Rethinking the Football Career

Alright so sometimes you just need somebody on the ground. Riding around warming up, pony's being good. Coach shows up. I lead strong "so our flat work's been brilliant" (no point in modesty :) and then balance it out "but it would seem I'm entirely incapable of jumping a fence." hmmmm problem. He, understandably, asks for more detail *g* after which it's "well we'll start with flat and go from there". Ok. Watches for a few minutes with a couple random comments, but not nearly the usual rapid-fire corrections. "She's going really well!" (should I be offended by the surprised tone? hahaha I TOLD him our flat work was brilliant. hahaha I do actually know how to evaluate these things. Unfortunately I also know how to evaluate our jumping.) So flat work basically gets skipped and we go straight to jumping. "Between the two of us, we can only do one phase well per day." (hence why we're not eventing yet) "You're going to prove yourself wrong now." "Well I really can't lose then can I? Either I'm right, or I ride incredibly well. I'm ok with either of those." hahaha got quite the look for that one. Anyways, no surprise he sets up our "when all else fails" exercise. Pole, vert, pole. Sienna's been doing this since the brilliance or disaster days when ANYTHING was worthy of a 4' jump or crashing straight through. Anyways, point being by now she can do that gymnastic in her sleep and it allows both of us to get a feel for each other. So we jump it. "Wasn't *that* bad" Felt horrible. Pony was a saint. Ok well try it again the other direction and focus on A. Jump it again. Slightly better. Still bad. Do it again the other direction, focus on B. Rinse and repeat till you get to about M :) Ok so finally we're getting there reasonably consistently and I'm doing a better job of pretending I know how to ride. Sienna's still willing to give me glimpses of that amazing canter from the other day so that makes for some pretty incredible jumps. Get a couple reasonable ones, both directions, that I was happy w/ (for both me AND Si :). Done right? Yeah no. Not so much. Now do the same gymnastic but off a significantly tighter turn. Great. Now, on the plus side, I ride much better off a turn - always have. Turning can see my spot 8-10 strides out consistently and hit it fairly accurately. Straight, less good *g* Tricky part is, my horse has only gained the strength and the balance to make that kind of turn in the last few weeks. And that's just on the flat :) So making that turn while keeping enough impulsion and balance to jump is a bit of an art. But she did it :) 1st time, just about perfect (everything beautiful except landed on the wrong lead). 2nd time, not so hot. 3rd time perfect again - with the lead this time :) Change direction. *sigh* This way we have serious issues with an outside drift that I've only *just* (like as of last week's lesson) been starting to get the hang of correcting (buttons in strange places on this horse -- it took us a few weeks to find them :). So it took a few tries to get it right here, but eventually we did. Ok done right? Comeon, you're not new here. No, now we continue this game but instead of just making the tight turn TOO the fence, we're also going to make the tight turn AFTER the fence to a rollback. 1st time - perfect. Absolutely text-book perfect. Luck. 2nd time - perfect. Fluke. 3rd time - perfect. Skill. Not a fluke. I was ecstatic! But that's not enough. Change direction. So now we're jumping the "new" fence first and rolling-back the other way to the original fence. On the plus side, this turn is the easier one. On the down side she's going to drift into it over the fence leaving less space for the turn. This is what I was thinking while planning my line. What I didn't plan on was leaving a stride n a half out, being left way behind, and landing flying. Boooo. Didn't even attempt the turn. 2nd try. Still left stupidly long. Still left behind - but this time I slipped my reins a ton so @ least superpony didn't get snagged for it. Then in true eventer style (like as in the reason we have a bad rep) made the turn with reins 8 miles too long and riding way behind the motion; DID at least get her to balance up the stride before the fence and the second fence was ok. 3rd try. This time got in super-deep (just for varieties sake) and cut way inside in the air (that's an impressive if somewhat scary trick). Basically did the Western spin thing to get her to the next fence, also super-deep. Ugh. 4th try. This time we *finally* managed it with some semblance of confidence and coordination. Jumped the first one on stride, landed in balance, made the turn correctly, and landed... On the off lead. So close. 5th try. We finally did it right. There are only TWO fences involved in this remember. Sad, very sad. But fwiw - when it was right, it was amazingly right :) For some reason my coach didn't ask me to do it again. Perhaps not positive it wasn't a fluke? >;-P hahaha or should we put it down to the fact that my horse had been jumping for a very long time by this point and had earned the right to be done :) I like that idea better. So my coach always offers my pony a mint after the lesson. Today he turned and offered it to me instead *g* hahaha got a good laugh out of that. And we're good to go again :)

Rethinking the Football Career

Alright so sometimes you just need somebody on the ground.

