Here there be dragons...

Play day :)

2012-01-22T21:10:00.001-05:00

So still pretty sore today and not amused. By the time theory was over I was very cold, mostly sore, and not the least bit interested in riding. But I had arranged to ride both Athena and Lissy and Chelsea had come prepared to w/u Lis so I figured I should at least make an effort.

Got on Athena and all was ok at the walk. But when I started to trot by neck screamed. Booo :( Stupid puppy injury :( But by now I'm warmer and actually on, so not about to quit. Ok well easy solution - want to remain still on horseback, 2 point. Done and done. Any thought of proper dressage schooling abandoned for playing over fences. hahaha and I survived the ride and she was great and we both had fun. She also managed to make some turns that a month ago there's no way she could've made, so pretty happy about that. Had a couple minor disagreements, but nothing tragic. And in the end got some decent work from her. Pretty stoked about that.

Then did follow up and hop on Lissy for a bit -- that's all about strength building. Need to get her a bit more thoroughly through and strengthen her back so she'll be ready for show season this summer. Super willing little horse - riding her just makes me smile. She just keeps trying.

Anyways - always good to have a good ride when you didn't want to ride in the first place. Sort of reaffirms why we do this :)

Have to teach Sasha a trick for puppy class next week. No idea what to teach her. Everything I'm interested in is either too complicated or not suitable for class (ie - she's pretty good at "go teach" which means go to the arena from wherever we are, but that's not exactly going to work there!) She does *not* want to roll over. Does the weave between the legs thing reasonably well, but I don't want to put a whole lot of effort into that since she'll be too big soon. So hmmmmm.... Suggestions?

My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am.

2012-01-21T19:44:00.000-05:00

So Monday I managed to get myself bucked off my horse; minor difference of opinion. I lost. I won the next round. Nothing injured but my pride despite serious air time and gravity kicking in in a big way.

Then today I'm in puppy class, doing nothing but standing still and somehow managed to wrench my neck and make everything hurt. Moving, standing/sitting still, whatever. Thoroughly not amused. Sheesh.

But other than random injury for no apparent reason, puppy class went really well. No failing kindergarten for us today! Go Sasha :) hahaha it def helps to get there early and give her time to settle... But yeah, she was pretty pro today. And has been at the barn the last few days too :) Super Puppy!!!

Last night there was a video I wanted to watch but deemed it would make me to late and I should go to bed. All good right? Yeah - except then I ended up on FB *way* later than the vid would've kept me up *sigh* I should know better by now... Sheesh.

I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun. -- Thomas Edison

2012-01-15T19:59:00.001-05:00

(stolen from GRS blog)

So much fun at the barn today. No real reason -- nothing spectacular happened, just a fun day. Cold. Very cold. But other than that all good.

Showed up and my wonderful working student Rebecca had things well under control. Always a good start. First lesson was Steph and Nick - but when she got on Nick he was *high*. Are you as stunned as I was??? hahaha that's right - Nick and high in the same sentence. So she dismounted and I lunged him for a minute or two. All good, but Steph didn't look entirely convinced so I hopped on him for a few minutes first. Made quite the picture let me tell you -- I was def dressed to teach not to ride. And it was -17.5 according to my car so I was *bundled*. My "teaching boots" that are too massive to be good for anything but standing still but are at least warm, so many layers I start to have the Michelin Man look going on, and massive puffy mits.

Sooooo - first challenge - get giant boots in stirrups; they almost kinda fit. But are so heavy that riding w/o was really hard on my ankles so I sort of stuffed them in. Took off the giant jacket but had at least three pairs of pants on so flexibility was ummm limited *g* And bare hands. Yikes.

But Nick high is actually a lovely ride. Floats along on the bit with no effort required. Usually if I decide I want to get Nick to actually work, it's as much an effort for me as for him but today not so much. So that was sort of amusing - almost wish I had pictures :) Mental note - ever want to get your students to keep their hands still? Simply have them ride in ridiculously cold weather with no gloves. Frozen hands don't move. I gave up and rode him around for a bit with my hands in my pockets. hahaha I love school horses. And Steph then got on and rode beautifully so was a good conclusion. That lesson was followed by little Rebecca (as opposed to ws Rebecca) did her first jump! Woohoo! Those lessons are always fun to teach :) She and Bella were great. My working students were next up and tackled a "simple but not easy" cavelletti exercise that was just a *little* beyond what they're usually asked to do and both pulled it off. I was pretty happy with that :)

Theory lessons went well -- the novice students mastered the quick release knot and ventured out in the cold to practice catching horses in the field. Then the higher levels did intro to conformation -- I had intentions of combining two lessons into one but that didn't happen. Turns out one lesson at a time is a good plan. Imagine that. >;-P

Rode Athena after. Was fun to ride with other people in the ring -- I don't get to do that all that often. She was awesome. A *little* high when I got on but settled nicely. Actually got two and a half strides of through, round, self-carriage in the canter. Woohoo!!! And your reaction to that sentence will tell you if you're a horse person. hahaha 2.5 strides? So what? That'd be one who *hasn't* been there... hahaha you'll be even more amazed to hear we've been working towards these 2.5 strides for like 3 months. I was almost starting to lose hope. But she did it. Perfectly. And where there were 2.5 strides (and yes, I'm counting that .5!) there will some day be three. Then 5. Then 100 :) THEN we can consider competing. And the horse people are there are smiling and nodding and thinking of all the times they've been thrilled at equally small baby-strides.

Then this evening playing with Sasha -- my brothers and my dad discovered she's terrified of Angry Birds. hahaha we have a stuffed one that makes noise when you squeak it. Funniest reaction ever. Ranging from attacking to running away. So now Angry Bird is guarding the room Sasha's not supposed to go in. Far more effectively than any puppy-gate ever did.

So yeah - for those who think I was slightly insane to give up my reasonably paying day job for being broke and working 18h days 7 days/wk -- well you may be right. But when have you ever had this much fun at work?

100 Years

2012-01-14T21:51:00.000-05:00

Too much war and destruction, but some good shines through too:

Kindergarten Fail

2012-01-14T21:46:00.004-05:00

Definitely failed puppy kindergarten today. Oh my.

Sasha could do everything we were supposed to do -- easily and then some. But focusing when there are *PUPPIES* everywhere???? Yeah that was *not* going to happen. Oh my. Absolutely ridiculous.

Not like I've ever had any *other* young animals who were interested in everything but what they were supposed to be doing *g* hahaha thus I'm not too concerned yet...

At the intro class they warned people that the puppies will learn to behave in class, but unless they practice at home won't behave outside of class -- attempting to scare them into doing their homework I guess. I *would* have the puppy who behaves beautifully outside of class and is a complete disaster IN class ;-P hahaha but by the end, if she can do it in class, with puppies and children around, she should be an absolute superstar at home. That's my story and I'm sticking to it :)

Went to Ikea this evening. That was a challenge and a half :) We find the aisle we need at the very END of the store. Trek all the way to the end and yet our number doesn't appear.... hmmm look around a corner -- the aisle continues in a spin-off aisle stuffed in this tiny section in the middle of nowhere. Classic :) Did eventually get all the requisite pieces and escape though, so all good :)

And your video interlude for the evening. Very impressive, although I suspect if I had this much free time and this many books at my disposal, there'd be a lot more reading and a lot less filming happening. But I'm boring that way *g* Enjoy!

Cute puppy moment of the week

2012-01-14T00:10:00.000-05:00

So yesterday I was done the barn super early (made up for it by being super slow today!) and had all sorts of ambitious plans for the couple hours I saved. Plans including going and picking up some much needed supplies, riding my horse, etc. But instead, the idea of a nap planted itself in my little brain and prevailed.

So I have my wonderful new office now that I absolutely LOVE. And it has exactly two items in it as of this point -- a heater (yeah!) and my comfy chair. Said comfy chair is a takeoff on a papasan chair. Not actually particularly good to nap in but I'll take what I can get. Esp after being late on Wed night.

Sash was pretty tired so I figured she could come have a nap too. I took two of my puffiest saddle pads and her stocking and brought them to the office for her. Knowing that I prefer the temp to be significantly warmer than she does I put her "bed" next to the window, figuring it'd be a little cooler there. I left her with her toys and curled myself into a ball in my chair.

Those of you who are familiar with this type of chair will realize that means I could not see anything Sasha was doing -- but literally the only non-puppy friendly thing in the room was the heater so I wasn't too concerned. And I could hear her moving around and fussing a bit, but she seemed ok and eventually I snoozed.

Sort of like this, only to sleep I tipped it down so it looked like a bowl with all the sides equal height...

Woke up about 20 mins later to silence. Get up carefully in case Sasha was actually under the chair or something like that and look around. Sasha has taken both saddle pads and brought them over directly next to my chair, and was sleeping on them using the stocking as a pillow. Really wish I'd had my camera. I guess company is better than comfort :)

Needless to say none of the ambitious projects got accomplished, but it was too cute -- kinda made my day. No napping available today -- just as well since Sasha was *spun* all day. She's pretty entertaining when she's like that though, so kept me amused.

Desperately needing more hours in a day!

2012-01-09T23:53:00.002-05:00

Really felt like riding when I was done teaching tonight. I've always been a night person, and teaching energizes me, so this is not a surprise. But what really sucks is the basic reality of being an adult :( I did the basic time arithmetic and decided that if I chose to ride tonight, it'll make tomorrow absolutely brutal. Finish teaching at 9. Ride till 10 (yeah for being able to tack up in almost no time at all). By the time I finish cooling out unclipped horse (who lives outside so must be dry) and do evening chores it'll be at least 11. 12 when I get home. 1 by the time I go to bed. Which is perfect except for the 6 am alarm. Boooo. Can't wait till the business gets to the point that I can hire am staff! hahaha Then if I want to work noon to midnight I can :)

So I didn't ride and I'm already regretting it. Some days you just have to forget about being an adult! Sheesh. Esp as now I've come home, on time, and promptly spent an hour on FB. Really - that could've been 5 minutes to answer messages and the rest gone towards riding time. Sheesh. Next time, sleep gets put off in favour of riding :) After all, nobody looks back on their life and fondly remembers the nights they got plenty of sleep!

Ah well - tomorrow, in the midst of the insanity that is Tuesdays, I'm sure I can find some time to ride. Right ;-P

Did at least have fun teaching tonight. One of my fav exercises and the girls pulled it off really well :)

And on a completely random note: "If you never chase your dreams, you'll never catch them" -- has nothing to do with anything, but just came across it and liked it so thought I'd share. Know a thing or two about chasing dreams. Highly recommend it.

Off to dream some new dreams to chase...

Entertaining start to the year's lessons...

2012-01-06T23:36:00.002-05:00

Fun lesson this am :)

So let's preface by saying Athena and I have not been getting along entirely well since the move. With both of us highly stressed by it all, it's been a not-so-good combination. To put in perspective - last week we never made it out of the trot. And even then it was never particularly brilliant.

And we've been at the new place for a month now. So I was starting to say goodbye to my show plans and trying to accept *another* sideline season.

But this week all the rides have gone well; still a disturbingly long way from show quality, but significantly better than they have been. She's almost seeming rideable. Sweet.

But then I was too busy to ride yesterday, so began to have doubts as to the likely success of this week's lesson. Nonetheless, I gamely texted my coach for instructions as to what to build (thereby suggesting that I thought not ONLY would we get past the trot, but far enough past to actually *jump* AND jump something worth building). *Might* be pushing it a little, but hey - you're not new here. Type A, remember?

Alright so 8am lesson. Intend to be on by 7:30 and have a nice long warm-up/tire-out period before the lesson starts. Good plan right? Did we miss the part about me not being a morning person? And living an hour from the barn? And having 16 horses to feed before I can even consider riding? Suffice to say 7:30 was not entirely realistic. 7:30 is *never* entirely realistic. Usually it's about 7:59:55 that I get on. Today I *was* better than that though and got in about 20 mins before my coach arrived. Sweet.

Did not venture into the canter in those 20 mins though. Hahaha baby steps.

Coach shows up and drills us a little on last week's lesson. "You've been practicing" Ummmm you think? hahaha since we weren't even CLOSE to being successful the week before and now it's reasonably consistent... Generally pretty good about doing my homework -- especially when things aren't working AND there's no good galloping options available *g*

But since we now have something that vaguely resembles a balanced trot it was time to move into the canter... Drum roll please...

And all that drama for nothing. She was awesome. No kicking, bolting, motorcycling, nothing... And I'll tell ya - she's capable of all three at the same time. Tons o fun there. But no, this was a totally sane, normal canter. At times it was even balanced. Who knew?

Alright then -- time to jump. Can count on one hand the number of times I've jumped since we moved in. So starting to feel rather deprived. So instructions said oxer at B or E with verticals two strides on either side and a variety of ground/placing poles. All good except I ran out of poles, so some of the ground poles got left out. We start with the oxer as a tiny vert with placing poles on either side. This is a pretty standard exercise for us -- as in *almost* every time we jump we start with that. Tends to chill us both out. And each time we jump back and forth it gets bigger - ending around 3'6 or so. She was noticeably stronger off the left rein than the right, but other than that pretty good and listening reasonably well. Sweet.

So jump gets shrunk back down to a baby square oxer. Except I'm not new here - as soon as he started building it I was thinking hmmmm if that gets as high as the vert did it's going to be a very big fence for Athena on a tight distance. But we shall see... At least it was starting out baby sized. So trotted back and forth over the oxer a couple times. First time she misjudged entirely -- started to jump it like a vert and realized about the second rail in the air. Defied some laws of physics there to stretch out and clear it. Second time she knew what it was all about :)

Then it came time to add in the verticals on either side. An easy 2 strides -- meant for a trot approach from either side, so the landing one after the oxer rides tight both directions. So first attempt... Trot in, register extra fences, panic, nose dive, throw self over fence, squish in two strides, leap oxer like a deer, halt, trot, stumble over vertical. hmmmm ok less than brilliant. Halt at the end of the line, turn around to try again.

Well we're not making *that* mistake again. On the return trip, one stride out of the vert, grab bit in teeth, bolt, stride and a half, stumble over oxer, ONE stride, vertical.

Well, *slightly* better. *sigh* Turn around and try again. Oh, and while we're turning around, the oxer grows. "She needs to respect it." Since I actually agree with that, was all good - but just sort of amused me that when things were going horribly wrong we fix it with making things harder. Sheesh.

So on this trip she sees the slightly bigger oxer and completely demolishes the vert. Like doesn't even attempt to pick up her feet. Grrrr. Less than acceptable. Coach resets fence and we try the same direction again.

Well she rarely makes the same mistake twice. Flying LEAP over the vert, one stride, handstand, mini conversation: horse - "we can't possibly jump from here" rider - "don't care, do it anyways" horse - "if you're sure...", cat-leap over the oxer. Land with zero impulsion. horse - "and I'm done." Rider - "no you're not." Trot out over the vert. That one was a ride and a half. I got bonus points for determination there *g* Prob not so much for eq >;-P

Oh boy. Ok turn around and try again. Trot approach with impulsion but control. Sweet. Vertical perfect. Sweet. Even two strides to the oxer. Still sweet. Then, somehow, for some reason, in Athena's world, the oxer suddenly doubled in width. Hmmmm tricky. Esp on a tight distance. Yup. Did it in one. Cleared the vert and cantered away - a little on the forehand but not out of control. Actually would've looked beautiful if you didn't know enough to realize what we were *supposed* to be doing >;-P

Turn around -- and get the two to the two. Finally. Turn back. Two to one. *sigh* Try that one a few more times till we get a messy two to two (not sure why we need to way over jump the oxer only in one direction, but sobeit). Then a slightly less messy two to a two. I think by this point my coach had given up hope of anything resembling "good" happening this direction so when we got to "passable" we left it.

Then went back to the slightly easier direction and bigger fences. And the pieces all came together. We finally had a good approach, in balance, with impulsion but not speed. A lovely two to the oxer, which we jump with the bascule in just the right place, and easy two out and a balanced, no-fight halt within about 3 strides. Ok. Much better.

"I'm sorry what? Again?" Apparently there was some thought this might have been a fluke. hahaha although I suspect not too much because if he *really* thought it was a fluke, we would've ended on it. I've taught enough of those lessons to know all about the quit while you're ahead theory.

Yes we were able to repeat it. And land balanced. And pick any gait I wanted for departure.

And THAT is when you know you've finally accomplished something.

So yeah, it might've been one of those "break a few eggs to make a cake" type rides, but I was quite happy that A - we made it past the trot! and B - things eventually got good :)

And we had the *best* cool-out trot ever. Round. Through. Floaty. No need to call out chiro - apparently all you have to do is bury your horse in a 3' square oxer so they crack their back jumping out of it and you're good to go. Sweet. ummmm that advice is worth exactly the amount as the paper it's written on. Keep that in mind :)

Woohoo - finally.

2012-01-02T23:06:00.001-05:00

Best ride I've had in a very long time today -- actually first good ride I've had since the move. Maybe that means I'm finally getting settled?

And this I found really kewl:

Guy travels the world and shoots one second of footage in each location:

Bring on 2012!

2012-01-01T20:17:00.001-05:00

So my mum has suggested my new year's resolution should be "no major life changes" this year. hahaha Sounds like a reasonable plan to me. Of course we all know how well new year's resolutions stick. Yikes! Maybe we'll make that one a Jan 2 resolution.

Last year... ummmm wow. Today is the official one-year anniversary of GRS. Woohoo. Yeah us - and thanks TONS to all the people who've been involved since day 1. It's been amazing. And then just as things were getting settled and organized we relocated to the new place. So now starting all over again. Insanity. But tons o fun. And of course adding Sasha to the mix just made things that much more interesting :)

Trying to clean Sasha up after her barn adventures

Started out this year learning a few things about loyalty and friendship. On both extremes - the wonderful and the highly disappointing. Was an interesting contrast to see both at the same time though.

Feeling quite sick (stupid cold) but still had fun teaching today. That's got to be a sign I'm in the right career :) And as stressful and insanely crazy as the year has been - it's also been absolutely amazing. And the worst day at the farm is still better than the best day at the office. Especially at the new place :) LOVE our current farm.

The last two years have been almost surreal -- I can't wait to see what 2012 will bring!

Puppy agility

2011-12-30T23:34:00.000-05:00

Had so much fun with Sasha today. Getting ready to leave the house and she's sitting looking at the door ready to go out. Looks at the door, looks at me. Can just see the thought bubble "stupid human". Clearly I wasn't getting the hint fast enough so she went and got a shoe and put it by the door too. "Come on, what more do I need to do for you?" hahahah too funny.

Then later I had a break between lessons so figured we'd try the agility tunnel. All sorts of notes about "introduce slowly" etc. Yeah or not - I pointed her at it and took a treat to the other end. Done and done. Quite happy to run back and forth through the tunnel for treats... I have the kewlest puppy ever.

Of course the same notes suggested the "pause box" would be the easiest one for them to learn. Methinks I need better notes >;-P Or perhaps to pass puppy kindergarten before attempting agility. Nah.

Kinda helps offshoot feeling so sick. Booo. HUGE thanks to Paula and my dad who saved the day and took on stalls for me. Would've been a very long and challenging day without them. I love my job, but there is absolutely no flexibility for having a rough day - when I only had 8 horses I could do it no matter what state I was in, but with 17 (and 6 lessons) it's a bit more of a challenge!

Tomorrow Paula and Steph are taking on the barn for me -- all I have to do is sleep and teach a few lessons. Hopefully resulting in one day recovery :) I have the most awesome students ever!

Puppies make everything more fun - even snow.

2011-12-27T23:24:00.002-05:00

As some of you are aware, I *really* don't care for winter. But I have to say, watching Sasha play in her first *real* snow was pretty entertaining. hahaha she was bouncing around alternating between digging head-first into it and trying to catch the flakes and/or the snow that she (or I >;-P) kicked up. A happy puppy is an entertaining puppy :)

She is however, starting to be a *big* puppy. Puppy school needs to start sooner rather than later :)

So HUGE thanks to Paula who's spending most of her vacation helping me at the barn. Starting to get to the point now where I can actually make some progress on the non-horse side of things :) Woohoo! Should have rider level stuff up this week, and March Break camp info is up. Slowly getting there. Lost some people in the move so now have a few spaces at most levels for new people -- if you know anybody interested, bring them in!

So tomorrow's list of things to do is about 8 day's worth, but hey - gotta start somewhere right? And Paula finds herself with her first full barn day *also* being the first snow day. Horrifically brutal. But luckily for me, she's awesome :)

Night!

Are you ready for Christmas yet?

2011-12-21T21:00:00.001-05:00

So got very frustrated with myself today as for the THIRD time, I went the wrong direction at a certain point on my drive to work. Then I clued in that since 2002, *every* barn I've worked or ridden at has required a right turn at that particular location whereas the new one requires a left. Clearly my car has been well trained to go right there -- esp when I'm not really thinking about it... Muscle memory? hahaha don't know but definitely ingrained habit.

Sasha is growing crazy quickly. On the plus side - she's now big enough to get in the car by herself! She went to the vet today and survived with very little drama.

Finished my Christmas shopping tonight. Woohoo! Was highly amused that when I pulled into the last shopping plaza the Mission Impossible theme started playing. It's the little things in life :) Now just need to find time to wrap!

Feeling a little overwhelmed by the "to-do" list *sigh* I have faith it'll be all good in the long run, but getting there... Some days, a little tricky. Will get caught up... Just not entirely sure when >;-P Maybe skipping Christmas would do it?

Any day that ends better than it starts is a good one...

2011-12-16T22:32:00.003-05:00

So I generally love my job, but even I have to admit that there are days when it's just plain hard. When you're stiff, sore, tired, cold, cranky, or the world just isn't right and the horses aren't co-operating, and things just don't go as planned... Well let's just say those are the only times I miss the office.

Today was the first of those days at the new place. By 10:30 I was only *just* finishing up turn-out (ummm that'd be about an hour later than normal). Super tired and slightly cold and all I wanted to do was go back to bed. But with 17 stalls to muck, that's not so much an option. Didn't even have a real reason for it - just super-tired and very much in slow motion.

So I'm debating about the wisdom of taking a mini-break to make some hot chocolate and recharge with some puppy time. Would that wake me up and put me in a better mood, or would it put me to sleep? Deciding the second, I reluctantly dragged out the wheelbarrow and convinced myself that if I ever wanted to be done, I'd better get started.

Well not 30 seconds after the mental "quit your whining and get to work" the door opens and in walks... my Dad :) Carrying hot chocolate and an offer to help with stalls. Can I just say I have the most amazing parents on the planet? Made such a completely huge difference to my day which was suddenly not so overwhelming. And with his help, even having a very slow day I was still done in a very reasonable amount of time which allowed me to get some other stuff done and even take a 20 min break (first one!).

