Good News, Bad News

Good news:  very successful dressage lesson on Saturday.  Did a bit of lateral work and turns out that leg yields are SO much easier when you do them properly.  What I thought was straight turns out to have been me asking Solo to lead the leg yield with his haunches, which explains why it was so hard.  P says, "how about you let the shoulder lead like it's supposed to?" and pop, it just flowed forward so much more easily!  Assignments:  keep working on those leg yields and shoulder in to build strength and suppleness.  And we WILL learn how to transition to canter without throwing our head in the air (Solo: NOOOOOOOOOO!).

Good news: FABULOUS XC lesson with David on Sunday.  It was an exquisitely perfect day, 70 degrees and a farm that looked as if it belonged to royalty.  We started out with a few stutters when I rode poor Solo so far to the base of the jump he couldn't take off and once again, a ditch threatened to eat his head.  David calmly led Solo over the ditch and proceeded to have us jump it 37 times until Mr. Red Butt worked it out.  We proceeded to have loads of fun, even conquering a Training level question up a bank, one stride, then over a log.  Reverse it to ride over the log, one stride, then down the bank.  It felt great and we finished off with a mini course that included one of those Novice coop jumps that terrify me so and it all went without a hitch.  So thanks to David, I feel 300% better as does, I believe, my horse, about our upcoming trials!

Good news:  I have sent in entries for both an unrecognized event which will be our first go at Novice at the end of this month as well as our first EVER recognized event in April (ahhhhhhhhh!! I will be looking for a crew member if anyone wants a fun weekend watching my eyes roll).

Bad news:  I am currently under doctor's house arrest for the entire week for some horrid respiratory flu from god knows where.  After I finish typing this, I am going to go renew my dosage of hydrocodone and sink blissfully into the trippy pleasure zone it provides, yeahhhhhhh...  But I can't ride my horse because my lungs are on fire.  Boo.  But the only reason I finally broke down and went to the doctor (besides the shrieking pain) was that I want this virus to have its ass well and truly kicked by horse trial time!

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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.
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God, I love craigslist.

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