Riding around warming up, pony's being good. Coach shows up. I lead strong "so our flat work's been brilliant" (no point in modesty :) and then balance it out "but it would seem I'm entirely incapable of jumping a fence." hmmmm problem. He, understandably, asks for more detail *g* after which it's "well we'll start with flat and go from there". Ok. Watches for a few minutes with a couple random comments, but not nearly the usual rapid-fire corrections. "She's going really well!" (should I be offended by the surprised tone? hahaha I TOLD him our flat work was brilliant. hahaha I do actually know how to evaluate these things. Unfortunately I also know how to evaluate our jumping.) So flat work basically gets skipped and we go straight to jumping.

"Between the two of us, we can only do one phase well per day." (hence why we're not eventing yet)

"You're going to prove yourself wrong now."

"Well I really can't lose then can I? Either I'm right, or I ride incredibly well. I'm ok with either of those." hahaha got quite the look for that one. Anyways, no surprise he sets up our "when all else fails" exercise. Pole, vert, pole. Sienna's been doing this since the brilliance or disaster days when ANYTHING was worthy of a 4' jump or crashing straight through. Anyways, point being by now she can do that gymnastic in her sleep and it allows both of us to get a feel for each other.

So we jump it. "Wasn't *that* bad" Felt horrible. Pony was a saint. Ok well try it again the other direction and focus on A.

Jump it again. Slightly better. Still bad. Do it again the other direction, focus on B.

Rinse and repeat till you get to about M :)

Ok so finally we're getting there reasonably consistently and I'm doing a better job of pretending I know how to ride. Sienna's still willing to give me glimpses of that amazing canter from the other day so that makes for some pretty incredible jumps.

Get a couple reasonable ones, both directions, that I was happy w/ (for both me AND Si :). Done right? Yeah no. Not so much. Now do the same gymnastic but off a significantly tighter turn. Great.

Now, on the plus side, I ride much better off a turn - always have. Turning can see my spot 8-10 strides out consistently and hit it fairly accurately. Straight, less good *g* Tricky part is, my horse has only gained the strength and the balance to make that kind of turn in the last few weeks. And that's just on the flat :) So making that turn while keeping enough impulsion and balance to jump is a bit of an art. But she did it :) 1st time, just about perfect (everything beautiful except landed on the wrong lead). 2nd time, not so hot. 3rd time perfect again - with the lead this time :)

Change direction. *sigh* This way we have serious issues with an outside drift that I've only *just* (like as of last week's lesson) been starting to get the hang of correcting (buttons in strange places on this horse -- it took us a few weeks to find them :). So it took a few tries to get it right here, but eventually we did.

Ok done right?

Comeon, you're not new here.

No, now we continue this game but instead of just making the tight turn TOO the fence, we're also going to make the tight turn AFTER the fence to a rollback. 1st time - perfect. Absolutely text-book perfect. Luck. 2nd time - perfect. Fluke. 3rd time - perfect. Skill. Not a fluke. I was ecstatic!

But that's not enough. Change direction. So now we're jumping the "new" fence first and rolling-back the other way to the original fence. On the plus side, this turn is the easier one. On the down side she's going to drift into it over the fence leaving less space for the turn. This is what I was thinking while planning my line. What I didn't plan on was leaving a stride n a half out, being left way behind, and landing flying. Boooo. Didn't even attempt the turn.

2nd try. Still left stupidly long. Still left behind - but this time I slipped my reins a ton so @ least superpony didn't get snagged for it. Then in true eventer style (like as in the reason we have a bad rep) made the turn with reins 8 miles too long and riding way behind the motion; DID at least get her to balance up the stride before the fence and the second fence was ok.

3rd try. This time got in super-deep (just for varieties sake) and cut way inside in the air (that's an impressive if somewhat scary trick). Basically did the Western spin thing to get her to the next fence, also super-deep. Ugh.

4th try. This time we *finally* managed it with some semblance of confidence and coordination. Jumped the first one on stride, landed in balance, made the turn correctly, and landed... On the off lead. So close.

5th try. We finally did it right. There are only TWO fences involved in this remember. Sad, very sad. But fwiw - when it was right, it was amazingly right :)

For some reason my coach didn't ask me to do it again. Perhaps not positive it wasn't a fluke? >;-P hahaha or should we put it down to the fact that my horse had been jumping for a very long time by this point and had earned the right to be done :) I like that idea better.

So my coach always offers my pony a mint after the lesson. Today he turned and offered it to me instead *g* hahaha got a good laugh out of that.

And we're good to go again :)

One of those rides. Twice.

This post is for any of my students (or anybody else for that matter) who has rides where they wonder if perhaps its time for a new sport.