And I'll tell ya - it made all the difference in the world. By the time it was time to teach I was awake and happy again :) And lessons were a blast. Louis set a new personal best height record jumping (given that he only knew about cross rails when he came, there are a lot of these - but he was jumping *really* well tonight with his part-boarder Margaret). And a dressage lesson with everybody getting really good work from their horses.

So yesterday I drove the tractor for the first time. Yeah, def prefer sports cars *g* But it did get the job done. Having a hard time adjusting to the fact that it runs without touching the gas, and the break doesn't stop it unless you're in neutral. An odd mix of automatic and standard -- shifting the way I do for the car is not necessary, but you do use the clutch for some things (but not all - that'd make too much sense). The bucket takes more control to move around than I'd expected, but I'll get the hang of that. Was a horrible fail at parking on a hill. hahaha gave up and let it roll backwards to flat ground. Suspect that'll get better. Did manage to deliver all the hay to the paddocks I wanted it to go to, but I suspect I'm not really ready to try harrowing the ring yet!

And have I mentioned lately how ridiculously smart my superstar puppy is? We really need puppy classes to start sooner rather than later cause right now she's learning all sorts of things she can get away with >;-P But really, she's awesome. Travels like an old pro (good thing seeing how much time we spend in the car) and last night put herself to bed in her crate without so much as a minor wimper. Yeah puppy!

Sherlock is really bitter about her presence though. I've never seen him growl, hiss or spit before, but she brings out all the ugly in him. On the plus side - he's way more affectionate with me than ever before now. As long as Sasha isn't around that is!

Hopefully actually get to ride tomorrow! Def time to work that back into the schedule...

Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot little puppies.

2011-12-07T20:04:00.001-05:00

So... Have I mentioned that my superstar puppy is... well... a superstar :) I'm a little concerned actually - I know what happens when horses are smarter than their owners and it's never good. What about when puppies are?

So once-upon-a-time somebody threw some crunch out in front of the barn. I have no idea how long it's been there as it's protected from the weather, but probably a while at least. Sasha thinks this is the best treat ever! And it's reasonably harmless, so I let her have some once in a while; usually as part of house/barn training. But, now she knows that when she comes outside there's a marvelous buffet! No worries, the barn has big solid doors that adult people sometimes have trouble opening - little puppy should be safe inside. The only door that has a puppy-sized gap is to the shavings area which is quite a ways away from the main barn and through another door.

Yeah, but the door between the two barns has a cat passage way. Covered with a flap, but still there.

Uh huh, she definitely figured out how to move the flap, fit through the cat-door, follow the path to the shavings, slide *under* the door and get to the treats -- in about 45 seconds. The dogs that have lived there for years who are small enough to fit through there still haven't figured out that trick. And maybe the first time *was* a fluke (we know all about taking credit for flukes at GRS :) -- but the second time she knew *exactly* what she was doing. "Never teach your horse something you don't want them to know" -- I'm thinking the same applies to the dog; the difference is, the dog is teaching herself!

She also has no problem finding me if I call her while hiding in a stall or another area of the barn. Knows enough to go around whatever wall to where there's a door. Crazy smart pup.

On the plus side - "come" and "sit" and "with me" (of course I make up random commands to teach my dog) are about 70% installed. Still not there if she's distracted, but I've only had her for two days *g* And she's very housebroke (thank God!) And she now travels well in the car, sleeping in the back seat. Sweet.

I'm a little concerned that puppy class doesn't start till Jan. hahaha I know how much trouble a novice horse owner can do in a month with a greenbean -- can only imagine what I could be doing wrong with poor Sasha now. Yikes!

But she's soooo much fun. And I was highly amused that people came to visit her at the barn today :) Not me, or the horses, nope - just Sasha.

And my poor cat is very unhappy with this situation. The other cats don't mind but Sherlock is definitely suffering from eldest child syndrome. Right now he's sitting between me and the keyboard looking for attention -- not that he didn't always do that, but these days it's with a whole new level of determination. And every time I pet the puppy he appears -- and then promptly hisses at Sasha and backs away. I try to play with him all the time I'm home, but of course Sasha gets to come with me and that's just Not Fair. Ah well - it'll work out in the end.

And it works the other way too - Sasha was NOT amused when I was riding Athena today. I don't know what she thought I was doing up there, but she was very unhappy at not being allowed to participate.

For all the extra time and lack of sleep Sasha causes that mostly makes people think I'm even more insane than they thought, I have to say every time I see her, she makes me smile. N that counts for an awful lot.

As for the barn itself... Starting to get the hang of the routine. Spending so much time getting organized (well and playing with/taking care of Sasha) that unpacking still hasn't really happened -- hoping I can get the vast majority of that done on the weekend when I have wonderful working students doing the barn :) I tell ya, taking care of Sash nearly doubles the amount of time it takes me to do stalls. I'm sooooo productive when she's asleep *g* But when she's awake - omg. hahaha Lessons have been going well and the horses are soooooo much happier. Going to start getting Apollo and Lissy fit again and it looks like potentially even Dixie! Not holding my breath on that one, but will be amazing if it happens.

We made it!

2011-12-01T23:22:00.001-05:00

The worst is over! Woohoo!

Still some odds and ends to move of course, but horses are in and settled and the vast majority of the stuff is moved.

Horses were soooooo happy. Turning them out in those big green paddocks and watching them run around kinda made the whole thing worthwhile all in itself. When we came back hours later to bring them in for dinner, they weren't having anything to do with it. Too funny.

Barn is, of course, still in a state of barely-controlled chaos. But horses are rehomed and happy. And now at least I know who all the new horses are (yeah for the cheat-sheet landlord's daughter wrote me! :) and most of the stuff is at the new barn. Somewhere. hahaha

HUGE THANKS to Steph and Hailey for all your help today. (hmmmm I wanted to make that significantly bigger but that seems to be the biggest it goes... :) They stuck it out for 13 HOURS of moving, packing and unpacking. We got nine horses relocated, mucked the barn (Hailey gets exclusive credit for that one), turned my guys out, got water troughs set up for them, brought in and fed the new guys, carted multiple bags of shavings and bales of hay, hauled truckload after truckload of stuff into the "dumping" area (to be unpacked over the next few days), and even managed to get the trailer parked and unhitched and the barn swept before we left. Without them, this would've taken me a week. I have the best students in the world :)

And now I have to go to sleep so I can start unpacking AND managing the new barn first thing tomorrow. Wish me luck :)

1/2 way to a new beginning

2011-11-30T21:31:00.001-05:00

So I got my OCD side under control and left before 9 this evening. That's only 12h at the barn today. We got a LOT moved -- HUGE thanks to Paula (who looked after my horses AND helped move), Linda (spent all day helping move, clean, drill, hammer, etc...) and my incredibly wonderful parents who for some strange reason are STILL sticking with me :) Wow.

I am so excited to be at the new place. Everybody there has been so incredible. What a great environment to be coming in to.

And I fear I am past the point of no return with sleeplessness. I can feel my IQ dropping by the second. My body mostly still does what it's told, but not nearly as quickly as it's supposed to. And my vocabulary seems to be disintegrating by the second - making both writing and speaking a bit of a challenge (at least writing has a delete key!). But we're getting there.

And it'll be soooo worth it in the end!

Countdown is on

2011-11-27T21:24:00.001-05:00

Well... After yesterday, today was positively easy :) hahaha

Taught for a few hours before going over to the new barn to discuss some changes with the landlords (all good!) then returned to do afternoon feed. Evening was mostly paper/web work... Somehow that never seems to end??? Ah well.

My mind just seems to be spinning constantly with all the things I should be doing and that I *want* to be doing. Getting packed, moving, figuring out what should be done when, setting up the new farm, planning for the puppy, planning theory lessons and march break camp (that's going to be so much fun :), trying to sort out scheduling changes for after the move, figuring out where to get new clients and business to replace those who can't drive quite that far, sending a dozen emails to a dozen different people about a dozen different topics, and on and on and on... All while working the usual 70-hour work week. No problem :)

3 days :)

Today definitely used more than 24 hours.

2011-11-26T23:55:00.001-05:00

1000 bales of hay stacked. Need I say more? Of course: Huge THANKS to everybody who came to help out!!!

This evening my coach hosted a mastermind group (not that he actually called it that, but it's exactly that) and an absolutely amazing supper for a variety of horse pros in his circle to meet with each other. A live social network - imagine that *g* As he pointed out, the online version doesn't include wine. hahaha

Admittedly little awkward and very quiet at first as everybody met each other informally and attempted the obligatory new-person small talk over very yummy appetizers while we waited for everybody to arrive. When all were present (including the next generation -- possibly the most social baby I've ever met) we gathered around the table and did more formal intros. In the group we had a few eventers (focus mostly on training and competition), one jumper (focusing on bringing up babies), one dressage rider, a couple freelance coaches, one schooling barn, one who offers lessons for those with challenges (everything from non-verbal autism through to abusive home situations - she did *not* pick an easy route, but one that I imagine must be very rewarding in the end), and of course my coach and me.

After everybody had some idea who they were sitting with we started in on the amazing food *g* Things got quiet for a while then cause all were busy eating. hahaha but at least the awkwardness was gone. After that things ranged everywhere -- it's amazing how long horse people can talk horse-stuff. Topics included a wide range of things. Consider everything from:
- how to have a life while living this career (apparently I'm not the only one who finds that a challenge),
- uses of social media (apparently I am the only one who does that),
- the pluses and minuses of breeding programs (I paid close attention to that conversation!),
- prevalent attitudes at horse shows and within the industry and how they vary by discipline
- the general evilness of ponies
- buying/building a farm vs leasing
- transporting horses across the boarder and/or flying them in from Europe,
- to coaching at home vs coaching at shows.

And a whole bunch more that aren't at my fingertips right this second (remember - 1000 bales of hay this am >;-P)

Anyways - was a really interesting conversation and great for an industry where people are notoriously guarded about their business. And the food. Omg. The yummy yummy food :)

Does this count as a nanoblomo post?

2011-11-25T00:20:00.001-05:00

So I actually managed a Friday Flash. Might regret that when the alarm goes off in 5h, but it was kinda fun. Weird. Very weird. I freely admit. Kinda curious to see what, if any, comments it gets *g* But we'll put that down to exhaustion. I always used to write my most interesting papers when I was beyond exhausted - maybe the same applies to fiction? ummm somehow doubt it, but we shall see.

A week today and my horses will be waking up in the new place! Woohoo! (yes waking up - it's after 12, therefore technically Friday *g*)

Not that I'm counting or anything :)

#FridayFlash 57: When a warm wind blows

2011-11-24T22:55:00.001-05:00

A warm wind blew on a cold night right before I died.

It was time. I'd lived long enough to see the rise and fall of an empire. Or four. I'd learned a dozen languages, traveled around the world and through time. I'd even managed to fulfill my childhood fantasy of being a princess. Ugh, what a mistake that was - let me tell you girls, there are much better fantasies out there! Tiaras are just not worth the publicity.

My life was, and I say this in all humility, the thing of stories. I kind of wish somebody cared enough to write it down; it would make the kind of epic tale that would gain a cult following from the fantasy types and puzzled disdain from all the normal people - but it would definitely stir up talk.

The problem, as I see it, is that I've always been a secondary character. And nobody writes about secondary characters - not even me.

I was born to the Aldmere family; ever heard of us? Yeah, I thought not. Like I said, secondary characters. And I was the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter -- I know, cliche right? But it's a cliche for a reason. The whys and the hows were lost before they were ever known, but the end result is the Aldmere family are chroniclers. We provide an unbiased report of all items of importance throughout time -- albeit the definitions of both unbiased and importance are ummm sometimes open to interpretation. And in return, we live long enough to experience things worth recording. Some, like my cousin Agyfen, follow the rise and fall of an entire culture. He did his job exceptionally well! Academics still discuss his work. But sadly the anglo-saxons cared little for the names of their scribes, and so he remains anonymous. Then there are others, especially more recently, who live only long enough for a specific event. And then there are the sevens - of which I'm one. We are to oversee the greater picture - or so I was raised to believe. For me though, the picture's always been rather fuzzy - like those first black and white tvs. So I've always felt I had no real job to do. All the important details had their own chroniclers - cousins of mine mostly. Every time I found something exciting to chronicle it'd already been claimed. And while sevens are overseers, we also only get to write that which goes unclaimed.

To be honest, the only thing I've done that I felt worth recording, was dying. Now *that* was interesting. And I still don't entirely understand how it happened. It was night - the kind of night that's so dark you cannot see your hand in front of your face. No matter how wildly you wave it around in front of you! Not that I did that of course. And it was cold - appropriate for winter. But what was disconcerting was the wind. It had a Caribbean warmth to it - and I was far too far away for that to make any sense at all. I remember wondering if maybe it was a time storm; I'd experienced one of those as a teenager (volatile emotions and all that) - was how I came to know Agyfen. But my brother was three years ahead of me and he claimed story rights to time storms so I couldn't even chronicle that. Not that I'm bitter or anything - just letting you know how it came to be that in an entire life dedicated to telling stories, I have yet to write a word.

Anyways - it wasn't a time storm. I was way too old, and I didn't end up somewhere else in time, so clearly that was not the issue. Wasn't even a storm - no rain, sleet, snow, hail, or anything else. Just the eerily warm wind.

I was there - muttering about the folly of being out without a light - and then... I wasn't. The simplicity of it astounded me. Other chroniclers have covered death before; they come out with stories of bright lights and feelings of love. People love those stories. Some of their names even get remembered! Have to admit, I've always been slightly jealous of those who star in their own stories. I think I'd hoped to do that with the princess stint, but I got covered by a pop-fiction chronicler. It was a sadly embarrassing moment.

But right - exciting death's been done, so a seven cannot repeat it. But I really don't think my death, or any like it, has ever been properly recorded. Just going about the minutia of my boring day-to-day life and then suddenly I wasn't. And there was something reasonably exciting about that. I certainly wasn't bored anymore. And I no longer had to stress about what I was supposed to do with my life. But now, through my death, I know exactly what purpose my life has served. I was supposed to be a below-average quasi-failure... The running joke of the family really. Because, let's be honest here, fifty percent of us ARE below average and usually their stories do not get chronicled.

I, the ultimate secondary character, was supposed to chronicle the lives of secondary characters. A perfect fit really. Obviously I didn't figure it out in time to do anything about it, because as soon as a secondary character gets written about, well then they're no longer secondary and thus somebody else's job. A vicious cycle that. And death's already been done.

But there's one part of my story that to the best of my knowledge has never been chronicled. And from that I leave you with one simple warning:

Beware the warm wind.

You're welcome.

I'll just sit down till the insanity passes...

2011-11-24T17:30:00.001-05:00

For the adult ams out there (and the pros training said adult ams :) - I stumbled upon a new blog you may enjoy: http://dressagecurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2011/10/well.html Have fun!

Today's challenge was to get the hayloft at the new barn into a state ready to receive the mountain of hay we're transporting there on Saturday (to those helpful souls among you, please note the change of date. If you wish to be loved forever, consider showing up Saturday am - 10:30 at the new place.) The landlords had done a reasonable job of organizing so it wasn't nearly as nightmareish as I'd feared, but still... There's only one not-so-huge me and a rather large mountain of hay to be dealt with. I'd say I made it about 3/4 of the way through before I crashed *g* No problem - except that in about 5 minutes I have to go out and teach for the evening. Let's just hope there are no "can you show me" requests tonight. Thurs night is mostly teens - very rare to hear that from them :)

As I sit here in my nice warm office, too physically tired to do anything productive but mentally still awake, I'm actually inclined to attempt a Flash Fiction Friday for the first time in entirely too many months... However, we'll see how I feel when I get home after teaching and night chores -- I have a suspicion that feeling may have passed by then!

PUPPY!!!!!

2011-11-23T19:57:00.001-05:00

I got to meet my puppy!!!! She is sooooooo cute :) And I'm *very* excited! hahahaha can you tell from the excessive exclamation points???

Puppy, whose name is tentatively Zoe, is absolutely adorable. Climbed up into my lap and made herself comfortable :) Sooooo cute :)

Of course when I got home Sherlock (the cat I've had since uni) was *very* suspicious about the new scents *g* It's not as though I don't come home smelling like other animals all the time, but this one definitely had him concerned. Might be an interesting few days when Puppy comes home...

As far as the barn goes - starting to get very stressed about the hay :( Getting it all there and stacked - every time something gets organized something changes. Booo. On the plus side though, most of the other stuff is slowly getting there :)

Name that puppy!

2011-11-22T23:00:00.001-05:00

So *finally* got some actual packing done today! hahaha mostly because Emily came out to help :) But whatever the impetus at least it got done :) Or started anyway.

Charlie was a superstar yet again -- now both his potential part boarders are looking forward to summer and cross country! hahaha can't get here soon enough!

And tomorrow I get to go meet my NEW PUPPY!!!! hahaha yup you read that right :) I'm not bringing her home from the breeders till after the move (I'm only *mostly* insane :) but I'm still super-excited. Name suggestions???

She's an Aussi Shepard -- currently 8 weeks old. Have two names I'm currently debating between, but open to other suggestions :)

Bits and pieces slowly coming together...

2011-11-21T22:50:00.001-05:00

(from GRS blog)

Got a fair amount done today. All the boring behind-the-scenes type stuff, but it's a start. Trying to find a decent snow-removal place for the new farm. Talking to a couple companies, but so far nothing seems terribly likely (too random a location evidently). Argh. But I'm sure we'll find somebody :) The trick is to find them BEFORE it snows! hahaha

Hay is arranged for Sunday - anybody who feels like a workout, we'd love your help! Have to relocate the 450ish bales in the current hayloft to the new hayloft as well as getting 600 new ones (hopefully those can be stacked with the tractor though! Fingers crossed.)

Absolutely cannot WAIT to move. hahaha soooo excited for the new place!

Charlie's first ride at his new home :)

2011-11-20T17:35:00.001-05:00

So when I got to the barn this am Charlie was alert and happy and clearly wondering why he was inside and not outside playing. All good signs, but I didn't want him going out till I was prepared to stay and supervise...

Taught a couple lessons and then decided to ride. Decent weather for November, so figured I'd ride outside. Despite the crazy wind. hahaha well Charlie came out very high - gigging beside my walk and looking at everything. Fair enough - no turnout, new place, horses running around in adjoining paddocks. Not exactly a calming scenario. But I promised Hailey she could ride him tomorrow so I wanted to make sure he was ok first!

So I walked him around a bit and while high, he wasn't actually doing anything wrong. And not in the least bit spooky. So while I was contemplating lunging him, I just got on. Now some of you will be familiar with the feeling... The feeling that you're sitting on a coiled spring waiting to explode - in any potential number of directions. Anybody who rides babies, esp tb babies, will have felt that at some point :) And having ridden a few who could seem calm on the outside and explode with the best of them (ahhhh memories of clearing the w/u ring at Glen Oro with an overly dramatic green-bean *g*) I'm well attuned to that power.

And yes, that's exactly what I felt when I got on. hmmmm So thinking 'must go forward - horse going forward doesn't go up' and ride on fully prepared to be going any number of directions at any speed. Well we didn't really get a good forward, but impressively we didn't get anything that even remotely resembled threatening to go up. He is SUCH a sweetheart. He was full of power and nervous energy and yet he tried soooo hard to do what I was asking and didn't even attempt to expend any of said excess in any of the multiple options available.

I was pretty excited about that. And while I won't say we ever actually got to relaxed, he def chilled out fairly quickly. And just kept trying. The kind of heart you just can't train.

I think Hailey and Paula are going to have a lot of fun this summer :)

Horse shopping adventures are over! For a long while at least :)

2011-11-20T00:24:00.001-05:00

So lessons today went well and were followed by a horse shopping expedition. Hailey and Emily and I traveled out to Mount Albert to look at a potential int/adv schoolie. And we found one :)

Charlie's a little superstar. Slightly unfit but well fed (YEAH!) and healthy. His dressage is properly installed and he's very eager to jump. A little *too* eager at times which is why he won't be in novice lessons unless or until he chills :) Kind though, with an excellent attitude. He's got training level eventing experience, so knows his job very well and will be a good teacher for those wanting to move up through the eventing levels.

He settled really quickly when we brought him home - an excellent sign :) And tomorrow he'll get to go out and make new friends.

Nice evening out rounded out the day beautifully. Especially fun that I don't teach till noon tomorrow so might even get to sleep in. Woohoo! hahaha the little things in life right?

Climbing on soap box

2011-11-17T22:25:00.001-05:00

ok so mini-rant today. Why is it that parents feel the need to DRIVE their children to the bus stop??? Seriously people, it's suburbia and primary school -- meaning it's not more than about a 5 min walk at the extreme. I understand given the dangers of modern society wanting to go with them, but do you really need to drive?

Several times I've been stuck in a mass of cars all parked along the street waiting for the school bus -- even in summer with perfect weather! Unbelievable. One lady I got stuck behind drove home afterwards -- an entire SIX houses away. O.M.G.

Argh. Ok end of rant.

oh - and another rant, while I'm all the way up here on my box. One of my (previously) favourite radio stations is ALREADY playing 24/7 Christmas music. I've banned them till Dec 26. *sigh* Really people? Can we not wait till at least December?

Ok end of rant two. Aren't you glad you signed in?

On the plus side - I'm getting along much better with my new phone now :) Still not super-proficient with it, but at least not the huge frustration of the first few days. Texting is TONS better than on my own phone, but using it as an actual *phone* is a rather huge pita *sigh*. Fortunately I text way more than I phone so suppose that's how it should balance out.

It's official!!!

2011-11-16T19:27:00.001-05:00

The lease is signed! Woohoo! Which makes me soooo excited and entirely terrified :) hahaha but really - that's a good place to be. Life's never boring that way *g*

Now two weeks to do two months worth of stuff. No problem! Things are starting to come together though. Really can't wait till the move. 15 days :) Not that I'm counting or anything *g*

Entertaining lessons

2011-11-15T22:30:00.001-05:00

Stolen from GRS blog just cause I don't really have anything *else* to post here for today...

Crazy lessons this evening but everything went really well. Super high from teaching though which might put a dent in my goal of eight WHOLE hours of sleep in one night *g*

The beginner girls navigated 3-loop serpentines without anybody crashing into anybody else :)

The middle group, usually advanced but today three different levels in one with makeups. A bit of a challenge to teach but highly entertaining. The novice rider survived going faster than her comfort zone AND jumping two fences in a row; the intermediate rider successfully got the very lazy and short-strided horse jumping well on a normal 12' stride; the advanced rider jumped higher than usual in perfect rhythm :) Sweet.

