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We Are Flying Solo

January 23, 2011

Hamsters On Drugs

This is how my brain operates: (1) Imagine a hamster's feet while he is running on a wheel. (2) Put that hamster on speed. (3) Now put him in a hurricane.  And the hamster may at any time leap completely off that wheel and shoot into a different one that you didn't even know was there.

That's the general idea. Fast and crazed and completely unpredictable. 

There's a lot going on. I spoke with Dr. Bob as I mentioned in my previous post. Ok, by "spoke," I may mean "I called and blabbered my general freaked-out state in some nutty horse-woman fashion, convinced that I had ruined my horse forever." He says I am a crazy person (well, I don't see how that is relevant!). But he feels that Solo's stiffness is rather due to the prolonged and bitter cold and the frozen ground (Mr. Shiny does enjoy airs above the ground in his pasture on a regular basis), not any changes in management. However, since he is the lovely Dr. Bob, he had already faxed in a new Adequan Rx for us and hoped that I was right anyway and after a few shots, I'd have my horse back. Otherwise, I just have to wait for it to get warmer and hopefully, the stiffness will subside. It better, because wouldn't you know I just planned out our spring season...

On Saturday, I also attended the USEA Area II Annual Meeting in Leesburg, VA. A whole day of sitting around just talking about horses and eventing -- what could be better than that (aside from actually riding said horses)? It was a great time with some really well-done presentations (and OMG, Eventing Nation actually reported on something I went to!!). We have a new Adult Rider chairperson and she has loads of fantastic ideas. A local physical therapist talked to us about human biomechanics in relation to riding and how we should shape our fitness accordingly (this one had a lot of surprises). John DeSilva of Ecogold gave a hilarious and informative presentation on their boots and saddle pads. He just made me want to buy his stuff because he was awesome! A geneticist/breeder also talked about equine conformation on a skeletal level and had quite a few fascinating illustrations. It was well worth the drive north (and freezing my ass off up there)!

Today, BO and I took our boys out XC schooling. It was her young TB's first time out, so Solo was needed for "lead" duty. Solo was still stiff so we didn't do as much as I would have liked, but we did tackle a few of the big things out there and, though he wavered a bit, I kept my leg on, DIDN'T CHICKEN OUT, and we had ZERO refusals, which is a big BIG step up for us in the "Quest To Jump Big Scary Jumps." You might remember this giant (2010 photo below) from last year. Last February, it took me three tries and some serious gulping to get over it. Today, I sat down, wrapped my legs around that horse, and we leaped it (not pretty, but hey, it was clean) in one go.


Photobucket

8 comments:

  1. Best post title ever.

    Glad to hear the schooling XC went well...I'm jealous. If you tried to school anywhere around here, you'd just churn up a great big mud puddle! Most courses don't open until May at the earliest.

    Would love to hear more about the biomechanics presentation, that sounds really cool and (because it involves SCIENCE!) is really interesting to me.

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  2. Woot! Way, to go, Solo! He's gonna OWN those Training-level XC courses!

    I love love LOVE my Ecogold XC boots and am currently lusting after their entire inventory. Damn being poor!

    And I second the previous comment; please do tell about rider biomechanics!

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  3. You had me rolling at "Anxiety Girl, able to leap the worst conclusions in a single bound!"

    I'm still laughing so hard I'm going to have to read the rest of the post when I calm down...
    ;)

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  4. Thanks, mm -- but don't be too jealous, I spent most of the time worried about if Solo's leg was exploding or I was somehow killing him. (See comic)

    Frizz, they are awesome boots, I put my hands on them at the meeting. My only concern is that the hind ones don't seem to have the protective beads at the front of the cannon, which is the area I most want to protect from blows.

    TLH, it'll still be here after you wipe your eyes, LOL!

    And I'll see if I can write up a passable post on the physical therapist's talk -- I spoke to my PT guy today and he agreed with her suggestions and he's the bomb, so....

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  5. I left you an award on my blog!


    ~Rebecca
    thegianthorses.blogspot.com

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  6. Solo looks great over the xc fence :)

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  7. Thanks, Ruffles! I hope he is recovered soon so we can jump even more!

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