Text message from me to my coach this eve:
"There are two things you should know: 1. My pony has qualified for sainthood. 2. Her rider has forgotten how to ride. Good luck tomorrow."
Response from coach: "I'll bring my good luck charm."

hahaha so that made me laugh.

What inspired the text?

Tues - most amazing flat ride ever. Jumped a few little fences in w/u just to cheat a little and get her using her back n then it was all about dressage. And I had a canter to die for by the end of it. And I actually looked at the inviting but pushing the edge of Sienna's current abilities 3'6" vert thinking, with this canter, that'd be no problem. And then clued in to the fact that if I jumped that with dr tack, it would not be beneficial to my pony. So ended on the awesome canter, cooled her out, tons of pats, and put her away.

But now for two days in a row I have been completely unable to ride a fence. On Wed, there was a minor hurricane going on and she wasn't entirely ummmm focused. It was also like riding in an oven (to be fair, I didn't notice the heat till we stopped, but both Si and I were pretty well lathered). Easy gymnastic, vert to oxer. Vert was a nothing trot speedbump. Oxer also not huge, bout 3'4 -- and nice and slopey (is that a word?) not square. So easy. Text-book striding. Si was pretty high the first couple times, but then she settled and jumped it beautifully several times in a row. At which point I stopped her because it wasn't HER fault her rider wasn't riding well, so why should she have to keep jumping? But I was just feeling out of it. Couldn't stay with her properly, reverting to old habits of being too high out of the saddle, all sorts of bad things. About all I did right was stay out of her way. *sigh* So I left that day feeling proud of my superpony but frustrated with myself.

Then today we could be back outside in nearly perfect weather. Course is set @ 2'9 which she's solid and confident w/ now. But 3 + she sometimes still looks at. Only one that was in that range -- two barrels standing upright with a random pole on top. Now she has jumped that exact jump before, but only a couple times and always set up w/ another fence first. So we jumped around the course a couple of times but I was still felt way off. And you know what? She never lost it. Not once. She did turn and give me an evil glare once *g* but that's about it. My timing, for the most part, was ok -- so not as bad as yesterday (yesterday a course would've been a bad idea), but my position was still rather ummmm interpretive. In fact I'd say the *only* thing I rode correctly was the stupid barrel jump and that's only cause about three strides out she says "you're kidding right?" so I had to answer her :) Anyways jumped a few courses and worked on replicating that amazing canter and holding it to a fence (yeah once that's consistent it's going to be something impressive). And then after a couple acceptable ones gave up and went back to flat for the rest of the ride.

So I came out of that ride incredibly frustrated with myself, and superproud of my pony that I trained to be good enough to cover my ass *g* (how sad is that?) Knowing that a year ago she would never have done that, for that matter three months ago she wouldn't've done that, does help balance the frustration but it's not as though this is a new skill here. And it's not as though she was doing anything bad I had to deal with. No no, she was being perfect and I was still nqr. Blah. Hence the heads up to my coach *g*

So we shall see tomorrow :)

One of those rides. Twice.

This post is for any of my students (or anybody else for that matter) who has rides where they wonder if perhaps its time for a new sport. Text message from me to my coach this eve: "There are two things you should know: 1. My pony has qualified for sainthood. 2. Her rider has forgotten how to ride. Good luck tomorrow." Response from coach: "I'll bring my good luck charm." hahaha so that made me laugh. What inspired the text? Tues - most amazing flat ride ever. Jumped a few little fences in w/u just to cheat a little and get her using her back n then it was all about dressage. And I had a canter to die for by the end of it. And I actually looked at the inviting but pushing the edge of Sienna's current abilities 3'6" vert thinking, with this canter, that'd be no problem. And then clued in to the fact that if I jumped that with dr tack, it would not be beneficial to my pony. So ended on the awesome canter, cooled her out, tons of pats, and put her away. But now for two days in a row I have been completely unable to ride a fence. On Wed, there was a minor hurricane going on and she wasn't entirely ummmm focused. It was also like riding in an oven (to be fair, I didn't notice the heat till we stopped, but both Si and I were pretty well lathered). Easy gymnastic, vert to oxer. Vert was a nothing trot speedbump. Oxer also not huge, bout 3'4 -- and nice and slopey (is that a word?) not square. So easy. Text-book striding. Si was pretty high the first couple times, but then she settled and jumped it beautifully several times in a row. At which point I stopped her because it wasn't HER fault her rider wasn't riding well, so why should she have to keep jumping? But I was just feeling out of it. Couldn't stay with her properly, reverting to old habits of being too high out of the saddle, all sorts of bad things. About all I did right was stay out of her way. *sigh* So I left that day feeling proud of my superpony but frustrated with myself. Then today we could be back outside in nearly perfect weather. Course is set @ 2'9 which she's solid and confident w/ now. But 3 + she sometimes still looks at. Only one that was in that range -- two barrels standing upright with a random pole on top. Now she has jumped that exact jump before, but only a couple times and always set up w/ another fence first. So we jumped around the course a couple of times but I was still felt way off. And you know what? She never lost it. Not once. She did turn and give me an evil glare once *g* but that's about it. My timing, for the most part, was ok -- so not as bad as yesterday (yesterday a course would've been a bad idea), but my position was still rather ummmm interpretive. In fact I'd say the *only* thing I rode correctly was the stupid barrel jump and that's only cause about three strides out she says "you're kidding right?" so I had to answer her :) Anyways jumped a few courses and worked on replicating that amazing canter and holding it to a fence (yeah once that's consistent it's going to be something impressive). And then after a couple acceptable ones gave up and went back to flat for the rest of the ride. So I came out of that ride incredibly frustrated with myself, and superproud of my pony that I trained to be good enough to cover my ass *g* (how sad is that?) Knowing that a year ago she would never have done that, for that matter three months ago she wouldn't've done that, does help balance the frustration but it's not as though this is a new skill here. And it's not as though she was doing anything bad I had to deal with. No no, she was being perfect and I was still nqr. Blah. Hence the heads up to my coach *g* So we shall see tomorrow :)