Then the later group was working on feeling which leg is moving when (without looking! No cheating allowed!) And every one of them was getting it consistently by the end. Woohoo.

So on a different note - I'm seriously contemplating breeding Dixie... hmmmmm of course I know nothing about breeding - but that's only a minor technical detail right? Fortunately I have lots of friends who know more than enough for all of us AND they seem to be willing to put up with my million questions. As another friend put it when I mentioned that hesitation "You're a pretty type A person - if you want to breed you'll learn what you need to pretty quickly" - hahaha yeah she's probably right. Sometimes your friends know you better than you do.With the move, we'd have a safe location to raise a foal. And the main thing holding me back other than those *minor* details is that Dixie's old to have a first baby -- until I found out she's already had at least one already. Sweet.

So yeah, as though moving farms and running the business weren't enough to do - now I have a whole new realm of horsemanship to master. No problem.

At least life's never boring :)

New toy :)

2011-11-14T22:44:00.001-05:00

So having been "qualified" for a new free phone for a while now (Telus really wants me to renew my contract) - I finally got around to going in and getting one. hahaha alas my flip phone that I loved oh-so-much is gone. But instead I've got a slide phone which is equally kewl. Now I just have to spend the next week moving contacts over. You know - in all my spare time!

Have to admit, I'm already LOVING the keyboard. But the thing I find slightly disturbing is that I still double/triple key letters. hahaha So even though it's a normal qwerty layout, if I want an L, I'll push it three times -- it's *that* ingrained in me from too much texting on a numeric keypad. Now it's not as though I don't touch-type on a qwerty keyboard all the time. But I think it's cause I'm thumb typing (keyboard isn't big enough for 10 fingers!) - and in my little brain, thumb-typing requires multiple hits for certain letters.

What started out quietly turned into an insanely busy day today. Tomorrow is *supposed* to be insanely busy, so maybe it'll be quiet and relaxing? Hey, I can hope right! Turn about's fair play.

A day in the life...

2011-11-13T22:15:00.001-05:00

(stolen from GRS blog :)

So fun horse-related day today.

Started off with nice enough weather to teach outside - woohoo! And Hailey, my wonderful working student, riding particularly well for the second day in a row, so I let her play Really Big Jump day. She set a new personal height record of FOUR feet. Wooohoo! Go kid and pony >;-P hahaha always a fun start to the day. And Bella was her usual "ummm ok, I'll clear it by as little as I need to" self. Not the least bit concerned or stressed by the fact that the rail was well over her head. Somebody forgot to tell her she's little. Methinks we could all learn from that :)

Then a lunge lesson (she asked for it - literally. Some of my students are as psyc as I am :) I don't know if she'll be able to walk tomorrow, but she had fun. And an assessment with two girls I quite enjoyed, so I hope they'll join us.

Next we did chores on speed to make it out in time for the open house. I was thrilled at the turnout! Thanks tons to all who came to visit our new home!!! I can't wait to make the move. Better for us, WAY better for the horses, and everybody there has been so friendly and so welcoming. Just amazing. They even came out to join in as soon as they got home. Very kewl.

Then Aileen very kindly took care of night check for me so that Hailey and I could go look at a potential school horse. It turned out to be not suitable for what we need in the school, but always fun to go ride other people's horses occasionally :) If nothing else, it makes you appreciate yours.

After that home to do some paperwork *yawn* but once I got through that I started going through some of the videos Nicole sent me from the summer and that was fun. There were also clips of Athena from way back at the beginning which served to remind me how very far she's actually come in a short time. It's easy to get frustrated when things only improve in slow motion - esp if you happen to be fairly goal motivated. But looking at those clips reminded me of where exactly we started this game. It's like sitting watching the grass grow -- if you stare at it intensely all day, it never seems to do anything. But if you go away for two weeks and come back, you'll have to cut it again. Sometimes you have to have distance to appreciate growth.

So got a few things accomplished, but each one of them spawned several *other* projects -- and so the list continues to grow. Ah well - at least I'm never bored :)

Shakespeare invaded Poland...

2011-11-13T00:05:00.001-05:00

So went out with Jen tonight to watch the Complete Works of William Shakespeare - Abridged (yes I'm a geek). hahaha 37 plays and some sonnets covered in 97 minutes by 3 people. Not half bad :) Have to admit I've seen it a few times (for that matter J and I went together several years ago) but it's still funny every time. If you get the chance and you have even the slightest interest in the Bard, take it. See www.reducedshakespeare.com for more info :)

Or better yet...

Enjoy!

And yes, it's *slightly* possible that the last time J and I attended this performance I might've ended up on stage... Sheesh >;-P

Could I please have a 48h day? Thanks.

2011-11-11T22:48:00.001-05:00

Fun day today but super long. Got lots done though so that's always good. And was at the new place showing a friend around, so once again highly psyched about moving :)

Athena went really well this am. Pieces are slowly coming together. And she's really trying, which is super nice! Was *not* amused that we got SNOWED on during our cool-out hack. Sheesh.

Lessons fun this eve. Mostly dressage with the odd speedbump thrown in. All good.

Mostly though everything in my world these days is about the move. Slowly starting to get the details organized. Some of them anyways :) That and of course the changes and things I want to do differently at the new place. And the clothing orders. And, and, and... hahaha ah well - it keeps life interesting anyways :)

Skip this post

2011-11-10T23:27:00.001-05:00

Very long and not particularly productive day today. Boooo. How is it that you can be insanely busy all day and accomplish nothing? Sheesh.

Did some bareback lessons tonight so that's always entertaining. All the girls did really well though :)

Does that count as enough babbling for a Nov blog post? I never promised they'd be interesting!

You were warned...

Note - if you want to read a *good* albeit sad blog post, read Wrong Ending.

Royal

2011-11-10T00:08:00.000-05:00

Sooo much fun at the Royal today. Yeah.

Stephy and I went after morning chores were done -- got there around lunch time :) Wandered around, explored the shopping options (not nearly as much fun as some years), watched a friend ride, got a reasonable amount of junk food (mmmm apple blossom...) and settled in to watch the afternoon show.

First we had the jumpers, most with their greener horses. One was definitely schooling as he jumped around the jumper course like a hunter. Flawlessly done, but nearly double the winning time *g* One started out competing but after a bad jump switched his ride to schooling -- that was good to see. Fun class to watch, but very short.

Followed by dressage which was very LONG. hahaha One horse I absolutely loved, one I sort of wondered what they were doing there, and everyone else was somewhere in between. By the end of the class I have to admit I'd had enough of dressage and was ready to go back exploring...

Dressage was followed with SUPERDOGS! hahaha so very much fun :) And really quite impressive to see the very obvious bond between the dogs and their handlers.

Had just enough time after superdogs for a little more shopping/daydreaming and some dinner (and of course more junk food... mmmm cinnamon...)

Then back to the big ring for lit dressage -- could've been absolutely stunning, but I found myself distracted by the fact that the back pair just couldn't get their act together. Front pair was good, but the back pair was never in sync. Very pretty though. They turn out the arena lights and the horses are draped with little star-lights, so they appear to float around the ring.

After dressage was more jumpers -- the course seemed to be eating people, but in the end 7 made it to the jump off, so that was fun to see. Some *very* nice horses :)

But really most of the day was just about seeing horse people I don't get to see on a regular basis and having fun with those I do outside of the barn :) Drooling over phenomenal horses and tack and toys under the "lottery win" category. And lots of socializing :)

Ok now to answer the day's mountain of emails and try to get things a little back to normal tomorrow!

A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do. - Bob Dylan

2011-11-08T23:42:00.002-05:00

So that was definitely at least two days in one today. Fortunately two GOOD days, but man this morning seems an awfully long time ago!

Had an awesome ride this morn on Athena (and can I add, I LOVE that I'm riding outside in November :) I think maybe she heard a rumour about the clinic cause she was all sorts of amazing today. Things we've been working on and buttons that've been missing were suddenly all there, installed and fully functional today. Made for a pretty sweet ride. And then we went for a hack where she behaved like a grown-up :) Which she technically is -- just doesn't hasn't recently chosen to demonstrate it. hmmmm can't say I blame her come to think of it!

Teaching was a blast tonight. A few brilliance or disaster moments, but in the end everybody pulled off something successful :) We also let Bella jump a bit which is always fun to see *g* And Hailey stuck around afterwards which just always makes life more entertaining :)

Afterwards though I was so high I figured I'd do stalls tonight instead of tomorrow am (well other than the occupied ones of course). I am SO much faster at night than in the morning. I've known that for a while but I do it so rarely it really hits me when I do. Really kinda wish we could uninvent mornings *g* I think that'd be a good plan. Ah well, some day I'll be able to hire am staff. It's good to have dreams right?

Royal tomorrow! Woohoo!

Quick update

2011-11-07T23:21:00.000-05:00

Day 2 of the clinic was excellent. Particularly amazing to watch Mark get on and ride some of the horses. Wow. Will post clinic notes sometime this week -- foolishly left them at the barn tonight :)

Teaching was fun tonight -- did some course work and everybody was reasonably successful :) I *love* watching Jack figure it all out. hahaha smart babies are fun. Most days.

On a bit of a sugar high right now, so sitting and being focused enough to type... ummmm well less successful. Think I'll leave this till tomorrow.

Night!

Learning from the best!

2011-11-06T21:51:00.000-05:00

Mark Todd clinic today. As much fun socializing too :) Tons of people here I don't get to see regularly so break times were fun. Details on the GRS blog though - too tired to copy it all. Summary: look where you're going and every transition counts! hahaha amazing how I can condense 8 hours into 8 words. Go English degree go!

hmmmm think that'll do for tonight. Cause really, the long version's already typed. And my brain is rapidly turning off...

Cowboy Rules

2011-11-05T23:01:00.001-04:00

Very long but very productive day today.

Just got back from the new place and can I just say I can't wait to move! hahaha Next few weeks will be a *little* chaotic, but soooooo worth it in the end :)

Mark Todd clinic tomorrow! Woohoo :)

Cause it sort of amused me (particularly like #5) and my brain is spinning too fast to type anything coherent at the moment:

The Cowboy Rules:

1. Pull your pants up. You look like an idiot.
2. Turn your cap right, your head ain't crooked.
3. Let's get this straight: it's called a 'gravel road' I drive a pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive, you're gonna get dust on your Lexus Drive it or get out of the way.
4. They are cattle. That's why they smell like cattle. They smell like money to us. Get over it. Don't like it? I-10 & I-40 go east and west, I-17 & I-15 goes north and south. Pick one and go.
5. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed. We have $250,000 Combines that are driven only 3 weeks a year.
6. Every person in the Wild West waves. It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept.
7. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of geese/pheasants/ducks/doves are comin' in during a hunt, we WILL shoot it outta your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.
8. Yeah. We eat trout, salmon, deer and elk. You really want sushi and caviar? It's available at the corner bait shop.
9. The 'Opener' refers to the first day of deer season It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first of November.
10. We open doors for women. That's applied to all women, regardless of age.
11. No, there's no 'vegetarian special' on the menu. Order steak, or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham and turkey.
12. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables, and breads. We use three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup! Oh, yeah ... We don't care what you folks in Cincinnati call that stuff you eat... IT AIN'T REAL CHILI!!
13. You bring 'Coke' into my house, it better be brown, wet and served over ice. You bring 'Mary Jane' into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair.
14. College and High School Football is as important here as the Giants, the Yankees, the Mets, the Lakers and the Knicks, and a dang site more fun to watch.
15. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards - it spooks the fish.

Last Friday night we danced on tabletops, took too many shots, think we kissed but I forgot...

2011-11-04T23:24:00.001-04:00

ummmm yeah or maybe that was Friday night a decade ago. Someways it seems so recent and someways it seems a lifetime ago. But sadly *this* Friday night I'm essentially exhausted and really disinclined to write. So you get a few random disjointed thoughts and then I'm off to sleep.

Two new students today who I think will both fit in really well, so that's always exciting :)

Riding outside in November - also exciting :)

Seeing people posting on fb that they're done their xmas shopping? Well now really that's just a little excessive. When I think of all I have to do between now and xmas I can't even begin to contemplate shopping. Sheesh. If they could bottle that free time and sell it, they'd be rich!

Mark Todd clinic this weekend - super exciting.

Royal with friends on Wednesday - can't wait!

Out of town friend visiting on Friday - always fun :)

Finally managed to book a dinner date with a friend I haven't seen in ages -- about time!

Crossing off the first thing on my to do list: write to do list. Well that'll be a good thing when it happens. Wish me luck.

Hot bubble bath before bed... Well now that's a way better idea than writing a blog post just to write a blog post. And who am I to pass on a good idea?

Night!

It's still Thursday :)

2011-11-03T23:24:00.002-04:00

Right so it's 11:00 -- sure I can type something to still qualify as today's post before midnight. Well I can if I ignore Facebook and email for a while.

So the news of the move is official and public now! I am sooooooo excited. Esp when things I'm not happy with at the current place cause grief (ugh, teaching in the dust-bowl tonight. Counting down till we move :) Photos and a map on the GRS fb page if you're interested.

For those I don't see in every day life -- for a wide variety of reasons I'm relocating my school. The new place is a little west of the current place, close enough that almost all of my awesome students are coming with me. Woohoo - pretty stoked about that. hahaha and basically everything about it is an improvement. Grass turnout, big stalls with mats, little to no mud anywhere, gorgeous indoor ring with excellent essentially dust-free footing, nice heated viewing lounge for parents, 95 acres of land (xc course to come!), heated wash stall, professionally built dressage ring, grass jump ring, awesome landlords -- everybody I've met has been super nice. And it's private -- it'll be just us. About the only thing I expect to miss at the current place is some of the people. I've made a couple good friends there and that's always hard to leave. But this place comes with good people too :)

But yeah the to-do list is growing about as fast as I can think... Prob time to start writing some of that down. And then maybe actually doing something about it. Yikes.

And even with fb open I'm still going to post in time. >;-P (ummmm not sure who that's directed at; just seemed appropriate somehow)

Later!

Hey, that's a great idea! ummmm or maybe not...

2011-11-02T13:31:00.001-04:00

I wonder if "physician heal thyself" applies to other careers?

hahaha so when I bought Athena she was starving and unfit and unhealthy. Now she's a good weight, very fit, healthy and happy. Yet somehow in my mind, she's still starving and unfit... So when the weather was nice on Monday so I'd go for a hack, I didn't think anything of it.

Despite the fact that the weather's been crummy for weeks so she's been stuck in the arena. AND she hadn't been ridden for two days.

Now if any of my students had told me they were going to do that, I would've either stopped them, or told them to go ahead but be prepared (depending on which horse and rider combination it was :) -- but for me? oh no, out I go without a second's thought.

*Almost* worthy of a "stupid should hurt" moment, but fortunately I clued in fairly quickly and as a result did *not* have to make the walk of shame...

hahahah well it all worked out ok in the end, but let's just say I had to wake up fast >;-P Our nice walk hack very quickly changed into a jigging sideways trot, which morphed into a *very* up canter... Eventually I got her down to the plateau where there's at least some room to work; schooled till she was quasi-rideable and then jigged our way back to the sandring to burn off some steam on safer footing. hahaha never got anything *good* that ride, but had a lot of fun. And eventually did get to go on our lovely walk hack to cool out. But even that was on a mission.

It just amused me my brain arguing with itself as she first started jigging. The one side surprised and "hey, this isn't like you" and the other side "you idiot, what'd you expect? She's fit, healthy, and hasn't been out in ages..." Fortunately the third part -- the one that knows how to ride -- dealt with the situation while the other two argued it out. hahaha

So today we had equally good weather so we went out again. Still slightly out of control (next spring is going to be fun :) but at least this time I was prepared for it. Walk/trot hack only to w/u. Back to sandring (rather than plateau) for our actual work. And then another w/t hack to cool down. And you know what -- I *actually* followed it. hahaha didn't even pretend to let her gallop. Although I have to admit that's more because the footing wasn't safe and I have absolutely no intention of setting her up to fall then because I was being overly responsible *g*

And I would just like to announce that it's November and I got to give my horse a bath today. Best. Weather. Ever. Would really like this to stick around for the winter :

Nanowrimo?

2011-11-01T12:26:00.002-04:00

So it's November first, time for Nanowrimo!

Let's see - already on this month's agenda...

Normal 70-80 hour work week running the school and taking care of the horses
Back and forth to the new place showing people around, planning, organizing etc (I can't wait - every time I go there I get more excited!)
Mark Todd Clinic
Royal
Clothing orders
Plan and organize the move (this is proving to be more complex than I originally anticipated!)
Pack
Actually move

hmmmm so given that, I'm afrid I have to acknowledge that there is absolutely no way I can handle Nanowrimo this year. Booooo. Simply no space left for 50,000 words. So instead, I think I'll give the blog version a try. I can't guarantee interesting, or even coherent *g* but I'll attempt to post something daily this month.

And if you're a writer, a wannabe writer, or somebody who ever thought "maybe I'll write a book some day" -- now's your chance! Go to nanowrimo.org and have a blast :) I've done it a few times -- last year's story is even in the works of being published. And they provide plenty of procrastination options too. Enjoy!

Happy birthday to me :)

2011-10-31T22:06:00.000-04:00

Now those of you who know me irl or even who've been following the blog for a while (thanks for that btw!) might be questioning the subject line a bit because, well, traditionally my birthday falls in July.

And so it did this year too :) But Stephy and Paula decided that for my birthday they would take me wardrobe shopping.

Now this too might raise a few eyebrows since it's generally reasonably well known that I have less than no fashion sense (yes this is possible -- whatever I pick is *worse* than whatever I started with; it's a horrible downward spiral) and I also despise clothing shopping. So not something most friends would think of making a gift of.

But given how much I enjoy it (read avoid at all costs) an expedition was rather desperately needed, and at least with the two of them I was bound to spend most of the day laughing. And Steph has more than enough fashion sense for just about everybody I know put together, so there was actual hope of coming out looking somewhat put together.

So this seemed like a good idea. But in July, when my birthday actually occurred, Steph was busy dressing everybody in her extended family for her sister's wedding. And August was crazy busy with showing. And by September Paula was back at school. So between the three of us, this was the first day we could all arrange.

Somebody asked me once how I keep any of my friends living the crazy schedule I do -- I keep my friends because most of my friends are the type of people who are as busy as I am! hahaha so they get it. And we just schedule each other in weeks in advance if we have to :) It works. For the ones who matter, it works. And the ones who don't matter, well now they hardly qualify as friends do they?

Alright, so now we understand why I get a birthday in October. And how shopping came to be a "good" thing... hahaha

I taught in the morning so Stephy came and rode as well. Paula joined us at the barn and I took them and Hailey over to see the new place (ummmm more about that in its own post :) -- gorgeous day out, seemed a good time to show them around :)

So we dropped Hailey back at the current barn after our exploration and headed out shopping -- but like all dreaded things, shopping is to be avoided till the last possible second. So lunch came first :) mmmmmm yummy lunch. Of course after lunch I felt more like a nap then shopping, but Steph was energized enough for all of us so off we went.

And it was surprisingly painless. Paula and I mostly wandered and mocked the more horrendous fashions, while Steph bravely disappeared into the darkest depths of the store, every once in a while popping out to hand me something and let us know she was still alive, before disappearing again.

Every once in a while I'd get shoved into a box to try on a mountain of clothing -- and trust me -- this is a mountain I've no interest in photographing much less climbing! But being the good sport I am, I went along with this with only a modicum of whining >;-P Met one sales lady who was a bit of a nightmare, but other than her they basically all took one look at Steph on a mission and left us alone -- I'm sure they were looking at me and being eternally grateful I'd brought my own personal shopper and they wouldn't have to try to fix my lack of fashion.

Sadly, our shopping expedition was cut 3 or 4 stores short by them closing. awwwww. I was devastated, let me tell you. Or, you know, grateful. I always get those two words mixed up. English is a tricky language after all *g*

So in the end I had a reasonable collection of clothing that means I don't have to do this again soon AND it actually looks good :) So Stephy saved my first impressions *g* and I'm good to go. Sweet.

Now no birthday is complete without ice cream. This might be a July thing, but I argue it holds for all times of year. So we def needed to detour through a Baskin Robbins for ridiculously sized ice cream. mmmmmm ice cream...

So reality entered in for a bit and we went back to the barn to take care of the horses. Fastest night check EVER. But having three people who know what needs to be done and can divide and conquer helps a lot. Horses fed, watered, wrapped and blanketed in like 15 mins.

Why the rush? Well cause Stephy and I had decided while sitting in BR that we wanted to go to the movies. The movie that started an hour and 15 mins after that conversation. While we were 30 mins away from the barn that's 20 mins from the theatre. AND needed gas. And when I got to the gas station the pump wouldn't work because the attendant was on his own planet and neglected to push the button till I got annoyed enough to push the call button and wake him up. So yeah, little tight on time.

Paula decided she had to be all responsible and go home and study or some foolish thing like that, so *after* helping with chores (cause that's the kind of girl she is) she totally ditched us (cause that's the kind of girl she is :)

So Stephy and I made it to the theatre right about 7:15. Bought our tickets and junk food (cause you know, we hadn't had enough of that yet) and got seated just as previews were starting. Perfect timing really.

Movie was Footloose and it was SO much fun. I wasn't really expecting to enjoy it all that much, but it seemed the right flakiness level to finish off a fairly silly day. But I really enjoyed it. Up there with Grease or Dirty Dancing in the dance-chick-flick category. Just leaves you smiling and feeling like blaring the music on the way home.

Which is precisely what I did.

So thank you ladies for such a fun birthday! And a lovely deviation from my usual reality :)

All you Need to Know about Government Bureaucracy:

2011-10-31T21:03:00.002-04:00

Pythagoras theorem: ...........................................24 words.

Lord's prayer:....................................................... 66 words.

Archimedes' Principle: ........................................... 67 words.

10 Commandments: ............................................ 179 words.

Gettysburg address: ............................................   286 words.

US Declaration of Independence : ....................       1,300 words.

US Constitution with all 27 Amendments: ..........      7,818 words.

EU regulations on the sale of cabbage:.......              26,911 words.

Sort of puts things in perspective doesn't it?

Happy Birthday Mum!!!

2011-10-29T21:14:00.001-04:00

Today my wonderful mother turns, as every woman must at least a few times in life, 29 :)

In related news, I've decided I need one of these tags for every part of life:

Happy Birthday Mum! Love you :)

Thanksgiving Weekend :)

2011-10-11T23:43:00.000-04:00

So Thanksgiving weekend was absolutely amazing! Thanks tons to Hailey for looking after the barn for me -- greatly appreciated!

Weather was, well about as perfect as it gets really. Bright, sunny and warm!

