombie impression.

We ran into a little (shocking!) trouble at the ditches. Solo generally takes his ditches in stride, albeit with a rather, uh, enthusiastic leaping style to make sure no hiding trolls can reach his precious little feet, like so:



The routine goes: uphill to little ditch, downhill to little ditch. Then uphill to bigger ditch, downhill to....OMG, SLAM ON THE HORSE BRAKES, THE TROLLS ARE LYING IN WAIT! For some reason, coming down to the bigger ditch, Solo would have no part of it. He would go until the last possible second. We tried everything known to man. He calmly said, No way, no how, woman. Eventually, I decided it was not a battle worth losing the day over. He quite happily jumped every other (even bigger!) ditch on the property. But downhill to THAT ditch, THAT day, nope, beyond the realm of horsey possiblity, so I accepted my lumps and we moved on. I was annoyed, but after that, he even jumped the mini trakhener (a hanging log over a ditch) in the woods, so...whaddya do?

At this point, I am feeling pretty damn good about things, seeing as we haven't even been on a XC course since our starter trials last November at BN. We decide to finish up taking a few of the bigger fly jumps (simple box or coop type jumps, alone, taken from a gallop). No biggie right?

HA.

THEY ARE ENORMOUS AND TERRIFYING. How can there be such a difference in 2"??? The two jumps my cohorts selected and swore to me were Novice jumps were simple, boxy things. But as I galloped towards them, they got bigger...and bigger...and bigger.  Then right at the takeoff spot, I quailed with a whimper.  And Solo said, well, shit, lady, I ain't doing it without you! and declined to jump.  For which I don't blame him one bit, it was my fault for trembling in my boots and wailing in terror!

I admitted to my mates that the failure was entirely on me and I was not too proud to beg for a lead from the brave Jeff, for whom ginormous jumps come so easily.  And in the end, surprise was the ticket and we prevailed!!!


Look, you can't even tell that I am peeing myself in fear!!


And so we end, with a pat on the neck for a job well done!

I realized, though, an important lesson. This leveling up business is no walk in the park. No easy-breezy faking my way through it anymore as we gallop along. These bigger XC obstacles are going to take me screwing up all my courage and riding them properly so poor Solo is not left hung out to dry. My confident swagger from the morning has been well and truly squelched and replaced with a much healthier respect for the task at hand!! And a burning desire for another schooling session before we hit competition. You better bet we're going to be looking up the mighty David O. in the next couple of weeks....

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Best. Saddle Ad. Ever.

World's most uncomfortable saddle
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Date: 2010-01-01, 11:41PM PST

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Like a ghastly specter from your darkest nightmare, this saddle has returned from the grave seeking vengeance. Its previous master thought it had banished it to the blackness of the abyss for good, but nay, it was only for an epoch.

Features:

*Steel rails forged by LUCIFER himself

*Genuine Auroch hide seat provides maximum chafing


I am reaching the end of my strength, as the madness contained within this dark artifact threatens to consume me. I cannot merely throw this adamantine saddle on the rubbish heap, lest some unwary passerby become transfixed by its lightless glow. No, I must only give this to one with the courage to look into the bloodshot eyes of insanity, and the strength to master it. A wizard with the cunning to master this beast gains an ally of unspeakable power: the ultimate theft deterrent. At the moment the thief straddles your steed, his fate is sealed. Eager for revenge upon mortals, the saddle will visit his arse with blisters that rival the torment of fire and brimstone... a dire lesson he will not soon forget. This same fate will befall any unworthy mortal who in his arrogance, attempts to mount the saddle of doom. Are you worthy?

Location: Green Lake

it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests.
__________________________________________________________________

God, I love craigslist.

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These Boots Ain't Made For Walking

But are they any good for riding?

Years of tromping around barns has put me through years of going through paddock boots. I am always on a search for a perfect pair that match affordability ($150 for paddock boots, puh-LEASE!) and durability. Because you are SO lucky, I will share my findings of this incredibly scientific (we will just ignore sample size issues, ahem) experiment.

I wear paddock boots constantly for just walking around the farm and riding, which sometimes entails 4 hour trail rides, and usually includes 4-5 rides in the arena per week, so I use them hard. I put them on when I leave the house and they stay on. So I might be tromping through mud and poo, ice, rain, or heat. And I don't sit down and polish them every day. Survival of the fittest around me. And in case you don't notice a trend, I hate tying lace ups...

FAIL or WIN? I'll go from cheapest (yay!) to priciest (boo!) --

Gatsby: elastic-side paddock boots ($25) from Horseloverz -- those things are great! They are still fully intact, no cracking, comfortable. The only thing that happened was the lining tore, but I just threw a pair of drugstore insoles in and they work great. Wore them for about a year and a half. I still keep them in the back of my truck as spares. WIN!

Saxon: the Equileather zip paddock boots ($40). Got them last summer. Within two months, they blew out at the ball of the foot and then completely separated from the soles on both shoes. They were comfy and great to ride in but only last maybe 4 months total! FAIL!

Dublin: zip fronts ($~74). Using these now. Been wearing for about 8 months or so now. It's been a hard winter on boots with all the mud. But they were REALLY comfortable from the minute I put them on and the sole definitely had more support than the cheaper two -- not that I care about that, but I did notice a difference. They are wearing well so far, but I can see some weakening stitching around the ball of one foot, keeping an eye on that. I'd like them to at least last a year... I also just picked up a pair of elastic sided ones on sale for $40, but keeping them new in the closet till these die. JURY STILL OUT (but if that stitching blows, I'm giving the zip ups a FAIL).

Mountain Horse: Ice Rider lace ups (~$80). Just got them for this winter. Definitely worth it -- they are super warm. I've only worn them maybe 10 times so far, but seem sturdily made. Take some breaking in -- they hurt my heels pretty bad the first 4 or 5 times, but then were fine after that. JURY STILL OUT. (but it looks promising)

Ariat: lace ups (free cause they were given to me, retail between $150-200). Narrow foot and uncomfortable, always chewed up my heel (these were older style). Leather across toe cracked wide open where it flexed. Always leaked and generally fell apart. Hated them. FAIL! (But I do like Ariat clothes)

Blundstone: elastic side 500 series (bought in Australia for about US$45, but in US retail around ~$150). Tough to break in, but once I did, SUPER comfortable. I bought two pairs at once. First pair I wore for maybe three years, they were awesome, soles finally wore through. Second pair had the soles dry rot off within a few months. :-( I don't know why the difference. They are sitting in my closet still waiting for a repair if it's possible. One FAIL, one WIN!

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