Temp according to my car :)

Went up to the cottage, one of my favourite places in the world to spend time, and got there in time for an amazing dinner :) mmmmmm sooooo much good food. Sweet!

What can I say? I was HUNGRY!

So anyways the whole weekend was just about perfect. Relaxing and fun and good company. Finally had a chance to play with my camera a bit :) Pics will eventually be on FB, but it's currently not letting me u/l anything. Boo. Anyways - fav shot of the weekend:

Can't decide whether this one is cool, creepy, or both :)

Had a good laugh when we were out on the boat... Knew where we were and how to get home, but not exactly how to get where we were going -- so don't they whip out the GPI (ummm that'd be official plural of GPS :) on the various iphones. Out in the middle of a lake in the middle of nowhere - staying at a cottage with no electricity - yet somehow the smart phones save the day. And sure enough, they got us where we were supposed to be going :)

Ugh - sorry about the orange -- pc I'm on has no editing software. Boo. Maybe fix another day :) But you get the point *g*

Had an even better laugh on the way home though -- didn't feel like sitting in crazy traffic, so pulled off the highway north of Barrie. Now I know lots of ways home from Barrie, but they all start in the south end. Pulled out my map book (remember those? pre-nav/smart-phones/etc... pieces of paper all bound together -- they have images of maps on each one and you have to flip between them to follow any particular road :) anyways - planned my new route, stopped for gas, and good to go. Problem is, new route didn't go where the decade-old map book said it would. Fail. And at least two streets I was on had "turn here for road X" signs -- neither one of which led to road X. Sheesh. Anyways at one point I just had this feeling that something was very wrong and I was more lost than I should be... Finally figured out -- the sun was on the wrong side. I should be going south or west and the sun was on my left side at 4pm. Fail. So I turned around and went back to the last "turn here for road X" sign and basically ignored it and just kept driving. Navigated by the sun till I found a sign pointing toward a town I knew was in the right direction and then followed that. But at one point it hit me how sad it was that with all the technology we'd had on that little boat in the middle of nowhere, I was navigating using the sun >;-P Sheesh.

I did, however, make it back with enough time to feed my horses *and* sneak in a short hack :) Yeah me.

What did you learn today?

2011-10-07T23:07:00.000-04:00

(from GRS blog :)

So they say you should learn something new every day. They did NOT say it has to be something important. hahaha and I freely admit that the VAST majority of the "something new"s I learn are, well, shall we say less than useful. Often bordering on the edge of "waste of brain cells".

But today's something new was reasonably entertaining. Time will tell if it's actually useful or not, but definitely caught my attention.

So I was having a dressage lesson and we're trotting around our pretty little 20m circle. Horse is through and connected and working hard and technically doing everything right, but we were missing the "wow" factor. And honestly, I didn't think much of it, because I'm not even entirely convinced she has "wow" in her. After Zel, my "wow" setting is kinda high - not necessarily reasonable for a teenage horse with tons of holes in her training who's not even really fit.

But regardless, I'm trotting around trying to gain a little more suspension and we've tried all the usual tricks (I'll tell ya - after last week's shoulder-fore through cavelletti exercise everything seems easy!) but the magic is somewhat lacking. And then my coach comes up with the most random instruction I've ever heard:

"Make her outside ear go forwards."

Ummmm sorry? I don't think I know the aid for that! hahaha but he was on the edge of frustrated so I figured I'd better just figure it out... Now Athena is very manourverable. I can put any leg in any position you want it - shoulder in/out, renverse, traverse, head up/down forward/back, any combination of the above. All no problem. Admittedly the lateral work isn't competition quality yet, but at least the legs go where I ask them to :) But move the outside ear forward? I can get some horses to give me floppy ears, and I can almost always get them to flick their ears back on me. But forward?

My first thought was to flick my dressage whip up in front of her outside eye -- pretty sure that'd work. But also pretty sure that was *not* the look he was going for. And he wasn't really feeling like tolerating me being a smart ass today so I quashed that plan. Most days I can get away with it, but not always *g*

So I sit there and I fiddle and I play (getting such instructions as "not both ears, only the outside") and eventually by some fluke I'm quite certain I had nothing to do with (oh wait - take credit for flukes! Ummm yes, I did that and I did it on purpose!) the outside ear flicked forward. Cool.

But alas, was only for a stride. Played around a bit and got it again, significantly faster. And this time it held for a couple strides. And those strides felt remarkably improved. And then we lost it.

Rinse and repeat.

Eventually I get it for most of the circle. And all of a sudden, with that outside ear pointing forward we have incredible suspension and this lovely floaty trot I didn't even believe she was capable of. We found the "wow" factor. And better yet - we could even repeat it going the other way! Sweet.

Apparently that is, in fact, a fairly common side effect when you get all the aids together for brilliance -- the outside ear comes forward while the inside remains focused on the rider -- but this was the first time *ever* I've had a coach focus my attention towards that as the goal rather than the byproduct. Interesting experience.

So now I've learned today that all my years of telling Stephy not to watch her horse's ears was apparently wrong -- she was just watching for the magic to happen :)

hmmmm or maybe not.

From what do pheasants feed?

2011-10-07T17:33:00.000-04:00

So Wednesday was a brilliance or disaster kind of day...

Steph, the awesome student who came to help Hailey and I at Cedar Run despite the stupidly early start, had asked if I would take her out to school xc. Totally reasonable request and, let's be honest, I *like* schooling xc - and if it's just one student, that means I *have* to ride too. The things I do for my students :)

hahaha ok so where to go? Well first we were going to go up to Myrddin and hop around there -- which would've been fine. It's close, they have a ton of new jumps, and I know the property inside and out. No problem. Except that I wasn't thrilled with my last xc school, and since there's a very realistic chance this'd be the last outting of the year I wanted to make sure it was good. And I wanted help.

So when we were up at Grandview I asked Bob if he could fit us in -- I usually go up there a couple of times a year for xc schools and it's always a good experience. I love the variety of jumps and his coaching style - so it's a good combination. And he's kewl with me bringing students along so that's always a plus too. And despite short notice and a rather limited available timespan, he fit us in. Sweet.

Loading Athena is always, ummmm, an experience. *sigh* But fortunately this time she got on with only minor grief - maybe 15 mins instead of 2h. And Lissy's a pro so she just walked herself on and away we went. On time even. All good.

Until we're driving down Trafalgar and all of a sudden the truck and trailer start lurching in a big way. And my digital trailer break readout starts jumping around wildly. Not fun. Get pulled over and stopped and go check on the horses. Truck and trailer are still hooked up correctly; no warning lights or anything disconnected. Horses are both shaking and clearly anxious (understandable - so was I!) but seem otherwise ok. So we chill them out and then continue. Stopped again right before getting on the highway just to check and both horses were once again calmly munching hay. Strange.

Rest of the drive was entirely uneventful. Got to Grandview and unloaded - both horses relaxed and happily grazing -- a HUGE difference from Athena's last outting! Pull the boots off and... Both of Lissy's hocks are scraped. :( Booo. Not seriously enough to need stitches, but seriously enough that she's in no shape for a ride. SO glad she had the boots on - can only imagine what would've happened without the extra padding! No idea what caused it; my first guess was she tried to kick A and lost her balance. Although my coach mentioned once he had a similar experience with a horse who freaked out when a bee got in the trailer. I never saw anything but who knows? What is obvious is that for whatever reason when we were going in a straight line at a consistent speed, all of a sudden all her weight went against the trailer door and her hind legs slid under her (think sitting). Poor girl. The trailer door is now seriously warped out.

Since she doesn't need the vet and movement will be better for her than standing and she's happy grazing along, I tack up Athena and we take both horses up to the sand ring. I briefly considered offering Steph Athena since the whole reason we were there was for her to go xc, but both she and I know that my horse of choice has never been *her* horse of choice (and vice versa) and that her catch riding one of my horses on xc is likely to be ummmm less than successful.

Start warming up and when Bob gets there, explain about Lis. He takes a look too and agrees with her walking along and offers us cleaning supplies when we get back. Sweet. So I give the 30 second rundown on Athena's history, explain some of the challenges I've been having with her, and mention our goal of starting at PT next year and if all goes well upgrading to T mid-season. He starts us out over a tiny show jump fence on the wheel of death, that grew every two or three laps. It wasn't nearly as accurate as I'd like -- our wheel was somewhat lopsided at times! But at least we started consistently hitting a distance and landing on the correct lead. So that's a start. Then had us do a mini-course (really mini - 3 fences set at about E height). First attempt was rather disastrous. Second attempt after he made a few changes to my position was brilliant. We're either *really* on or *really* not. hahaha. And sometime before show season starts I need to shift the balance so that the ON is a whole lot more frequent! But it was really great to have some feedback not just about her but about me. Because obviously the better I do it, the more I'll be able to help her. Most of the time it's all about training her but I really appreciate when we can fix me in the process *g*

Ok and out on XC. Jump a few E fences with some discussion about how to get/keep her butt underneath her so we can actually get to the base of the fence with some power. First course a little iffy. Next one with the PT fences thrown in, much better. Switch fields...

And leave my brain behind. hahaha Seriously. Was embarrassingly bad. Not the riding - that was actually mostly getting better. No, what was bad was how *many* times I could jump the wrong fence. So he set a course that included "go through the gap and jump the pheasant feeder". Ok, now I have absolutely no idea what a pheasant feeder looks like. M had one at her place that she called that -- I always called it a mushroom. Mostly cause, well, it looks like a mushroom. I know - I'm creative that way. Only problem? No mushrooms in sight. There's a round coup off on an angle that could be a mushroom-top flat on the ground... There's a triangle house/coup like thing. And there's a palisade. Now the palisade is in the gap and has a slight drop to it (which was also in the instructions). So I point - 'over there?' -- yes. Ok fine. Go jump my course.

"Great job, but wrong fence. That one's much harder than what I wanted you to do." hmmmmm oops. "I wanted you to go through *that* gap," pointing to a different tree line, "and jump the pheasant feeder."

Oh ok, "the one over there?" I ask, pointing to the shortened mushroom. "How do you get there?" What can I say, it looked like an awkward line. "Just follow the path," he told me with an implied "you idiot" hahaha. Oh... Ok. Off I go. And it *was* an awkward line. Very awkward. And we landed slightly out of control. But eventually got it back together and finished the course.

Return to coach. "You really don't want to jump that pheasant feeder do you?" Frig. Only one fence left. And I can see how both ways I was pointing would've seemed like I was pointing at it. And sure enough there is a *much* easier approach to it with a newly mowed path. "I was *trying* to make it easy for you..." Really, at that point there's no way to salvage the situation -- although now I know that pheasant feeders can be round OR triangle shaped, but they always have the mushroom post under them *g*. There's your educational moment for the day. And for the record, we jumped it beautifully. We also got a TON of practice with the icky turn to the sharkstooth that we did following each of the wrong jumps *g* So when we see that on competition, we're set! hahahah But I can't remember the last time I went off course, so to do it twice in a ROW -- when there are only 3 fences to choose from at that -- well that's so bad it becomes funny. Only saving grace is that Bob's taught me before and knows I'm not *usually* a complete idiot. >;-P That and at least I made *different* mistakes each time. Points for creativity! Hey - I'll take em where I can get em.

And on the plus side - I got to jump several extra fences, one of which was an ok size. And that's the first palisade I've ever done with her too. Yeah us.

On to the ditch. Which she shows no fear at but goes through rather than over. hmmmm less good. Try a couple more times and she does it better each time. Was having some control issues at this point, esp going downhill, but they're flatwork not jump related.

Alright, on to the bank. A couple E fences spread out to get us going then up the bank and back down again. No prob. Except that 3 strides in front of the first E fence she grabbed the bit in her teeth and nosedived. Yeah - a little terrifying. It took me a good 10 strides to get her back after that (that may not seem like much, but it felt like forever! And if there'd been a second fence 2 strides later, we would've been in serious trouble). Show jumped the second one - it was beautiful, but really I rode it like stadium rather than xc. And the banks both ways np. We got a new course in the same field but with all the PT fences instead of the E fences. The jumps rode well and I was starting to find the right balance there, but the in-between was a battle and a half. That whole big loose-ring snaffle thing again. Doesn't give you a ton of power when your horse turns into a runaway freight train. Ah well >;-P Cantered her over the T ditch a few times - perfect. She learns fast this one.

But at this point, while clearly the adrenaline was still there, she was lagging. So I mentioned to Bob that I didn't have much horse left and we shortcutted the rest of the random jumps (which, let's be honest, she'd've done just fine) and headed over to the water. Water will be an interesting challenge for us I think. She goes in just fine, but can't seem to figure out how to *keep* moving once she's in there. We jumped in and out over a little stad fence a few times, but the jump in, canter through, jump out.... Well I never did manage to maintain the canter all the way through and the jump out out of the trot was, shall we say, less than pretty. *sigh* So we got a good effort and left her on that.

And pretty clearly if we can get our act together in the other two phases as well, PT will be a totally appropriate starting place next season. So pretty stoked about that.

Head back to the trailer, give Athena a bath (with only a *minor* meltdown at the washstall), then trade horses with Stephy and cold hose Lissy's hocks (she was not thrilled at that, but not horrid either). Then thanks to Bob and Sarah got her cleaned up and thoroughly slathered for the ride home.

Have to admit I was a little concerned. How to load these two horses with only two people? I usually like to load Athena first so no horse is trapped in the trailer while she plays her games, BUT it takes two people to load her. And with the trailer ride up being so scary, I wasn't sure either one of them would be willing to get back on *sigh*. So I decided to try Lissy first -- she's such a sweetheart. And she thought about it for a second, but then she followed me on, quietly as could be. Athena took a while longer, but even from her there was no drama (now to be fair, she was *rather* tired at this point :). Both horses loaded and treated and we could go home.

Fortunately without incident and they both unloaded beautifully. I did call the vet the next day for Lissy, just to be sure. He agreed that it was superficial and put her on just-in-case antibiotic and anti-inflammatory meds. Figures she'll be good to go early next week. Phew.

But yeah - best xc ride of the summer for me and got some much needed fine tuning. So pretty excited about that :)

Happy babbling

2011-09-18T22:03:00.000-04:00

Ever wonder why we do it? What makes it worth the hours and the physical labour, and the pain and hurt and frustration that horses bring? If you don't instinctively know, it'll be very hard to explain, but today's GRS post tries. And if you *do* know, but are perhaps having trouble remembering at the moment, give it a read and it'll remind you :)

Today was so much fun. Even hay yesterday was fun when interspersed with pizza and friends :) I definitely have the coolest job on the planet.

A few years ago I published a "why we event" - in response to one of Denny's posts (long before I ever met him!) about showing under horrific conditions... Today was another of those for me. What are your reasons why? (feel free to sub in any form of riding for event :)

To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks a real advance. -- Einstein

2011-09-06T23:36:00.002-04:00

(stolen from GRS blog. Mostly horse-related, but enough random babbling I figured it could survive here too :)

Whoever says there are no stupid questions has never had to answer them with a straight face. There are stupid questions. Lots of them. After all, what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they suddenly become smart just in time to ask questions? And I think I've heard them all. And very smart people still sometimes ask stupid questions. The difference is, they generally *realize* it's a stupid question about a heart-beat later. To me, the stupid questions break down into three categories:
- questions you already know the answer to,
- questions already answered in the last 30 seconds (therefore stupid because you clearly were not paying attention and/or see point one),
- and questions that even a modicum of common sense clearly answers.

Now I realize that common sense is not so common, but since my students tend to be of above average intelligence (yeah!) I feel this rule applies. "Can I walk under my horse?" would be considered a question in this category by anybody whose age is in double digits or higher. And no, I'm not inventive enough to make that up.

That mini-rant being said, I actively encourage questions in my lessons because the vast majority of them are legitimate and serve to either aid in learning or highlight a skill that needs more clarification -- since both of these things are part of my job description, anything that makes that easier is a bonus!

But one of the things that makes teaching truly interesting is when I get asked a really *intelligent* question. To me a truly intelligent question does one of two things:
- it demonstrates an understanding or attempt at comprehension of a skill or concept that is well beyond the rider's current abilities,
- or, it really makes me think about the answer.

The first of those always impresses me and gives me hope for whichever student asked the question. The second of those is part of what makes teaching really interesting. Neither is entirely common. Today I had *both*.

A just-off-the-lunge-line student who watched a more advanced class asking me the difference between flexion and bend. Totally simple question with an easy answer -- but what made it intelligent, imo, was that she considered what she was watching, was paying enough attention to realize she didn't really *know* what she was watching, figured out precisely which piece she didn't understand, AND she cared enough to ask. That's not entirely common.

And later on a student asking me how to feel when the horse drops his shoulder. Not how to *fix* it, which she mostly already knew, but how to feel it. I definitely had to consider how to answer that one for a second or two :) hahaha long enough that she was questioning if her question made sense *g* Yes, it's a good question, I just need a second to give it a good answer! And any question I have to think about interests me :) Next time I won't have to think about it cause it's under the "answered and filed" section now. hahaha but the first time somebody asks me something interesting is always fun.

For those who ride, consider this one -- I remember similarly a fairly novice student (about EC rider 3) a few months ago asking me how it feels when your horse goes on the bit. For those who know, how would you answer that? And it's not an adult, so you can't be overly technical. Do you go with the emotional yet slightly useless answer: "it feels incredible/it feels like you're floating/it feels like you suddenly have 10x the amount of power"? Or do you go with the literal: "the weight in your hands softens, as their back lifts you feel as though you're sitting on something round and sit straighter so as to stay in balance, your hips swing more to accommodate the horse stepping farther underneath..." Well that list could keep going :) But really, the first one is a fairly useless answer and the second one is entirely too technical. Neither is going to be of any use whatsoever to a student who's still trying to learn to flex without the horse turning. But she asked the question, so I had to at least try to answer :) Explaining aids is easy; explaining feel is far more of a challenge. Usually, imho, even harder than teaching them to feel it themselves. But fortunately once you've done that you don't *have* to explain it, cause they already know :)

Anyways - after I had to go discuss (read brag about :) with another coach the fact that I'd had *TWO* intelligent questions in one day, it left me thinking through what exactly qualified as an intelligent question. Or not >;-P And this is the overtired result of that.

Heigh ho, the dairy-o, a hunting we will go!

2011-08-28T22:03:00.003-04:00

Cross-posting from GRS blog because it amused me enough to share here too :)

So GRS ventured into a new world today - that of fox hunting. To put this in perspective, I have been exactly twice before*, and my students have never been. We're pretty sure Bella knows the game, but all the other horses were on their first time out as well...

*Sidenote - previous adventures: first in Southern Pines and then in Hamilton <-- if you're reading those, the SP one is educational, the Hamilton one way more fun - and there's a follow up to the Hamilton one from my friend Chris

So how did today's adventure come to be?

Well Adriana has been inviting me to come hunting for quite some time and somehow it never happened. But I wanted Jack to try hunting and didn't particularly want to hunt him myself, so she who often takes greenbeans out, volunteered. Sweet. So she agrees to take on the big 5yo with a sense of humour and is good to go. But almost as soon as agreeing to ride him, mentions "you should bring kids with you."

Which I of course promptly turned down as a Very. Bad. Idea. And then I thought about it, and about how much I would've *loved* to have gone when I was still young enough to bounce well. And I realized that I do have several students who are more than ready to give it a try. So why not? Well trailering works in two or four; I was taking two horses, so that left space for two more. Ran through the mental list of riders I felt were ready who would suit the horses I had left. And considered how very far both Paula and Hailey have come with their riding this summer. And figured their horses have a reasonably suitable temperament. Sooooo they got invited. Why not >;-P

So step one -- load and get to the meet. Shouldn't be an issue, except at the last second I decided I'd really rather take Athena than Lissy... hmmmmm

But she loaded like the civilized goddess she is we were off well on time and got there fairly early. Met a few people and caught up with A. Unloaded the two who aren't happy on the trailer and tacked them up. Then the other two (yeah for having trained Sienna to tie to the trailer - makes life so much easier!) and we were good to go. Made some new friends while waiting for the start and we were off.

We stuck to the back of the hunt with our excessive collection of greenbeans. Jack started out alert but not overly concerned -- didn't even really react to the hounds! Si was great to start - mostly hanging out grazing. Bella and Athena were less relaxed about the whole idea, mostly spinning slowly in circles. hahaha

And then the games began. Si didn't really understand the whole "hold your place in line" concept at the beginning. Fair enough - coming from the track she expects to be told to get as close to the front as possible. It took Paula most of the ride to convince her that she really was supposed to go the exact same speed as everybody else :) Strangest. Race. Ever. She bounced around a little and ran into Athena a couple times but by the end she had it figured out! At one point her proximity to Athena saved Paula as there was an abrupt group halt at just the point P had ducked to dodge a branch. Those laws of physics kicked in as Si realized she should halt and Paula couldn't see what was about to happen... She bounced off Athena and ended up back on Si who was clearly giving her the "Really?!?!" look >;-P

The jumping part though - every fence flawlessly (if, occasionally a little higher than *technically* necessary). Even the in and out :) Superstars!

Hailey, being the smartest one of the group, was on the *smallest* horse - enabling her to dodge far more branches than the rest of us :) She bravely tackled every jump she found and was grinning the whole way around. And Bella was clearly all for this game. XC AND friends without ANY dressage?!?!?! What could be better? The only thing she didn't care for was the holds. Standing waiting for no apparent reason when she *could* be running and jumping just seemed a fairly strange and pointless idea to her.

I, being less intelligent, traded my little 15hh quiet school pony for my 16.2hh horse who only sometimes has breaks and has a wickedly long stride. hmmmmm. Interesting decision. Right up there with randomly deciding to run 15k. Sheesh. But I have to say -- I was at least able to keep her in line! However, being a mare compromise was necessary. I could pick the speed - she would pick the gait. There was no walking. The entire ride. We did, however, have the most lovely passage for any time that didn't involve cantering or jumping. O.M.G. I suspect I will have a *very* tired horse tomorrow. But fun. So much fun. And now I know what she can do >;-P She also led Jack over one of the off-to-the-side fences he wasn't entirely sure about. I didn't see it, but apparently Jack felt the need to clear it by an extra couple feet, successfully introducing his rider to the branches well above them AND convincing her that I'm insane for doubting his ul jumping potential all at the same time. Made both of us grin though, so that counts for a lot :)

Overall an amazing day! All the greenbeans behaved themselves. Horses stayed between the riders and the ground. The members of the Wellington/Waterloo Hunt were incredibly welcoming and friendly. We even got a photo or two :) And the fox? Well she rode behind us for the first half hour or so before turning off to set a path for us. hahaha a dragged scent, that is, so no harm was caused in the makings of today's entertainment. And did I mention my horse apparently knows how to passage? >;-P The relaxation portion of things may need some work - but now we have a goal :) And unrealistic goals generally lead to entertaining blog posts, so stay tuned!

Hitler learns HP is abandoning WebOS

2011-08-24T09:10:00.001-04:00

Thought this one was fairly well done :)

My legs can keep no pace with my desires...

2011-08-20T22:44:00.008-04:00

So I did it. Proved you really don't need to *actually* run to get fit to run :) Ummmm that's to be filed under the "don't try this at home category" k? It is definitely not recommended. But it did work for me.

Yes so I followed through and actually ran the 15k race I signed up for back in June and earned my pretty jacket. Sweet! Better yet -- I'm not horrifically sore (I expect to be tomorrow and Mon of course, but last time I tried that game I was dying by km 7 -- this time fine. But this time I'm also xc/event fit, so that helps a whole lot :)

I *am* thoroughly annoyed that my computer seems to be eating my photos as we speak. 3 of my favs have mysteriously vanished between the camera and the computer :( NOT kewl. I didn't take enough to sacrifice the couple good ones! The few remaining ones are up on fb.

So the race...

Parked the car in the designated location and hopped on a school bus to go to the park where it would all begin. Wandered around looking at some of the costumes (what *is* it with dress-up this week???) and spoke to one of the pace faeries about appropriate time for someone who's never done this before. I didn't bother to mention the complete lack of training. hahaha She suggested, based on my one-time 5k speed of about 1/2h to aim for 1:45. I was thinking 2, so that seemed ambitious but why not?

Grabbed a power bar while I was hanging out and ate about half of it. Ugh. Pretended to stretch a little bit and did the small-talk thing with some random strangers. A few had t-shirts that amused me -- I took photos but they've been eaten :( I hate my computer some days. Both were printed on the back - one was something about "I hope you can read this so I'm not last" another had something like "tough times pass, but tough people last" -- she was in "my" group for the first part of the race (she probably belonged there :) so I saw that one a few times.

They announced the 10 min warning, so I meandered my way over to the start area. Have to wonder about the ones who were jogging and bouncing around. Really? You're about to run 15k. Don't you think you could put that energy to better use in 10 mins or so? Sheesh.

So I found myself around the 1:30 pace faeries and decided I'd start with them then fall back to the 1:45 ones when I couldn't keep up anymore. So much for the 2 idea eh? Some random stranger who knows nothing about me or my fitness level suggests 1:45 so I immediately aim for 1:30. Oh comeon, you're not new here >;-P But @ least I was realistic that it wasn't a serious goal. More of a curiosity thing: "I wonder how fast this really is?" So there were two 1:30 faeries -- one doing walk/run and the other doing continuous run and they were having a mini-war between them. Now I'm not sure exactly how the bet can work since if they do their jobs correctly they'll actually end at the exact same time... hmmmm perhaps number of people who go with them? Don't know, but kinda puts the tortoise and the hare theory to the test eh? (side note - it took me about 4 tries to spell tortoise -- and that's *with* a dictionary and a spell check. Sheesh. Bad memories of early illiteracy! Fortunately for me that's not really a word I care all that much about :) So the turtle and the hare it is...

And I rediscovered that I make for a really poor turtle. I can't do slow and steady to save my life. Go hard or go home. When I run I want to really run. Not that I'm even remotely fast -- don't get me wrong -- but I want to at least pretend to be. And when I'm done, I'm done. hahaha

However, at least I KNOW that little fact about myself. So I followed the 1:30 walk/run fairy. (and to those of you who run who are cringing every time I type that saying "it's a pace BUNNY you idiot" all I can say is, this is not your traditional race. Here they were very definitely pace faeries. I *had* photos to prove it... *sigh*) And she starts running. At a pace I can do easily, but I honestly wasn't sure for how long. And as we past km 2, I was starting to wonder when the walk portion would be kicking in *g* Keep in mind - what very little conditioning I did, was usually at run 2-3min/walk 1-2min. So this was a little more excessive. And faster. But we did eventually get a walk break. A too short walk break imho, but sobeit.

I stayed with that group till about km 5. And then I added a walk that just wasn't in that evil fairy's grand plan and they left me long behind. However, in following them I did learn about the accepted standard that if you're going to abruptly slow down, you raise your hand to alert the people behind you. This is very civilized all-round really. So I adopted that practice throughout the rest of the race.

Shortly the 1:30 turtle caught up so I ran with them a bit, but by the lovely drink area just before km 6 I knew I was more of a snail than a turtle and let them go on while I stopped for a sip of water (note I was @ least smart enough that it was A, a *sip* and B, not Gatorade. Which I love. But which I can't actually drink while being active.). So here we hit the one and only "hill" in the race. Which, to put in perspective, is as close to flat as it gets near the farm where I was "training". But it was a good excuse for a walk break.

And from then on in I was my own pace fairy. I'm an *awesome* pace fairy. So long as you don't care what pace you're going >;-P Esp once it got darkish and I couldn't see my non-indeglo second hand any more *g* While I could read the watch, I tried to stick to 2 min on, 1 off. Then it was just kinda run when I felt like it or if too many people were passing me and walk when I didn't feel like running any more. I think I actually run *more* with that system than with the watch. I was figuring I'd join in the 1:45 walk/run group when they caught up to me. Added in a very short stop at the halfway lighthouse to take a photo. Which got eaten :(

About this point I met up with another girl about my age who seemed to be doing about the same walk/run rate as me. We leap-froged (leap-tortoised? That image just doesn't work at all!) for the rest of the race. Which promptly made it a race between me and her -- at least in my mind. I'm quite certain she was racing someone faster who was ahead of us in hers. Sadly I'm reasonably sure I lost that one. I think she passed me about the 13k mark and I didn't see her again after that.

Around km 8 my ipod starts singing "see how far we've come!" hahaha that one amused me. As did "just don't stop" around km 11.

I have to say the cheering squads with cowbells and noise makers actually made a rather huge difference. How can you slow down with a clanging cowbell next to you? It makes you smile and keeps you going. Or @ least it did me.

I made it to about 12k before my quads started to tighten. Significantly better than the last time I tried this game and not even brutal. Just a minor "hey, we're here and you'd better have another plan to get us home," type warning. No worries. And somewhere in the last 3k I suddenly felt absolutely perfect and had a wicked burst of speed. Passed all sorts of people. Pretty sure I've never run that fast ever. And just as my brain was starting to wonder what exactly was going on, it ended. Abruptly. Body to brain: ">;-P I was just kidding; you didn't think that'd last did you?" Definite slow walk break for a block or two (back out of the park on the street by this point) to recover that one. But recover I did and was able to run the last 500m at a reasonable pace and not collapse as I crossed the finish line *g* Really felt more stressed after the 5k a couple years ago than this one. Thought that was pretty kewl.

The 1:45 fairy never caught up :) Have to admit I was pretty stoked about that. I think I was in the 1:40-1:45 range, so they probably weren't too far behind, but all good.

And when I did cross said finish line a nice young lady asks "do you want a medal?" YES I want a medal. What a silly question. Of *course* I want a medal :) My poor tired brain was trying to figure out if anybody ever said no. Fortunately tired though I was all civilization censors were in place so what came out was "yes, thanks". hahaha Possibly the first time I've ever been really proud of a participation award *g*

Oh wow - official stats are up already. Sweet. They def weren't when I started typing. Soooo... I was 1:41:18.5 -- so I definitely beat the 1:45 pace fairy. Woohoo! Out of the women I placed 496/1112 (there's no number for how you did out of everybody). In the top half even :) Yeah me! In my category (women 30-39) I placed 200/345. Boo, less good there. Ah well -- we'll pretend most of them trained for it >;-P My pace was 6:46? I don't actually know what that means... Anybody still reading this who could clarify?

Sort of interesting that there were significantly more women than men running. Is that normal or is that because of the atmosphere of this particular race? I somehow expected a more even balance or even more men than women. Not sure *why* I thought that, but somehow I was surprised when I saw the #s.

Awwwww photos aren't up yet -- I was all set to be *really* impressed by their turn-around time :)

So random lessons learned:
- the blister that forms and hurts the most while you're running is the one that's the smallest
- runners and cyclist wear form-fitting clothes for a reason. Loose shorts, comfy though they may be = bad idea.
- even though the slick fanny pack seems comfortable, make sure there are no pressure points... Didn't even realize that one hurt till I took it off. Ouch.
- shoe laces s.b. double knotted.
- make sure your ipod is charged before you go (my 1/2h charge seemed to work, but I was worried for a bit)
- running is not the ideal way to take photos
- lights that appear randomly behind you are likely a car on course - move over
- if someone puts a hand up in front of you, be prepared to go around them.
- and most importantly: the hare will always win. Every time I was on a walk break being passed by a tortoise, I would pass them again as soon as I started running and they'd never catch up a second time.

It's amazing how many of those are clothing related >;-P Ugh. We'll just leave it on that.

Alright so now I appear to be babbling, so methinks tis time to sleep... Perchance to dream... hahaha sorry - couldn't resist *g* I'll stop now. My apologies if this account is less than coherent; I feel great but my brain seems to be a touch tired :) Night!

Leap and the net will appear -- John Burroughs

2011-08-17T19:50:00.004-04:00

So my mum sent me this quote that for some reason apparently made her think of me...

Leap, and the net will appear. -- John Burroughs

Can't imagine why :) I certainly haven't been guilty of that. Let's see... Some random conversations that might've led to that thought:

"I think I want to go to school in New Brunswick..." Why? "They have what I want to take." So does Guelph "Yeah but I want to see another part of the country." For 5 years.
Followed two years later by
"I'm going to school in Australia..." How? "Don't know, but I'm going next winter."
"I'm going to Scotland. Next week." Do you have a passport? "No, but I can get one" <-- can, yes - but not easily! hahaha now passport is always up to date so when these random opportunities occur it's not quite so frantic :)
"I'm going to travel around Europe." You don't have any money. "That's ok." Where are you going? "Don't know. I figured I'd fly to Paris and catch a train from there."
"I'm bored so I'm going to grad school."
"I'm moving to Vermont to be a working student for Denny Emerson." When? "Next week." What about your job? "I can work from there." Will they let you? "I'm sure I can convince them."
"I'm going to write a novel in a month."
"I'm going to run 5k" . . . Then fast-forward a couple years and with equally no training change it to 15k.
"I'm going to start a riding school..." hahahaha

I'm sure there have been other moments that have raised a few eyebrows... But as my sidebar says -- you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps :) Life would be boring if you did things the expected way :)

In other news... Lollipop show today. *Bling* lollipop show at that. Oh my. Story up on GRS blog in the near future :)

Where horses and history meet

2011-08-16T16:07:00.002-04:00

I'm not telling you it's going to be easy; I'm telling you it's going to be worth it.

2011-08-16T10:38:00.002-04:00

So Facebook informs me this was my status from one year ago today: "Lauren Cude finally finished V1 of her business plan (a whole 2 days early!). And with reasonable numbers. That don't necessarily require winning the lottery. @ least, not the big one :)"

Reading that made me smile. Sometimes it feels like I've been doing this forever and it takes something like that to remind me that no, it's still reasonably new :) And then I feel less frazzled about the things that aren't done yet because I realize how far it's really come.

It was a good lightbulb moment.

And conversely, apparently in 2009 I was "wishing I was still at the cottage" -- so clearly some things stay the same! hahaha

So on a completely different note, last Friday I had an entertaining lesson with two Athena-moments. The first was when we were warming up to jump - first fence of the day. Tiny oxer (I'd say 2'3 first rail, 2'6 back rail, very small spread 2'ish) and a placing pole out front at about 10'. Trot approach. She trots in oh so casually, no speed, no real impulsion. And oh so quietly takes off before the placing pole and clears the oxer and canters away on an 18' stride. And came back to me quietly as can be within about 2 strides. Ummmm seriously?!?!?! Now I realize that she defaults to about a 14' stride so jumping a tiny fence that happens to be 13 or 14' wide is not actually all that challenging for her, but who *does* that???? And out of a trot. With no anxiety or tension or power or any sign whatsoever that she might be considering that as an option. Sheesh.

Then later we're cantering off a tight turn to a fence. Now A's #1 escape is to drop behind the bit. We're working on it. Frustrating in dressage. Terrifying over fences. So tight turn means I instinctively asked her to bring her hind legs pretty deep underneath her and sit -- and we made said turn beautifully. Best balanced, light, floaty beach-ball canter ever. Very exciting. Except that she's not strong enough to hold that yet so she dropped behind the bit to escape. And we're ONE stride out from the fence. And I know she hasn't seen it yet. And I can't get her back up in front. Yeah, suffice to say it wasn't pretty :( Possibly the scariest situation I've been in in a long time -- to be one stride out of a jump and KNOW the horse hasn't even seen it yet. Pick up the phone to call her and find I have no signal. Not. Good. *sigh* So no more engaging (at least with fences involved) till I fix some basic buttons. Guess this is what happens when you ride a horse somebody else trained. hahaha haven't done that in several years. Somedays it's good. Other days you just want to go back and ask what they were thinking...

8h of lessons today and lollipops tomorrow. It's going to be an interesting week...

How to find the end of the universe

2011-08-07T19:20:00.003-04:00

Didn't write this, but it amused me so I thought I'd share :)

----
How to find the end of the universe

It’s pretty simple, actually: Drive about five miles past the secret alien landing strip, turn left at the Repository of Missing Left Socks, travel due up into the New Jersey Time/Space Wormhole (toll) and when you come to the mariachi band playing “Yellow Bird” to a beluga whale, you’ve reached the end of the universe.

Credit and Vid

The things you find on youtube...

2011-08-06T22:38:00.001-04:00

Clearly need to move to the UK >;-P There's tons of these to kill time with, but here's a selection :) You don't technically *need* sound for this, but it does help!

Guess the song!

Edited to add this one because before it got really silly it had me laughing out loud at my machine... Different game, same show:

Finding willpower

2011-07-27T16:38:00.005-04:00

So I was reading this article on neuroscience (which, despite having no science background, I'm fascinated by :) and it was discussing ways to train certain traits that have at times been considered inherently part of you - essentially unchangeable as an adult. The unchangeable idea seems to have been shot down by just about everybody (yeah!) but this particular one struck me as a rather fallible argument.

They suggested that to improve willpower, say before going on a diet, you should brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand for two weeks. They ran tests, and the people who did that were far more successful in whatever they needed their willpower for than those who didn't. So I think ok, well I'm sure I can use more willpower (funny I can hear my mother scoffing as I write this), why not give it a try?

So what I've discovered, one week in, is A - it's a lot harder than you'd think - give it a try! But far more importantly B - it's not training willpower, it's that only those who already *have* willpower are going to last the two weeks. Maybe it enhances what's already there? That I don't know. But honestly, it's a little task that you do (or at least I do :) only when I'm tired -- first thing in the am after getting up and last thing at night when I go to sleep. This is when I'm *least* likely to want to take 3x as long and concentration required for a task I can do literally as I'm falling asleep just by switching hands. Now 1 week in it's now taking me only twice as long *sigh* but I'm still not proficient.

Not that I particularly care, to be quite honest. I'll do the two weeks because I decided to do the two weeks, but whether or not it helps anything? hahaha we'll see. I'm still allegedly running 15k in, as my email reminded me today, less than a month. Could use some willpower for that for sure :)

It's amazing the things you learn when you let your horse teach...

2011-07-26T16:24:00.002-04:00

Yeah so decided since we had reasonable temps today I should actually *ride* my horse (as opposed to hack around the xc course having fun pretending to be productive :). Now my number one riding concern with this mare is my inability to rate her gaits. Sometimes I can, but not reliably enough to safely compete her. So I thought we'd test a bit and get at least a baseline for where we are, so that as I school it I can see whether or not we're improving.

Ok so I set two poles on the ground at 50'. Zero height, literally poles on the ground. Now the gymnastics text book will tell you this should be an easy 5, and you should be able to collect to 6, or push for the 4. No problem right? With most of the zippy little horses I like to ride I'd be able to get anywhere from 4-8. So thought I'd see what I ended up with with Athena.

Usually I just let them do their thing the first round to see what we've got, but for some reason I decided to ride it from the beginning and picked the middle ground of 5 for a starting place. And she did it perfectly. The problem? It was the most collected canter I've ever managed on her *sigh*. Let her do it at her pace (sleepy cause this was nearing the end of our ride) and it was an easy 4. Put my leg on a little and cleared the 50' in 3 strides. hahaha might've taken me a lap and a half after that to bring her back again, which we did - next round in 5, but even still...

So it turns out that it's not that I can't actually rate this horse, it's that her stride length is so insanely much longer than I'm used to that I'm misjudging everything. For the non horse people out there -- basically I'm used to horses with gears 2-5, this one has 4-6! So we'll have to spend some time installing the lower gears, cause much as they're not a ton of fun they are *really* useful sometimes! hahaha but baseline has at least been established and now I have a better understanding of what our issue truly is. And thankfully a lot of it will get better as she gets stronger -- she simply doesn't have the strength to sit and tuck her hind end under her right now.

Now off to ride Lis who *only* has gear 4 and work on putting in 3 and 5... :)

The little things in life...

2011-07-19T23:50:00.004-04:00

There is very little in this world that I would rate more highly on the 'simple pleasures' list than a perfect, star-lit, summer's night. 25ish degrees with a warm gentle breeze blowing. Stars brilliant against a black sky. Or alternately a harvest moon -- either option works for me :)

Got home around 10:30 tonight, but it was just that kind of night and I sooo wasn't ready to come inside yet. So decided to go for a run (remember that 15k idea -- yeah it's creeping up awfully fast and running all of about once a week - if that! - isn't really getting me anywhere :) It's been legitimately too hot to run during the days and most evenings I'm rather zonked by the time I get home, but today I was feeling good so away I went.

Now you have to understand - I'm a night person. I have always *been* a night person. If the day never started before about 10am and regularly went till 2, I'd be thrilled. Except I'd stay up late and even 10 would seem too early *g* The issue is, with this whole "adult" thing, no matter how late I'm up I still have to get up in the am. Boooo. And when I exercise, I'm usually rather spun (hence writing at midnight -- no sleep for a while yet!) Which makes the next morning brutal. But I'll worry about that tomorrow.

So I enjoy night. And I usually get an energy burst around 10 or 10:30 in the evening. And today I took advantage of it. Now running at night I learned a few things...

There are fewer people out (can't imagine why! :) but they ones that are are *much* friendlier. When I run that same route during the day, everybody I meet is in their own little bubble, bitterly trying to get some exercise in before their real day starts. Running at night, I met very few people, but every one of them smiled and at least said hi.

I have a vivid imagination. It's made more so by nightfall. This can be good or not >;-P hahhaha I swear I had half a dozen stories half written by the time I was finished my run; the only issue is I can't run and write at the same time, so they're now all lost. I know better than to try and reclaim them -- that never works. This vivid imagination though did at least keep me safely in reasonably well lit areas. Much as I wanted to run through the forest, the grown-up side of me said that would be a really dumb idea. And for once I listened to her.

Running on well paved streets requires FAR less effort than dirt roads. I could run faster and easier and was significantly less tired. I think that's the first run I've done where my cardio gave out before my muscles.

And this was due to lack of watch. Or not so much lack of watch as inability to read said watch in the dark. hahaha so instead of carefully rating my pace and x mins "running" (read carefully contained jog) x mins walking. It was more of run as hard and as fast as you can just for the sheer power of it and don't stop till you have to. I realize this is not the ideal training schedule, but it was a lot more fun *g* Well till I had to stop - a pretty brutal minute or two there, but I recovered and repeated the game; stopping just *slightly* before brutal on consecutive occasions.

Was the first run that I would say came anywhere close to resembling "fun" -- although I suspect a nice quiet walk through the same evening would've had the same results *g* But we'll ignore that little detail :)

And on a completely different note -- Athena got on the trailer after only about 20 mins today with no kicking, striking, or drama. Sweet. We're getting there.

Today = so much fun.

2011-07-16T22:55:00.003-04:00

Awesome day today! Kids cleaned up at the hunter show today. I was soooooo impressed. Fully story on GRS blog.

Line of the night, completely unrelated to the horse show, "sometimes a little chivalry has to take precedence over feminism." hahaha Love it! Those who should know the story behind that, already do. Those who don't, can appreciate the line in its own right :)

Happy Birthday to me!!!

2011-07-15T22:44:00.002-04:00

hahaha GREAT day today. Lesson on Athena got some amazing flat work, followed by CAKE for breakfast!!! Hahaha Hailey made it for me and it had a horse on it :) Believe it or not, my first cake *ever* with a horse on it :) Little things in life...

She then gave me the birthday gift of time :) As in did all the chores for me so I could have the day off. A lovely afternoon nap followed by dinner and a movie with friends. A simple evening, but I really enjoyed it.

One more thing off the list :)

2011-07-13T23:59:00.004-04:00

Soooo today has been *quite* the day. See Finally post below for most of it. But THEN I came home and found a package awaiting my attention. The package was my BOOK!!! In real form!!!

It's just a proof copy. It has to be re-read and edited before it's purchasable. And admittedly even then it'll be a long way from being the next best thing. But it still made me super happy and my hands shake a bit to hold it. Have to admit, I'm pretty excited about it :) Yeah me!

Finally! My first xc outting of the year :)

2011-07-13T22:35:00.004-04:00

(from GRS Blog)

So today was... oh my.

Well let's see -- I had a xc lesson booked for 12:00 at Grandview (about 2h away). Plan to leave at 9:30. All good. Get to the barn for 8, wonderful working student(WWS) Hailey meeting me there so between the two of us s.b. able to get everything done and be gone on time. Good plan right?

Except that I woke up this am before the alarm went off, feeling awake. Ummmm that never happens. Warning bells start flashing. Look at clock w/ heart in throat. 8:10. Frig. No idea why alarm, diligently set for 5:15 didn't deign to go off; I freely acknowledge when I do something dumb like hit snooze for an hour, but this time there was no beeping to snooze. Booo. So I basically roll into some clothes and fly out of the house, pausing only long enough to feed the critters. Great start. Frig.

Get to barn and WWS who knows morning routine *very* well by now and her groom have brought in, watered and fed appropriate horses as well as brought in her pony to take adventuring. Yes I have awesome students.

Decide stalls can wait since I'm very very late and go get the truck and trailer. You know all about the Beast. You know the next step in the story right?

No - amazingly the Beast deigned to start on the very first try! Yeah us! Hook up trailer and drive over to loading area. Touch base with L to see if she'll help me load (unrelated experienced horse woman -- if there are any issues novice people, even WWSs, cause more grief than help, and I haven't loaded Athena other than to move her in...) Np. She's around and willing. Great.

Brush ponies and pack truck. Go to load... Bella walks on. And back off again at top speed. Argh. She is the only horse I've ever known who zero issues loading but pretty serious unloading issues. And she's little enough to go *under* the bum strap. Booo. Any experience horse people dealt with this before? Loads well, then you have about 10 seconds and she throws herself backwards and out - whether tied or not. If you close the door in time has no concerns about hanging out on the trailer. Trailers just fine. But when you open the door on the other end, again she bolt backwards pretty much instantly. Interesting challenge. Have tried feeding/treating her on the trailer but she doesn't much care. It *is* getting much better -- she mostly walks off now instead of top speed. But there is no wait till you're told...

Anyways so Bella left. Alright fine, we'll get Athena on then put Bella back on after. Uh huh. Athena very quickly makes it *very* clear she wants nothing to do with this. Went and got L to come help and got WWS and supergroom out of the way and went to work. I've worked with a LOT of difficult loaders, but never seen anything like this. My lovely little black mare turned into a nightmare. All 4 legs were weapons - kicking out and rearing and striking. Always smart enough to not harm *herself* but watch out to everybody else. Behaving very much like a terrified foal except A - she's a LOT bigger and stronger and B - there was NO fear. Everything we saw was anger or just plain "NO!". Got away from us *3* times. I'm not sure I've ever lost a horse loading before, but this one THREE times. Insane. Although I admit I had a good laugh when she bolted into the indoor, started to run around the ring (which she's never been in) and then halted to call to the horse in the mirror. Made her very easy to catch since she was absolutely fascinated by it. This was NOT a fun start to the day.

Couldn't put Bella on to keep her company so tried to think of what horse *either* of us had who would both load well and STAND for who-knows-how-long without having a meltdown over the drama behind. Si loads like a saint, but would *not* tolerate that -- esp as it's another mare. Bella loads and leaves. Apollo I think would get really stressed. Jack was a maybe, but I was concerned because he's only 5 and loads like a pro -- so I *really* didn't want to risk changing that. Lissy loads well, but she didn't used to so def didn't want to give her any reason to revert. Dixie doesn't load brilliantly to begin with, is injured, AND doesn't like Athena - so I figured that was a non-option... So that left Nick. Nick loaded ok when we got him and has gotten better every time out. And he's pretty chilled about life. Ok try him. Supergroom goes out to bring him in and he veerrrryyyy slowly walks onto the trailer. One. Slow. Step. At. A. Time. Took prob 5 min to get him all the way in -- but totally just cause he was taking life at his own pace. No stopping or backing up or concern, just slow. Ok so he was on and all done up and Supergroom was given a bucket of grain to reward him with (Nick can use a few extra pounds). Nick is also the current love of Athena's life. So we had hopes that would help.

Yeah, not at all. *sigh* Was worth a try, but Athena really couldn't seem to care less about her boyfriend being in there. Same drama as before. And she's *smart* Figured out if she comes up the ramp and then turns perpendicular to the trailer and kicks violently with the hind leg closest to it, we can't even get her facing the correct direction, much less in. Cute game. Nick was a saint through all of it.

By this point starting to wonder if we're *ever* going to get her on, but know fully well that if we don't, next time will be even worse. *sigh*

The only saving grace? She's not very fit. Eventually she got tired and would just stand on the ramp. From *there* we could do something. And with a bucket of grain, a lunge line, and moving her feet one at a time, we got her on. Thank Epona. Sheesh. Almost 2h later. *sigh* And I could NOT have done it w/o L. Was not an appropriate situation for students or well-meaning bystanders. But the two of us eventually got her on.

But now it's 11:30. Remember the schedule from waaaayyyy back at the top? We're supposed to be unloading and tacking up now. And I've got two horses on the trailer -- one of whom is not supposed to be going anywhere and whose part-boarder is standing looking very confused about what her horse is doing on said trailer. And the other who is supposed to go but is exhausted, sweaty, and frazzled. Somehow trailering her for two hours, riding her xc, trying to load her again WITHOUT L or Nick, and trailering her back home again did *not* seem like a good idea.

So there's no way we can make it to GV for 12:00 at this point. Leave both horses currently in trailer ON trailer (with back up etc). Borrow a smart phone and look up the phone number for GV. Can't find it on their website. Sheesh. Ok, lateral thinking. Look up omnibus page for their show and grab contact number from there. Finally luck turns my way and I got a person rather than a machine. Sweet. But Bob was out riding. *sigh* So they go away to find him and ask if reschedule is ok, while we unload the two horses and put them away.

Arrange with L to do another trailer schooling session tomorrow. Starting to wonder if Athena just didn't want to leave -- we feed her here. But hopefully if we can get her on and off a few times over the next couple weeks -- maybe throw in some "around the block" trips -- we'll be good to go. Worked with Si and Lis... So fingers crossed.

Honestly if it hadn't been for WWS at this point I'd just cancel. The whole point of going was because I wanted to take Athena and see how she did. So really, after less than productive morning, 2h trailer battle, and NOT getting to take the horse I wanted to, I really just wanted to call it a day. But WWS really is W and it would be her first time going there and her pony was all ready and I know how excited she was about it (there's no PE fences at GV -- have to do E! Sweet. Even if many of the E fences are PE height :) And I was pretty sure she'd accept it reasonably maturely if we didn't go, which made me *less* inclined to cancel on her.

Alright so options... Sienna, Jack, Lissy. Those are the three I could reasonably pick from. And I'll admit I almost instantly disregarded Jack. I was hot, tired, and grumpy. So a ride that's almost entirely physical was not going to be a good choice. Esp after the disappointment of not taking Athena. So Sienna or Lissy. And to be quite honest, I think it took me almost 5 mins to make up my mind. Si plus sides: can jump the moon, a TON of fun xc, has been to GV several times, trailers super well, and is basically easy and fun -- a good combo for my current mood. Down side -- she's only been back in work since Monday after carving a chunk out of her hoof on a stone. Despite that she IS 100% sound and she IS at TB and we were only going to do E (well and with Si maybe some PT/T - let's be honest :) so it'd be an easy outing for her. I was in her field with her halter when I realized I should actually be professional.

You see Lissy doesn't have any of the fun upsides Si has -- her main upside is that she's *very* easy to ride. Down sides: fairly green, doesn't really carry herself well yet, half-halt only partially installed, not nearly the same athleticism over fences (I know - not many horses show that kind of athleticism; I've been spoiled, what can I say :), not terribly fit... But the simple fact is I want her to be an Entry level packer. And the only way that's going to happen is if I actually *ride* her. I've been focusing on her dressage, which is HUGELY improved lately (albeit still has a long way to go), but haven't jumped her since the Wayne Roycroft clinic, and that's the only time we've jumped since early spring... (She's jumped - intro/PE level - in lessons. But only super low/super simple. No balance or hocks under her or anything like that).

*sigh* Lissy it is. She's never going to learn if I don't teach her. And I do really adore little Lis, she's just not quite as much wow as the other two. But that's also what'll make her a good schoolie. So I brought her in and supergroom took her and got her ready for me while I answered the phone. Sure enough, good to go. Bob managed to fit us in for a 2:00 slot. Sweet!

Alright so load both horses and both just stroll on. Very very good ponies. And away we go. Brief stop to grab a muffin for breakfast (remember flying out of the house way back when?) and we're off. Fortunately made it with no traffic in good time. Parked, unloaded, tacked up all quietly - no rush. Both horses were superstars. And with an extra set of hands everything was SO much easier. WWS and Supergroom held ponies and I tacked them both up and we were good to go. Wandered down to the dressage ring (mostly to let Lissy see the blue footing; she couldn't care less). No Bob, so headed up to the jump w/u ring. Still no Bob, but we were a little early (well if you discount being 2h late!) so warmed up a bit and figured he'd find us when he was ready.

When he got there we did some stadium first. Little x with placing poles on either side, then a vert, then putting together a few random fences. The only thing Lis wasn't sure of was the first time we tried a 2-stride line. *That* we had a discussion about. But in the end she saw it my way :) General analysis of Lissy "great attitude, good form over fences, needs more gymnastics and dressage" -- hahaha always nice to have my own assessments validated! The lack of half-halt in the canter makes it *very* tricky to accurately ride a course. But we'll get there. Bella and H were pretty much superstars. A few scary long spots, but got better as they went.

Then out on XC we went. And XC is *fun* No matter what you're sitting on. And it's my FIRST outing of the year! How sad is that?!?!?! My students have done WAY more than I have so far this summer. Sheesh. And the other thing that was fun was I *actually* had to ride. I know. Imagine that. But it wasn't till I did that I realized A - the instincts are still there and they WORK and B - I haven't had to do that in a while. Cause let's be honest, for all Si's occasional drama, the jumping part is usually very straight forward. Point her at a fence, keep your rhythm, stay out of her way, and you'll go over it. Lis was more of the "ummm are you really sure? Cause we could go around. Or maybe stop of a better look." Or my personal favourite "Seriously!?!?! WHAT do you expect me to do with *that*???" <-- that'd be her first ditch. And that whole speed/balance/impulsion thing -- very hard on a horse with no hind end who's not sure about the half halt and has no idea how to carry herself; esp when the entire terrain is rolling hills! But while we had a couple interesting jumps, she was an absolute superstar. And definitely did everything on the first try. And didn't melt down when Bella galloped away from her. In fact super quiet from the moment she stepped off the trailer. So all signs still point to my future entry-level packer :)

H and Bella were superstars. Since B's a little fitter and H has ummmm zero experience they played a little more and started putting together some courses. Lis was pretty tired by then so we just supervised *g* We schooled banks, ditches, water and a couple miscellaneous, but didn't do all the inbetween random entry jumps cause I was reasonably certain she'd jump them pretty honestly and didn't want to exhaust her. The other two though did a great job jumping all the courses with very little nappiness. A decided increase in speed towards Lis than away from her, but managed to keep it under control :)

So overall, while a rocky start, an excellent end to the day :)

My next sport?

2011-07-13T22:22:00.000-04:00

Apparently parahawking has brds of prey fly with paragliders guiding them to thermals in exchange for food.

Scary things...

2011-07-11T22:52:00.001-04:00

Turn your sound on...

A weekend off :) Yes, really!

2011-07-11T22:26:00.000-04:00

So the weekend was absolutely amazing! Thanks tons to Amy and Hailey -- barn teens who chose to behave as adults all weekend so I could go be a teen again *g* Thanks to them I got to head off to the cottage for my first day(S!) off since Christmas. And it was completely perfect. Spent all weekend lying on the dock or zipping around in the boat (well except for the minor excursions for ginormous amounts of ice cream of course!)

Best line of the weekend: "You look like Neapolitan ice cream." Totally out of nowhere. And my first thought was - hey, I'm not fat! hahaha - cause really, if you'd seen the size of the ice cream we'd BEEN eating, you'd understand both A - the image of ice cream is decidedly round, and B - after that much of it, I could well be round too! But no, the reference was actually to colour. Anything that's exposed while riding teaching is currently tanned very dark; the front half of me that only sees daylight when a swimsuit is involved was vibrant red (due to a HORRIBLE sunscreen FAIL. Seriously why do they even *make* sunscreen that's not waterproof???); and the back half of me was still pretty blindingly white. So admittedly still not a particularly attractive image, but at least a reasonable one *g*

Got home late Sunday night - relaxed, warm, and happy.

Another real life lesson learned in the riding ring

2011-07-09T00:46:00.003-04:00

So a new one to add to the ongoing list of "real life lessons learned in the riding ring"...

I had a lesson this am and chose to ride Athena, who, some of you may be aware, I'm really enjoying. My coach questioned this as she's not entirely fit yet and we've been getting some good work out of Jack and Lissy so, while open to other ideas, he was expecting one of them... In response to his why I answered fairly incoherently "well, I kinda think I might love this horse," very much *not* the professional/acceptable answer I generally strive for, but what can I say? It was not even 8am and I've been averaging 4h sleep all week. Creativity was not high on the list of accessible options.

But then he surprised me -- he didn't just shrug off my rather useless answer, instead he asked why.

This gave me pause and I scrambled to find a justifiable answer and redeem my original statement. Except, there really is no logic to it. She's never going to the Olympics. She has, ummm, interpretive movement at times. She's so *not* my usual 'type' - my type being the little spinny sports car model and this type being pretty much the opposite - huge and powerful and in possession of a reasonably good brain. And she's drastically underweight and no muscle and nothing spectacular to look at, and *none* of this was helping me come up with a viable answer. And it wasn't a rhetorical question.

"Ummmm I don't know," I eventually admitted. Honest if a little embarrassed. "There's nothing really special about her. But every time I get on her, she makes me smile."

"Well," he says to me seriously, "often when an partnership clicks unexpectedly those relationships turn out to be the best ones." And that, evidently, was that. Horse was accepted into the lesson and we're good to go. But I couldn't help thinking of how that applied to so much more than the horse/rider relationship.

So that was my moment of the day... Just thought I'd share :)

And guess what??? I get a WHOLE DAY off tomorrow. hahaha thanks to Hailey and Amy for covering at the barn so I can escape to the cottage :) First day off since xmas. Have to admit I'm fairly excited about it.

I've been wearing a pedometer in lieu of a watch for the last little while -- I discovered I average about 35,000 steps/day... On non-running days (somehow an extra 8k is cheating) Somewhere I read you're supposed to aim for at *least* 10K, so I think I'm good there. Had a good laugh though today - I didn't put said pedometer on till just before I started teaching at 4:15 this aft, and by 11:00 I was at 18000. And that's withOUT any xc lessons! Just pacing around the sand ring and to and from the barn. So my goal for the weekend is *under* 18K over both days combined. hahaha wish me luck.

Why children misbehave...

2011-07-02T00:27:00.001-04:00

shamelessly stolen from FB because it amused me:

How do you expect kids to listen to their parents when Tarzan lives half naked, Cinderella comes home at midnight, Pinocchio lies all the time, Aladdin is the king of thieves, Batman drives at 200 mph, Sleeping Beauty is lazy, and Snow White lives with 7 guys. We shouldn't be surprised when kids misbehave, they get it from their story books.

Real life magic

2011-07-01T23:55:00.007-04:00

So I've been feeling pretty girly lately -- believe it or not, I do that occasionally *g* Watching chick flicks and reading sappy stories and crying at all of the above. And I'm quite certain it has nothing to do with the fact that my last childhood friend just had a baby or that I have another birthday rapidly approaching. Nothing at all. hahaha I do though sometimes wonder if I shouldn't at least *pretend* to be looking for Mr. Right. Although another part of me figures if he really *is* Mr. Right, he'll find me *g*

Now you have to understand, about 98% of the time I love my life the way it is. And I'm so insanely busy that while there might be room for a relationship, there is no room for the dating required to find said relationship. Well that and I hate dating. You should've seen the blog posts I *didn't* post the last time I was playing that game. Sheesh. hahaha

But at the moment, suffice to say I'm feeling a little like I'm missing out on a part of life I might regret later. However, *little* is the key word there -- if I were really stressed about it, I'd be doing something to fix it. hahaha you're not new here, sit and wait for magic to happen has rarely been my strategy (not that I'd turn it down if it worked!). But enough that I turned on a sappy movie in the background while I was writing my blog post earlier this eve. And being very aware and somewhat bemused by this action, felt the need to post it on Facebook.

But what got me, and why I'm writing this now, was the response of one of my friends. And that, I share now, with her permission (thanks Jane!).

I posted: Lauren Cude is watching Letters to Juliet for the ummmm too-manyith time. It's not even a particularly good or believable movie, but I guess it's further proof I'm a suck cause I'm still enjoying it. Again.

And my friend Jane responded: Not believable??!?!? THAT movie is basically the story of Doug and I. When we saw it, we could not believe the similarities in the story to 'us'. We have told everyone to watch that movie, because it is 'our story' - the only difference being that they lost their spouses due to death. High school sweethearts, parted ways, but never forgot each other, let go, loved others, married, had families, find each other single again many years later (35 years for us), against all odds they manage to find each other and re-connect, and the relationship just sort of picks up from there and resumes, and they (hopefully) live happily ever after.... Now, what's so hard to believe in all of that? I am living that storyline!

So yeah - apparently there *is* magic out there. So I thought I'd share for any in the same mood I am :)

Hope you had a great Canada Day :)

The little things in life...

2011-07-01T22:26:00.002-04:00

(cross posted from GRS Blog)

Paige and Bella

"Somewhere between the rider you once were and the rider you've become is a little girl who fell in love with a horse and never looked back. Ride for her."

I met that girl again today, and it was all thanks to Athena.

I rode her around the ring for a bit as some of my students wanted to see her go. She gave a pretty clear demonstration of going correctly versus being overbent. hahaha she's not strong enough to carry herself for long, but she'll get it for a few strides and then cheat. Not bad for a learning opportunity though. "This is good. This is not." hahaha

I also let her play a bit -- she's got a fairly huge stride when she wants it and it's fun to let her go. But while she was giving me long and short as requested and her transitions are getting better, the floaty huge trot I've felt before wasn't really there. She was good and I quite enjoyed her, but no wow factor.

Ok sobeit. Can't be brilliant every day. Finish up and go for a hack. Take her out to the field and let her trot. And *there* was the WOW.

Anybody ever taught, or even watched, a very young child in their first lesson? The GIANT grin on their face at the simplest of things - a horse walking or trotting under them... If you haven't had that opportunity, I'm sorry for you... But the picture at the top will give you a pretty good idea :)

Well this horse, out in the field, brought that back for me today. I was once more that young girl thrilled by the simplest thing - a horse trotting underneath me. And I'm still grinning hours later. It was... Absolutely incredible. And something about this mare just makes me smile.

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

2011-06-30T22:31:00.001-04:00

hahaha ok so the title might seem a little misplaced, but Mum and I celebrated Mother's Day on Wednesday :) May was just a little too cold.

So for Mother's Day I wanted to find something we could do together and I stumbled upon the idea of an Urban Quest. My dad would later describe it as a car rally on foot -- and it seems that's fairly accurate. A series of challenges that would take us on a tour around part of Toronto and end us up at a mystery restaurant. For dinner you pick the type of food -- we went for pub -- and they make your reservation somewhere...

So we picked an evening that I had off from the barn where the weather looked good (this combination is not as easy to find as you might think!) and signed up!

They gave a suggested parkinglot -- Adelaide and Spadina. Ok we get there and the first clue is a word puzzle. Solve the puzzle to find out where to start. hahaha so sitting in the corner of the parking lot while rush-hour pedestrian traffic past us by, we solved the puzzle and learned we were to start in Kensington Market. Sweet.

Only one problem -- neither Mum nor I had any idea where Kensington Market may be. hahaha oops. So Mum hit up the smart phone, googling away, while I took the more old fashioned method and made a new friend. Random woman who looked like she knew her way around town - quite cheerfully gave us directions. And off we went.

Wandered through Chinatown for a bit, and with her directions and a little help from Google, found it. And while I'd heard the name many times, I honestly had no idea anything about it.

It was highly entertaining! Colourful and busy, the street housed a variety of shops from various places and decades of the world. Mostly of the alternative variety. Found a fairy store I was quite amused by :)

So our quest took us in search of a cat on a chair. Ummmm I think maybe you'll have to wait for the pic of that one :) It'll come, just not tonight. Then cutting back through china town looking at dragons, lions, and lettering we couldn't read. hahaha lots of fun.

From here we explored the walk of fame looking for names of various stars, and took in some of the jazz festival while we were there. And this led us to the key to unlock our reservations.

Now since I hadn't checked my email since I started said quest, I never got the message with the url for the mobile aps. So we fought with the normal url for quite some time. Booo. But eventually we got it to work and found where we were going to eat.

Food was great, and tons of it! And just enough of a walk back to the car to walk some of it off :)

Was a great day, have some fun pics that I'll add in shortly :) Definitely worth a go if you want a slightly different thing to do for a couple hours...

Really?

2011-06-25T22:54:00.003-04:00

So at 8:30 tonight I was exhausted. Didn't want to go to bed cause I figured I'd wake up at midnight wired. So I figure go kill half an hour and then go to bed. All good right? Well now it's after 11, I'm part way into a new excessive project that I have exactly 4 days left to complete. Oh comeon - you know I'd never do anything the easy way. I've also discovered my nanonovel never actually uploaded the final version. hahaha the html version worked with the ending but all the downloadable versions didn't -- so when I wanted to download it, I couldn't. Sheesh.

Alright back to work. Or sleep. Or something.

#FridayFlash 56 - Home

2011-06-23T23:14:00.005-04:00

Happy birthday Hailey! Hope you have a great summer of amazing rides :)

Slightly different style of Flash this week -- let me know what you think!

Please note that all characters and events in this work - even those based on real people - are entirely fictional >;-P
----------
Home

Alana was grounded. Again. And this time it really wasn't fair! All she'd done was mention that it was Jessi's turn to do the dishes and ask why she should have to do them. Jessi would certainly never have to do her chores. But now she still had to do the stupid dishes for her stupid sister AND had no access to her phone or computer for a week! How was she supposed to do her homework? Did they *want* her to fail? Probably. Then they could ground her for that too.

She finished the chore and fled the house, slamming the door as she went. They'd hate that, but she knew by the time she got home it'd be forgotten. Hopping on her bike she peddled furiously to the one place that was hers; the one place her siblings and parents never interfered. The barn.

Alana ditched her bike and went into the barn, the smell taking the edge off her temper as quickly as it would've made her younger brother cringe and whine. The horses were all outside, and the barn was spotless - her coach was insanely picky about that. It's just a barn after all. But the girls all knew things just went much better when you smiled and did it the way she wanted.

She quickly cut through the barn and, grabbing a halter and lead line, headed out to the paddock; she could hear a lesson going on in the distance, but that wasn't why she was there. As she approached the gate she called her pony's name. He looked up from his grazing, nickered, and trotted away from the herd towards her. 'At least somebody loves me', she thought as she fed him his carrot and wrapped her arms around his neck.

They'd told her she'd have to sell him -- she was growing too tall and needed a bigger horse. But how could she sell her best friend? She buried her head in his neck and wiped the tears with his mane. He turned his head around and nudged her shoulder with his muzzle as if to tell her it'd all be ok.

Haltering him, Alana led him out of the paddock, closing the gate behind her. She contemplated hopping on him bareback and riding him back to the barn. It'd be fun. And he'd let her do it. She knew he would. But she had no helmet. And her coach just *might* kill her if she found out. Or worse, kick her out! And she would find out. There was no doubt about that. So she dutifully led her pony back the way she'd been trained.

She groomed and tacked up quickly. Usually a task she enjoyed and spent endless hours doing, today she just wanted, needed, to get out. And he understood – picking up on her mood and fussing in the cross ties instead of standing quietly as he’d been trained to. As quickly as possible she and her pony were back outside, dressed and ready to go. She vaulted into the saddle, a move she was quite proud of, and turned away from the lesson still going on in the background. Still mad at her parents and devastated that they’d even consider *mentioning* selling her beloved Prince, she turned and headed out to the field. He started to dance underneath her, picking up on her distress and knowing a calm walk through the woods wasn’t going to be the answer for either one of them.

They picked up a power trot, the pony straining at the bit, eager to go faster. She started to relax as she smiled at his antics. “Not yet Prince,” she told him out loud, “you have to warm up first.” They trotted two laps around the conditioning trail; she laughed out loud when he used a squirrel racing up a tree as an excuse to bolt. “Not yet,” she repeated as she checked him. Half way through the third lap she let him roll into a canter, and by the time they hit the start of the fourth he was flying.

Her heart pounding she raced with her pony; they flew around the track – he stretching as fast as possible, she leaning low to his neck, loving every minute of it. The only sound was his hooves crinkling the grass as they hit, and his breath matching his stride. She couldn’t see – the wind was too sharp in her eyes. But she trusted him completely. And so they flew.

Eventually, after what seemed a lifetime and only a split second all at once, she knew he’d gone far enough and sat up to slow him down to a more reasonable pace. They trotted for a little while down some of the side paths, just enjoying being together. When they got to the pond, she hopped off and let him have a drink and a graze, enjoying just being with him.

She had all but forgotten what had sent her fleeing to the barn in the first place, and knew deep in her heart her parents would never really make her sell him. They could be totally horrid and always favoured her sister, but that was a line not even they would cross. She picked a dandelion and fed it to her pony who accepted it with quiet grace before she remounted to head home.

The ride back was quieter than the trip out, but the grin from the wild gallop remained on her face as they sedately strolled back, reins on the buckle, Prince a calm old school pony once more. Back at the barn, carefully controlled chaos reigned, as the lesson had finished so the students were all gossiping and reliving their lesson while untacking and bathing their horses. “Have a good ride?” one of the girls asked Alana as she and Prince joined them. And as easily as that, she was welcomed home.

The real 7 wonders of the world

2011-06-23T00:09:00.004-04:00

So I've mostly been posting things on the GRS blog lately -- have that *almost* caught up now, just the Wayne Roycroft clinics (which were *amazing* btw. Having a multiple-Olympian school your pony? Pretty sweet!) and we'll be good to go. Pics of the amazing superpony jumping crazy high and the girls' first horse shows... All *finally* up. Still waiting on some pics for the Caledon HT to go up on FB, but in the interim, the blog will be a good start.

Up crazy late now. Not sure why. Just trying to get things done and on a bit of a roll so I figured I'd keep going. Might regret it tomorrow. hahaha ah well. Dixie goes in for her xrays tomorrow, so will be good to know what we're dealing with there.

Loving the storm right now. Problem is that storms like that tend to energize me which is not really the look I'm going for at the moment.

Random thing - I noticed my hair's turning blond for the first time since I was like 8 :) hahaha only thing is, since the top half is always covered by a hat, it's still dark, so now looks like I have a wickedly bad dye issue. Which might matter if I ever went anywhere that I cared how I looked *g* Fortunately not so much of an issue these days.

hmmmm so cats and touch screens - bad combination. Just an fyi >;-P

Oh yeah - the original point to this post (I knew there was one somewhere!). I got this in an e, and while I'm quite certain it never occurred in any classroom anywhere, it's still a good read. Enjoy :)

Junior high school students in Chicago were studying the Seven Wonders of the World. At the end of the lesson, the students were asked to list what they considered to be the Seven Wonders of the World. Though there was some disagreement, the following received the most votes:

1. Egypt's Great Pyramids
2. The Taj Mahal in India
3. The Grand Canyon in Arizona
4. The Panama Canal
5. The Empire State Building
6. St. Peter's Basilica
7. China's Great Wall

While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student, a quiet girl, hadn't turned in her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The quiet girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many." The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help."

The girl hesitated, then read, "I think the Seven Wonders of the World are:

1. to touch...
2. to taste...
3. to see...
4. to hear... (She hesitated a little, and then added...)
5. to feel...
6. to laugh...
7. and to love.

Mini-update

2011-06-08T22:57:00.000-04:00

Crazy crazy crazy week... For those interested in the horsey thing, check out the GRS blog -- there've been several posts there about the entertainment and at least two more to come (hopefully soon!)

These include:
- our bbq and jump school day (photos will be added in the near future :)
- Foxcroft CT (where both riders took home ribbons -- Rowan took FIRST!)
- horse shopping adventures (yes I have another horse. And she's absolutely lovely.)

And coming soon:
- Wayne Roycroft riding clinic (he got on Lissy!)
- Caledon HT
- WR coaching clinic (next week :)
So this just amused me:

Gotta love the stuff you find on the internet. The photo goes SO well with the statement :)

Off to Caledon!

Things I love about summer

2011-06-08T18:07:00.004-04:00

Ok so admittedly a rather boring title, but sometimes you just need to be accurate... hahaha so that being said...

Things I love about summer:

XC!!!! hahaha comeon, you know that had to be first :)
Heat! Wonderful glorious heat.
Ice cream -- the perfect companion to the wonderful glorious heat.
XC :)
Grazing my horse in the long grass next to the stream after xc :)
Longer days and less brutal work -- a brilliant combination.
Weed eating -- ok so I realize this is technically a chore, but there's something fun about utterly and completely destroying something that's been annoying you. And my visualization skills are strong *g*
XC >;-P
Swimming -- or more accurately occasionally rolling off a floaty toy into pool/river/lake and then climbing back on said floaty toy until warm again.
Driving with the windows open and the radio blaring :)
Sunlight! That's all it takes to make the day at least a little bit better.
Have I mentioned xc???

Yes so I took Li'l Lissy xc this am. What a superstar. Once she got over the "I'm ALONE!?!?!?" panic she was a complete pro. By the end spotting her own fences and taking me to them :) We went exploring and found random things to go over that she's never seen. Forged the river in several locations with never a hesitation. By the second try had figured out how to keep her balance trotting down the hills. But I just loved her attitude. She's see a fence, ears perk forward, body all happy "Hey, let's go jump that! Can we jump that? Sweet!" And then we'd get a little closer and you could feel the equine equivalent of her eyes getting wide... "Ummm are you *sure* we should jump this?" Yes Lis... "Oh, ok then. If you say so." and body relaxes again and away we go. Landing with "wheee! We jumped it!" hahaha she was *such* a superstar. I did have to pull her off the line to one of the T fences she picked that I felt she wasn't *quite* ready for yet since she really should only be doing PE this year (hahaha given that we rarely jump above 2'9" in the ring prob best if we don't try 3' with a drop on the landing on xc :) But dead honest and eager w/o being hot. Within a year or two I can see her and Bella battling it out for being the first year rider show superstar of the group :)

Anyways - was a fun day :)

I love summer.

Just a test post...

2011-06-05T22:15:00.004-04:00

Soooo.... What do you think of the new look? Was having lots of issues with the old one (not the least of which was the castle not showing so it just looked like a dreary grey background). I'm not sure I actually like it... But it'll do for tonight.

Had a great time at the Lucinda Green clinic today :) Details on the GRS blog. Yeah for xc :)

No Friday Flash this week, but have been posting the occasional "one word" sixty second story on I'm telling you stories... Even in my world I can find sixty seconds most days :)

Off for now.

Today's lessons learned...

2011-05-31T22:59:00.003-04:00

They say you should learn something new every day. I figured I'd save up a few days at once... Today's lessons learned:

Heat is a great excuse not to run.

Don't step in the deep mud wearing flip flops... The flip will load the shoe with mud and the flop will cover you head to toe with it.

It is totally acceptable to wash your clothes in the river. Even while you're wearing them :)

If the odds are good you're going to end up soaking wet, wear black. It'll be dry in no time!

When you lead a horse into deep water, be prepared to be soaked.

Have an extra set of clothes for when you end up soaking wet.

If you happen to lose your clear safety goggles in a rapidly flowing river, simply say goodbye. You're never going to see them again.

Weed eaters should NOT attempt to eat metal jump ties...

When the weed eater chokes, stop feeding it.

When unraveling metal jump ties from the weed eater, keep in mind that the metal is likely to be HOT.

It's best not to try to hammer anything into a rotten board.

It is *not* a particularly good idea to try to repair a broken fence without first turning off the electrical. The time you save is not worth the aggravation you gain.

When the humidx passes 40 degrees, it's fair game to go play in the river for an hour or so :)

L and I had a random conversation about frogs; tonight when I was doing turnout there were frogs everywhere. I think tomorrow we should have a discussion about winning the lottery.

When you're hiking a xc course that has sawgrass up past your knees, wear long pants. Doesn't matter how hot it is; trust me on this one.

All it takes to chill out the overly excited horse is to ride him five times in two days and increase the temperature 20 degrees. Note that the same technique does *not* work for the thoroughbred.

While I may wear up to four layers of clothing in the winter, I still somehow go through more clothes in the summer...

Hey - nobody ever said the lessons learned had to be important :)

Human Planet

2011-05-27T21:54:00.000-04:00

Based on the trailer, I think I want to watch this...

Wow.

Quit my day job? Why would I want to do that?

2011-05-27T15:55:00.003-04:00

So the other day I was on a writing site that had an article about "How to quit your day job" - the idea being, as most writers dream of, to write and be paid sufficient amounts for it. I've read a few of these. Never have I seen one with any actual practical advice. But what interested me this time as I read it was that I was not even remotely interested in trying it. For the first time ever "quit your day job and write" was not an appealing idea. It would seem that I've finally found the *right* day job :) One that I actually want to do. hahaha and you know, it seems so simple really - but how many people do you know who wouldn't give up their job in a heartbeat given the opportunity (say winning the lottery?) I would change my job slightly with said lottery earnings but I really don't think I'd give it up. And that's a very kewl realization. Kinda made my day actually.

#FridayFlash 55 - The Thunder Rolled

2011-05-27T00:01:00.000-04:00

For those who're looking for a horsey post - check out the GRS blog for the story of our XC adventures on Monday :)

For everybody else, the time has come to attempt another flash. It's been... ummm a very long time since I've posted a flash. That whole starting a new business and working 70+ hours/week thing *g* This one did not go where I intended it too and I haven't decided yet if I like this version better or not :) What can I say? Sometimes characters just write their own stories. Let me know what you think!

-------------------

The Thunder Rolled

It was raining. The kind of rain where you shut off the tv to just listen to Nature play her song on the window pane. The kind of rain that makes you pity any man or beast caught out in it. The kind of rain that makes you want to go out and play in it to be a child once more.

And then the thunder rolled. It called to me. And I knew I had to be a part of it. 35 years old, a successful professional, and generally responsible adult, and I didn't even stop to question the urge to go play in the rain.

I stepped outside to a darkness so intense I couldn't even see the giant tree I knew was only a dozen feet from where I stood. Before I'd even managed two steps, I was soaked through with the kind of jolting cold that temporarily takes your breath away and then makes you feel hyper-alive for having survived it.

I walked farther into the yard - the lights from the house eerily blurred by the rain and not strong enough to cut the intense darkness and illuminate my path. The thunder, no longer inviting, roared a warning. A suggestion I return to the known. The safe. A suggestion I ignored.

My hand outstretched in front of me found the tree my grandmother had planted a lifetime ago. The thick canopy above seemed helpless to stop the onslaught of drops. The thunder crashed angrily, making me jump. I could feel it shaking inside me. Yet I felt the need to be out there - to be a part of it.

I leaned against the tree, looking away from my home to the darkness that seemed unyielding. Huge drops continued to sharply pelt my skin; yet somehow it was revitalizing. I felt alive. Refreshed. I considered briefly what my coworkers would think if they saw me here, and knew they'd be stunned. And then I considered what my friends would think, and knew they'd simply smile and roll their eyes -- never entirely understanding, but always accepting. And the thought made me smile.

The next crash of thunder was joined in a heartbeat by a vividly powerful bolt of lightning, close enough that I could feel the electricity shiver in my veins. And in the moment of clarity before I was blinded by the light, I could've sworn I'd seen a man standing in the street in the rain. I felt like our eyes locked and I *knew* him. Knew him as well and as deeply as I knew myself. But it was impossible. I wasn't even sure I'd seen anything, much less a recognizable person.

The rain continued pounding out its message on the leaves above my head. The darkness seemed even thicker after the flash of light. And the sound of his voice, directly beside me, more terrifying than anything I've ever experienced.

"Don't you know enough to go in out of the rain?" he asked in a low voice that seemed to roll as the once inviting thunder had.

My response was delayed while I waited for my heart to restart. I couldn't see his features in the darkness, and his voice was not familiar, but somehow I still felt I knew him. And that I shouldn't be afraid.

"Nothing extraordinary ever came of doing the expected." I told him. The thunder rumbled, moving away from us. I felt his gaze on me and wondered how he could see better than I.

"So you're an extraordinary woman then?" I could hear the smile in his voice, but couldn't quite tell if it was sincere.

"And you sir, I'm quite certain, an extraordinary man." I answered, trying instinctively to match his tone and feeling slightly lost, as though I were the only person in a group who didn't get the joke.

"Indeed," he said formally. The rain was fading. The canopy above becoming more successful at catching the drops before they hit us. But the nagging feeling that I knew him grew stronger.

"You're right," he told me. Before I could question him he elaborated, "you do know me. You just don't remember. But it's almost time. You're almost ready."

"Ready for what?" I couldn't stop myself from asking, although I regretted it the instant the words were out of my mouth.

"Ready for the extraordinary," he replied seriously. "There's more to you than you acknowledge. The power calls to you. And tonight you answered. Consider what that means."

And before I could even begin to digest that sentence and deem it all garbage, he was gone. As quickly and silently as he'd arrived, he disappeared. And with him, the storm.

The air held a crisp freshness that hinted of energy and the lights from the house now shone clearly well past my tree. I looked around but could see nobody. I returned to my house feeling both foolish and intensely intrigued, for you see I felt instinctively as though he was right. There was power there. And all that was left was for me to figure out how to use it.

One Word

2011-05-26T23:15:00.002-04:00

New (to me) fun writing site: oneword.com

It's the open comment bubble and the quickly scrolling counter that does it. I think the counter was about 1/4 of the way across before I decided I even wanted to play. They give you a word. You have 60 seconds to write. The word was "Canteen". This is what I wrote:

---

The canteen glowed eerily. I eyed what was supposed to be a healthy drink warily. What had they put in in this time? My boyfriend assured me it was good for me, but could I trust him? With eyes closed and heart in throat, I lifted the canteen and drank.

---

hahaha worse than nano for turning out iffy writing, but somewhat amusing at the same time :)

Best Marriage Proposal Ever

2011-05-24T09:29:00.003-04:00

Found this vid when looking for GRS videos... Very little to do w/ horses so a horrible failure as far as that goes, but fairly wonderful for what it is. So thought I'd share :)

I just wish we could've seen her reaction!

------

hmmmm ok back story as comes with the vid when it's not embedded:

"I have known my fiance Tracey Wade for over 14 years and wanted to propose to her in a very unique way. Tracey thought we were just going to the movies on a Sunday afternoon. Little did she know, I had rented the entire theater and filled it with 160 of our friends and family. I made it seem as though we were showing up a little late to the movie and went in to the theater after the lights had gone down and the movie trailers were already playing. This was done to keep her from recognizing anyone in the theater. What I had done was make an entire movie trailer that had actors portraying both Tracey and I at different times in our lives, both present day and in the future. After a few trailers played including one for Lord of the Rings the one I had made started. Tracey thought it was just another trailer for a movie soon to be released. Tracey was just perplexed as to how many different things had similarities to our relationship, she kept nudging me throughout the trailer. Tracey had no idea this was a marriage proposal until the last three seconds of the trailer."

*insert a whole bunch more details about the making of and the significance of the clips then...*

SHE SAID YES!!

William Shatner Sings O'Canada

2011-05-19T07:52:00.002-04:00

Your morning smile :) Watch all the way through the credits :)

Stupid should hurt

2011-05-19T00:30:00.001-04:00

Man when the Gods rained stupid down on the Earth this week, I definitely forgot my umbrella. *sigh*

As you may be aware, I rather foolishly signed up to run 15k in August. Now that is enough time, I figured, to train. I wasn't being *entirely* unreasonable. So I went online a googled training plans. Most of them say run one minute, walk one minute - for a variety of different times. Ok no problem. Of course most of them also say run a 5k, then a 10k, and *then* contemplate a 15k... But we all know you can't trust everything you read on the Internet right? >;-P

So then I went back to Google and mapped out a couple routes from the farm. One that's exactly 15k and one that's about 7. Ummmm let me just mention here, for the record, 15k is a stupidly long distance to try and run. I know I can *walk* pretty much endlessly with no issue - but a 15k walk will take a *long* time and one thing I don't have all that much of is time. As Nicole mentioned "you know what's 15k away from me right now? Somewhere I can drive to." She has a point.

Alright so when I did the 5k, it took me about half an hour. This leads me to believe 15k should take about an hour and a half. And since I haven't run anywhere since the minute I crossed the 5k finish line, we'd double it. Now this is a problem in that I very rarely have 3h available in a day to do anything *sigh*. But I figure carve the time out once, then do a bunch of short runs to build up a whole lot more cardio and then try again. Yes, at this point I was figuring cardio would be the issue. That nasty little bugger Hindsight is sticking his tongue out at me and doing his nah-nah dance.

But I did have a day where I knew I only had one horse to ride AND that she really should have the day off. Which, with a bit of careful manipulation gave me the time I needed. I had an afternoon lesson I'd have to be back for, so I came, fed and turned out and then decided to try the run - stalls could wait till after. Anybody *else* see a flaw in this plan? Yeah well, didn't want to do stalls first and then not make it back in time so I figured this was the best of a bad situation (and let's be honest, any situation that involves me running is a bad one!)

So one minute on, one minute off. I can do that. No problem.

Ever been to Oakville? Oakville is where I trained for my 5k. Oakville is FLAT. The 5k I ran is advertised as being a "fast" race. Because it too is FLAT. But the farm? It's in Halton HILLS. A piece of advice - descriptors in town names are all too often the result of somebody with absolutely NO creativity naming the town. Basically in this area you are *always* going either up or down hill.

But still - one minute on, one minute off. Even with hills that shouldn't be too bad. So I gamely start out UP the hill at a reasonable (for me - or the average turtle - pace. And after a minute I am PUFFING. And somewhat embarrassed. I really didn't think I was *that* out of shape. But in less than 10 seconds breathing is exactly what it should be. hmmmmm. oh yeah - lesson learned for the day: holding your breath while running makes it significantly more challenging. I do NOT need more challenging.

So 30 seconds goes by and walking's really quite boring so I try to run another minute - this time going down hill. Sweet! Minute goes by in a heartbeat and I'm just getting started so I give it another 30 seconds and then some little part of my brain tells me that 15k is a LONG way. And the people who say one minute on, one minute off probably have a reason for it. And that reason probably has something to do with making it ALL the way around. Let me tell you something - when the voice in your head starts making intelligent comments, it's generally a good idea to listen.

The next walk minute was spent fiddling with my ipod. May as well use the time productively :) And on a side note - I definitely need to dl some new music! I don't think it's been updated since Denny's. Sheesh.

Then I followed my watch reasonably closely. Always the 1 min run, sometimes 30sec walk, sometimes 1 min. And when I was running I was somewhat singing along with the ipod. hahaha anybody who's had the misfortune to hear me sing along with the radio knows that this is a *very* bad thing, but other than one sheep who was sorely offended by it (that was pretty funny actually), there really wasn't anybody likely to be too concerned. And it works for riding so I figured it might be a good plan for running. That whole breathing and rhythm thing.

Alright so 1 minute on, 1 minute off. No problem. Cardio, at least for this particular challenge, is a non issue. I was quite pleasantly surprised about that. And every time I was walking I could hear my dr coach "power walk! You should be going somewhere! Double marks." Ok that last statement may not be so valid in running, but I'm pretty sure the other two hold. And while running, jump coach "drop your shoulders and keep your elbows in!" Apparently my bad habits are the same regardless of sport *sigh* Ah well, something to be said for consistency right? I wonder if they'd be amused to know they're coaching me in running too >;-P

So along I go, past the point that leads to the short route, and at about km 5 I could feel the start of the lactic acid building up in my quads. hmmmm. Not fatal at this point - they were just starting to get kind of heavy. And slight but not tragic shin splints. So to save the second I moved off to the unpaved shoulder and continued. Both issues I remember from doing the 5k. Both unpleasant but neither fatal. And really - every other minute is a walk break; it hardly even counts!

I keep going for what seems like forever, somewhat amused at the 80km traffic signs - ummm not such a problem now! And finally there's a stop sign in sight. Woohoo. That turn signals almost to the half way point. Sweet. Make the turn and it looks like a surprisingly short distance to the next turn... And then I realize no, it's just a jog in the road *sigh* Poor form.

And then suddenly about .5km shy the half way point my calves both ceased up as though I were wearing 6" heels. I could legitimately feel myself getting shorter. I can't AFFORD to get any shorter! Yikes. Ok so that one backed me off a sec. One minute on, one minute off. But clearly taking more of a toll than I'd anticipated. So the walk half of that interval was spent trying to stretch my calves out, rather unsuccessfully.

Now at this point I'm almost as far away from home as it's possible to be on this route. Everything from here on in is the way back. So what options do I have? I can call somebody to come rescue me. I can flirt with the farmer driving the tractor around and get him to rescue me. But both those options involve being rescued, which is not generally my thing. I can walk back - it'll take forever, but I'll get there. Or I can continue the one minute on, one minute off -- after all, everything hurts now, may as well suck it up.

So the inner voice was actively pushing for the "turn around and walk home" option, while the determined (read stubborn) side of me was arguing for go hard or go home - or in this case, both! A piece of advice, fwiw, from our obnoxious friend Hindsight again: if that little inner voice questions "do you think this is a good idea?" - consider listening to it; it usually knows more than you do.

I, of course, stuck with the determined voice (really, do I *ever* do anything the easy or normal way? What kind of blog would *that* make for? Probably not one you'd read - and we can't have that! :)

So one minute on, one minute off. I crossed the train tracks about 2 seconds before the lights started flashing. That would've bought me a good 1/2h break :) Prob just as well; I suspect if I'd had to hang out there for a half hour getting home would've been even harder.

On the plus side - respiration rate still a complete non issue; singing along w/ ipod still very out of tune; and generally making my way along one minute at a time. Which, btw, I still think is a very silly way of doing it -- shouldn't the intervals be in distance rather than time? Cause in a minute I could go nowhere or run my heart out but by this system it makes no difference. If it was .5km on, .5km off that'd be a much more accurate system would it not? It is, however, easier to judge when one has very few gadgets and no gps. hahaha

Anyways - the one minute off still seems longer than necessary but by this time the one minute on is *also* seeming to take forever. I started picking targets "I'll run to that lightpost and then check" -- and since in the country most targets are pretty far away; this worked reasonably well.

And then I saw the mountain. Remember the Halton HILLS idea. Well they lied. That was not a hill. At least not when you're basically at the point of physically lifting each leg and putting it in front. Lesson learned - run the route the *other* way around; it'll still have a giant uphill - but at least it'll be at the *start* of the route! hahaha So remember the whole one minute on, one minute off thing being pointless - how it should be judged in distance? This is why. Cause I definitely saw the mountain and set my pace and time so that my one minute off started the second I hit the mountain. And this is the *only* place I cheated. I freely admit there was no running up the mountain. The little voice won out *sigh* And we had a 2 min walk till I crested the top and ran down the other side again.

And then... I could see the stop sign. In my entire life I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a stop sign. Back on our street! The fact that it's still several kms to the farm is irrelevant; I was back on the right street. Woohoo! This stretch was a huge fight. It really hurt to move and the battle was between "walk home, make it there, but take forever" and "get there as soon as possible and don't give up when you're sooooo close." Wanna guess which one won?

All I can say is I'm really thankful I started out my run UP hill because that meant the very final minute of running was down hill.

I was hot and freezing at the same time (cold drizzly weather, exercise so hot, then stopping) and basically even contemplating taking a step hurt. A shower might've done wonders to cure all three issues but alas, I was at the farm. No shower option. So I cranked the heat, changed my clothes and ate some food. Fortunately the run took less time than I'd allowed (1h, 50min for the curious - and w/in the time allowed for the race too! I'm pretty stoked about that :) so I had a little while before I had to teach.

Brought the horses in for the lesson - more walking. Through mud. Not good. And had to even do an extra trip since Princess Sienna was objecting to being left alone *sigh* But I managed to teach (and the lesson even went really well - yeah for superstar students!) and do stalls - although I acknowledge they took me about 4x as long as they should've! And brought in all the horses. More walking. Through mud. Not good. Led them one at a time - took more trips but I figured I prob didn't have the strength or agility required for two at this point. Got to sit down for a bit to much some dinner and then out to teach again. And turn all the horses back out. More walking. Through mud. In the dark. Not good. And eventually go home.

The drive home was fine. Then I tried to get out of my car.

Mental note - if you decide to totally kill all your mobility muscles in one day, just keep moving. Cause once you stop you're done! *sigh*

Plus sides of the whole adventure though (they *are* there - you just have to stretch your imagination a bit to find them :) I DID it. Ok, technically that may be a minus, but I met the goal I didn't have to meet till August. Ideally I'd like to do it in August w/o injuring myself, but hey, it's a start. Paula's response made me laugh - she sent me a text saying "Alright you are banned from your own running schedule. I will email you the schedule you'll use from now on!" hahaha made me laugh. Except I found her schedule even harder than mine! But maybe there's room for compromise somewhere.

And now, I'm off to sleep. Perchance to dream. Of never running anywhere again. Till next time.

Why on Earth would you want to be in a shower of babies?

2011-05-16T17:41:00.002-04:00

I was at a baby shower this weekend - those of you who know me will realize that liking neither showers nor babies, this is a true test of friendship. But I went and when they announced "games" I tried to hide. But fortunately they kept it to reasonable - one was words - coming up with potential baby names out of the parent's names, which kept me reasonably amused (I didn't officially play of course, but I provided a reasonable number of options to those who were :) and the other was to paint a "onesie" - which sadly I know what that is since all of my girlfriends seem to be having children. Sheesh. I painted mine with a skull and cross bones. hahaha is that bad? Maybe I won't get invited to any more showers now *g* Except that I expect the parents-to-be, who've been friends of mine since high school, will be fairly amused by it. Ah well, that's what makes for good friends right?

A different couple days

2011-05-16T16:59:00.004-04:00

So this Friday/Saturday I spent manning a booth at the Mississauga Marathon (thanks tons to Landmark Sport Group for making that happen!). And it was sort of entertaining. I had a saddle out front of my booth (see below) and the double takes people consistently did upon seeing it were rather amusing.

I discovered I have a bit of a knack for drawing people in and creating random conversation; I was surprised by that as small talk has never really been my thing, and I can't really say I enjoyed it - but it was interesting. I got *really* good at figuring out who rides by how they looked at the display - even if they didn't want to seem interested, a horse-person's eyes will be light up at any unexpected horse-related item. It's an addiction, and those with it are fairly easy to spot. Like recognizes like I guess *g* By the end I was about 98% in my guesses (yes I was playing this game with myself - have to pass the hours somehow!)

Did get to have some fairly interesting conversations with other horse people though, so that's always fun. And met a fair number who seemed interested in lessons, which'd be great. Also some interesting conversations with people who weren't interested in riding but were interested in the idea of cross training between riding and running (these conversations usually started with "why are you here?" hahaha). The first time I spun that I could feel the bs level rising to a point I was sure a light would go on over my head, but by the end I was even believing it *g*

People watching was somewhat entertaining. I was highly amused by the number of people who felt the need to snap a picture of my QR code despite clearly having less than no interest in riding or lessons. There were also a few passing through who I would say are highly unlikely to be participating in the event. Sort of made me wonder what they were doing there (picking up for somebody else?) and how they felt about it... Out of place? Unaware? Aware but confident enough not to care in the slightest? Then there were the people we saw like 8 times. Doing laps? Really? The place just isn't that big or enthralling... Once normal, twice even ok, but more than that?

And then there's me... hahaha so there was a booth not far from mine that had a great theater-style banner that seemed to be as out of place as mine was. So I wandered over at one point when my mum kindly came and covered my booth for me. A Midsummer Night's Run -- complete with various Shakespeare quotes. Ok kinda kewl - thought well maybe if they have a 5k I'll sign up and do that again. But I looked and no - only 15 or 30. A little excessive. Did love the t-shirts and the jackets though. Esp the jackets.

So the next morning I'm chatting with the girl manning the booth next to mine and she disappears for a minute and returns with one of the jackets. Even nicer on close up inspection. "They're free if you sign up today." Ummmm really? "Yeah, it's a really good race; it's fun and the route is really pretty." So, me being me, randomly decides 15k isn't *that* much more than 5. Sure I can do that by August (have I mentioned the last time I did 5 was almost 2 yrs ago and I haven't run more than 10 consecutive steps since then???). Cause really, I, who generally couldn't care less about clothing of any sort, wanted that jacket. So yeah, somehow I ended up signing up to run 15k in Aug. It'd better stop raining soon cause I'm definitely not dedicated enough to train in the rain! hahaha And even though there was a 1k WALK option that also would've gotten me a jacket, I couldn't possibly do things the easy way. Sheesh. Where the challenge in that?

BUT - on the plus side, I didn't sign up for a marathon and I didn't sign up for anything I'd have to leave the country for (both of those were together actually :) - at least I kept the unrealistic projects to the "potentially feasible" realm. This is progress over my usual random decisions (anybody remember "I think I'll go to school in Australia next term"? Or how bout "I'm moving to Vermont next week.") hahah So I'm off to google training schedules. Wish me luck!

An interesting way to see Scotland

2011-05-15T21:57:00.003-04:00

Ok so I had an absolute blast the one and only time I was lucky enough to visit Scotland -- but my trip required significantly less skill than this one! I particularly like the "cyclists dismount" sign :) Enjoy.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

2011-05-08T21:15:00.003-04:00

Really just posting to wish the most awesome mother ever, and coincidentally, my most dedicated reader *g*, a wonderful Mother's Day!!! Love you Mum :)

Completely unrelated to anything - a fairly well done video I came across:

So I was going through old photos for something and found a proof of Zel and I in 2007 jumping a chevron (if I recall correctly one of two on a bending line). Anyways it was a cute photo and a ton of good memories so I gave Andrew a shout - and sure enough he still has them! Yeah for awesome photographers with good records :)

Did you hear Superman has renounced his US Citizenship? Just found that sort of amusing so thought I'd share :)

Am absolutely loving the current weather! Lots of hacking. Lots of outdoors :) A few stories on the GRS blog for the interested *g*

Ok so that's probably enough babbling for the moment. Later :)

The rules

2011-05-05T08:25:00.004-04:00

(yet again stealing from Graduate Riding School blog - who has time to write two???)

So my students are almost all aware of my rules of eventing, but today I found another list that I think should be considered.

Our current rules:

1. Keep horse between rider and ground.

2. Be happy.

3. Just keep kicking!

4. Take credit for flukes.
4a. Corollary – never discount the power of luck.

5. Jump First = Jump Alone.

6. It doesn’t have to look pretty.

7. Remember, you can ride as fast as your horse can run.
7a. Corollary – never ride faster than you can steer.

8. Stadium is simply dressage with speedbumps; therefore, learn your dressage.

9. YouTube videos should NOT be tried at home.

10. Think positively – Scary jumps are just there to eliminate the competition.

This new list has only 4 rules:

1. Leave together and come back together

2. Don't scare the spectators

3. No crying in Eventing (unless its with sheer joy in the moment)

4. Nobody cares on Monday

Now looking at the two lists together, I realize our current rules are for riding in general (with the possible exception of the last one), whereas the new list is all about competition. So I propose to my show team that we adopt their list as "show rules" hahaha thoughts???

List came from a blog I stumbled upon this am - "Confessions of an AA Event Rider and Convicted Over Thinker" I have, ummm a few students in this category :) hahaha give it a read - you'll have fun. And know that you are definitely not alone :)

In other notes - working on getting us both barn clothing and show team clothing. Coming soon!

oh the games we play...

2011-05-04T08:06:00.000-04:00

(from GRS blog)

Jack Saurus was amusing me yesterday - I really wish I'd had a camera :)

So there are two background pieces to this story. The first is that about 2 wks ago, Jack had a meltdown when I walked past his stall carrying an empty feedbag. Not like I don't do this almost every day, but apparently now feedbags are very scary. So I opened the door holding it and he smooshed himself as far as he could into the corner of the stall, every nerve on high alert, shaking and genuinely terrified. Ummmm not so good. So I chilled him out and got him to realize the feedbag wouldn't hurt him. And the next day went into the stall with one again, and he was concerned but not panicked. And by the end I could run it all over him, wrinkle it around, and hide his food underneath it (he just shoved it out of the way - priorities people!)

The second thing is that thanks to this wonderful weather we've been having, Jack has cracked heels on one foot and so is not allowed outside. Jack who despises being inside and is thoroughly unhappy at being stuck in his stall - esp with the rest of the barn outside (I have been keeping a buddy in for him of course, but apparently one isn't enough :)

So through no fault of his own, and feeling fit and fine, Jack is grounded. He's inside, bored out of his little mind, and thoroughly annoyed at this whole process. And understandably so. The novelty of his ball has long since worn off. And yesterday I was trying to think of what else we can do to amuse Jack (I can only ride him for so long!). So I grabbed one of the feedbags (one of the ones where the string came off clean so nothing to accidentally eat :) and took one of his favourite treats (stud muffins). Showed him the treat, dropped the treat in the bag, and tossed the bag in the stall. (side note - for those who don't know, feedbags usually hold 25kg of grain -- they tend to be a bit over 2.5' tall and 1' wide (see http://www.agribrands.ca/Screens/Equine.aspx for a pic). Essentially the height of your household garbage bag but much skinnier and made of a waxy-thin-cardboard type material so they hold their shape reasonably well).

Now Jack WANTS that treat. And has clearly *no* fear of scary bags left as he promptly finds the top and sticks as much of his head as will fit in and shakes the bag around. hahaha omg I laughed and wished I had my camera :) But you see, our friend Jack is a fairly smart horse and figured out within a second or two that his head wouldn't reach the bottom. So he dropped the bag, turned it around and started kicking it with his front leg. Then went and carefully tipped his head in without lifting the bag to see if the treat had moved. Seriously. But sadly his plan had failed - evidently the treat was still out of reach. So he tried brute force - pawing a hole in the middle. Fail. He played with it a little while longer, generally beating up the bag and eventually lifted up the closed end with his teeth and let gravity help him out :) Treat earned. And when I went in to take the feedbag back he had one foot standing right on the middle of it holding it down. He was pretty proud of himself after that one.

So my little game, while not exactly traditional and probably a very bad idea *g* DID manage to keep our friend Jack amused for at least a few minutes (down side to smart horses!) AND got him entirely over his feedbag issues. Not half bad :)

Obama Roasts Trump

2011-05-02T08:27:00.001-04:00

An entertaining start to the morning...

Time to move to Spain?

2011-04-29T06:08:00.002-04:00

Given that he was holding hostages, there's very little doubt of guilt in this case. Can you imagine the outcry if this was done here? On the one hand, too much power can be a very bad thing - we all know how it can be unjustly abused. (How long has "absolute power corrupts absolutely" been around?*) But on the other, if responses like this in clear-cut cases were acceptable, perhaps there would be fewer cases like this.

*ok - I'm a geek, we know it. And I was surprised by the answer - I was thinking one of the great philosophers but not so much... "This arose as a quotation by John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902). The historian and moralist, who was otherwise known simply as Lord Acton, expressed this opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887: 'Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.'" There ya go - learned something today and it's not even 6:30am.

If you want the rainbows, you have to put up with the rain.

2011-04-28T23:00:00.000-04:00

(from GRS blog)

So today started out pretty badly. Miserable windy rainy blah weather. I get to the farm and there's garbage blowing around everywhere. *sigh* Put my garbage out and collect the rest that's flying around. N then mine, despite my clever weighing down, blows away too and I get to start all over. One of those things that you try to laugh at but honestly, I'm not a morning person, this kind of start to the day is not good for me. So finally get it all together and the girls from the other barn are dragging their stuff out and between us we got everything stacked in such a way it was likely to last till the garbage truck got there.

Since the other girls were having the same sort of morning I was we all deemed it break time and hid for the weather for a bit chatting about life, the universe and everything. But mostly just avoiding the weather. So while that was helpful as far as my mood went, it was less good for getting chores done. Esp as I had to be done by 10.

So eventually went back to work - by this point acknowledged that riding wasn't going to happen and got everything else done. And then Kerri and Laney came over. Woohoo!!! MUCH better day instantly! :) And we set off to the Greenhawk sale.

Now on the way to the sale, I intended to pick up some Tims for my very hardworking personal shopper who is a little excessively busy at this sale. Easy right? Ok so the first Tims I passed had an insanely long line - like unsafe, out on the road, long. Sok, there are lots more, we'll skip that one. No problem right? This is Canada - there's one on every corner. Ok except that 90% of the drive is on the highway. hmmmm slightly trickier. But there are still TWO between the highway and my destination. Sweet. Pull into the first one, drivethrough lineup again insane, but this one has parking so park and go in. All good. Except they're out of what I knew she wanted. Blah. Ok drive to the next one, pull into the parking lot and CHAOS. Like cops directing traffic in the parking lot chaos. Was absolutely insane. My brilliant powers of deduction given the mass numbers of people walking in one direction and the other people walking the opposite direction carrying bags led me to believe there was a sale going on in one of the buildings that shared the parking lot. A very big sale. I gave up and took the first route out of there. So yeah, my plan to be a good friend and deliver Tims was a horrible fail :( Booo.

So I get to GH and of course parking there is always an adventure. First parking lot guy tells me "there's a little-car spot down there." Sweet. Yeah, he lied. Cruel and unusual. So I drive around past the warehouse entrance heading for the other side figuring I'll be parking somewhere near the old location. Roll down window to be polite to other parking lot attendant. "Where should I go?" "Well.... There *might* be something that way..." he says, pointing vaguely to never-never-land. Great. "But if you want, you could just park here." Seriously? hahaha he points to a random curved curb 2' away. Totally and completely illegal on all counts -- but looking around, legal parking clearly wasn't a consideration today. And did I mention it was rainy and miserable? And this curb is about a 45second walk to the entrance? Done! Day is looking better already :)

Go in and meet back up with Ker and Laney and discover there are no carts to be had. Really? And the place is PACKED. Seriously packed. Within about 30 seconds we run into an old friend who we both knew from a stable we once worked at so we chatted with her for a while and somewhere in there I managed to snag us a cart :) While snagging said cart I ran into somebody else who was *way* more successful than I at delivering treats to our seriously-swamped friend :) So that made my failure slightly less tragic. hahaha and chatted with her for a bit.

Eventually K and I started out shopping but we quickly split up -- mostly cause her list was much shorter than mine and she knew she'd have to escape to feed L at some point... Fair enough :) I, otoh, had quite the list going. I have also come to the conclusion that for horse people the GH warehouse sale is sort of a social event. We all live in our own little planets so much of the time, this is where everybody converges. Which means almost every aisle I ran into somebody new to talk to :) Most of whom I haven't seen in entirely too long. And a whole variety: people I used to ride with, people I show with/against depending on the day *g*, people I clinic with, friends with their own farms, people I used to teach with, people I used to teach, people I currently teach, parents of people I used to or currently teach... AND every single person who spoke to me, I recognized. hahaha *that* is a serious improvement over previous shopping experiences *g* Although there were a few people I usually see who I didn't get to, and a couple who told me after that they were there that I would've liked to have seen. But such is life I guess. I still had fun.

And somewhere in all the gossiping, I managed to complete my shopping list. My rather long list. BUT - it all fit in one cart and it all fit in the trunk of the rabbit. So it wasn't *that* excessive! hahaha Only three things I missed. One apparently doesn't exist, so really not much I could do about that, one was already sold out, and the third I found and it was a good price but it was too awkward to carry so I decided we could live without it for a little while longer. My poor new visa is screaming. Ah well - had to be broken in some time!

So through the magic that is cell phones, Ker and I managed to reconnect an go for lunch. Fast food so L didn't get huffy but still super nice to sit and get caught up :) Which had me back at the barn just in time for afternoon chores. Alright so no riding for me but everything else was good.

Taught all the lessons and was done reasonably early. AND it was still reasonably light out (have I mentioned recently I LOVE summer?) And the flip side of not being a morning person is that I AM a night person. I was wide awake, high from teaching, and it was no longer windy or rainy. Sweet - clearly time to ride.

So I tacked up Dixie superfast. I started riding her two days ago, bringing her back from her mini-vaca. And she's been, ummmm, a little high. So instead of riding her inside, I of course choose to go outside, alone, at night. Sweet. hahaha but she was great. Had a few moments of silliness but even those were completely undramatic. She's feeling fit, sound and happy and would rather run around looking at things than work - who can blame her? I will admit we never actually got a walk, but by the end our trot work was pretty spectacular. That's got to count for something right?

Anyways - it meant my early night was no longer early and now I'm way too up to sleep (will make getting to the barn in time to feed and be on and warmed up for 8am tons of fun tomorrow!) but it occurred to me that any day that can start out that miserably and end up with me smiling has to be worth recording. So I did :) Night!

Horses lend us the wings we lack...

2011-04-27T18:53:00.007-04:00

So your word of the day? Enthusiate. Ok so I'm not convinced it's in any dictionary, but it's an important one and much better than the word I should've used instead; in fact, "enthusiate" works so much better that I think I'll continue using it :) Enthusiate, of course, being the new verb form of enthusiasm. Because enthuse, the traditional usage, just didn't work for me so I made a new one.

Proper usage? Well consider jumping Apollo: "Enthusiate him before the jump." Make him enthusiastic. Enthuse just doesn't work nearly as well :) So there you go. Work it into conversation at least once today. Have fun.

So in case you haven't seen it yet - our new logo:

Kewl huh? hahaha sometimes the simplest words are the best :) So I have to admit I'm pretty excited about it. I had asked for a logo appropriate for university/grad school type setting. Totally impressed. Thanks TONS to James Wilson at Overdrive Design.

How did we get here? Well it started with my old logo totally offending the designers that I worked with at Overdrive who were rather appalled by it. So James decided to help fix it. Awesome. I wasn't about to turn that down :) The first round had 2 versions - one pegasus and one dressage. But the dressage one, while gorgeous, screamed DQ so was abandoned. I wasn't sure what I thought of the pegasus idea... Too cliche? But then I decided while it may or may not technically work for the business, it suited *me* particularly well on all sorts of levels - and that has to count for something *g* And I figure we fly over horses, so why not have wings?

I also noticed he incorporated the three phases of eventing into the three steps, which was a minor detail I quite liked. And totally nailed the academic/formal concept.

The first version though the wings were much more in your face... I wasn't sure how to explain what I didn't like about them or how to fix them, but James called me back with "do you want them more anatomically correct?" ummmm sure. N I'm thinking, how do you know what is anatomically correct for a pegasus? hahaha but the result totally and completely eradicated my concerns cause while *I* may not know what's anatomically correct for a pegasus, he clearly does. Because the revised version was perfect.

By far the best comment came from Paula: "that's right, we're so good we get to ride horses with WINGS. ya right you're allowed to do that at YOUR barn..." hahaha I laughed and laughed. It's going to be a fun summer :)

There is just as much horse sense as ever, but the horses have most of it.

2011-04-23T21:13:00.003-04:00

I love long weekends :) Esp sunny ones!

So Friday everybody rode during the day, and Stephy did stalls for me (thanks Steph!) - which meant I was done at dinner time and it felt very much like a Saturday. And since it was nice out everybody rode outside and were jumping like superstars! Lots of pics of that in the FB album (thanks to Amy and Steph for photos - http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.142797425779088.26755.133019356756895&l=f0eb5ee467 :) So today, Saturday, which felt very much like Sunday, none of my usual Saturday people were there adding to the confusion! But I filled most of those spots with other lessons and good to go - and again with the super weather and outdoor riding :) Sweet.

And now I get another Sunday tomorrow :) Hopefully with equally perfect weather (yeah I know, not entirely realistic, but I can hope!)

I am always amazed at how much time I can kill at the barn. Under the "time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time" category :) I was done teaching at 2:30 (everybody away for Easter). All I had left to do was bring in, feed, and turn a few back out again. That doesn't take more than an hour on an exceptionally slow day (think 3 ft of snow). Yet somehow at 5:30 I was still putzing around doing minor chores. hahaha classic. I *did* at least take a chunk of that time to ride Sienna and enjoy the gorgeous weather :) So that's legit. But the rest was definitely just chatting with people, continuing the never ending battle with the hoses, cleaning tack, refolding blankets (yeah - a little ocd there, I know :), silly little odds and ends that manage to eat all sorts of time...