In my world, time runs backwards.

Have you ever noticed that being really early for things makes you late? I was meeting a friend for dinner last night, but I finished early at the barn. So I got there w/ 1/2 hour to spare. No book to read. Ok well there's a Fairweather Outlet across the street - n I can't remember the last time I got new clothes. Go in and discover that on top of being an outlet, they're having a sale. Sweet. And they have stuff I like. Even better :) So half an hour later when my phone buzzes I'm standing in the changeroom. "You still shopping?" hahaha had let her know how I was going to kill time. Quick text explaining where I am and that I'll be there shortly and we're all good. I get this response: "You're shopping for clothes???" "I'm desperate." "I thought you'd be @ Greenhawk." "My horse already HAS clothes!" hahaha well I was amused anyways. But the trip was successful. Couple new office outfits (most of which are fall-temps so have to wait a bit to wear them) and some great sport Ts that can be worn now :) All good. No petite section so no pants (normal ones are way too long...) Which was what I was most desperate for, but such is life. Found this super-cute, super-cheap office-appropriate dress, but the only one they had was about two sizes too big. Booo. But I was sort of amused that in the end my excuse for being late was that I was too early *g* hahaha only in my world. I love my world >;-P And now for your daily sappy moment. Fran sent me this. N I bawled. So I thought I'd share :) hahaha but I'm a suck so keep that in mind *g* Enjoy! (ed to add - when I posted it here it added a commercial to the beginning. Boo. Worth the 30 second wait though imho.)
Klenex Alert!

Leather, Tack and Tears

As somebody posted a good, reasonably horse related story on WAG (which I've started participating in), I thought I'd try n draw attention to it. Leather, Tack and Tears Enjoy!

Leather, Tack and Tears

As somebody posted a good, reasonably horse related story on WAG (which I've started participating in), I thought I'd share. Leather, Tack and Tears Enjoy!

PSS

Yes I know the subject line is wrong. Those for whom it was written will get it :) For everybody else, well you're probably a little saner for not knowing *g* So yes the PPS (happy now?) -- fall into bed after the yesterday that wouldn't end, completely physically zonked. And promptly lie awake for the next two hours, mind spinning. Remember that whole brain/body disconnect that caused the stupid run in the first place? Yeah, evidently it stuck around. So very not amused. Going to be one of those weeks I imagine. BP Spills Coffee - thought this was worth sharing :) Ok now I was driving to work this am, a little tired (see p 2 above :), just enough to be both bemused and frustrated by being passed by a cyclist. Seriously. How hard I would've laughed if a cop had pulled him over for speeding *g* Now to be fair, the speed limit in this particular residential zone is 30. 30. That's not a typo. School zones with 6yo kids running out into the street go for 40, but apparently these residents need even more special attention than that. Don't know why, am pretty sure I'm better off not knowing why, do know I've already had enough of the Gardner construction and would like to go back to my normal route to work *sigh* Ah well. Seriously though - passed by a cyclist, while doing the speed limit, and the cyclist wasn't even working all that hard. Wrong on entirely too many levels. Just cause it amused me: your word of the day! pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis  [noo-muh-noh-uhl-truh-mahy-kruh-skop-ik-sil-i-koh-vol-key-noh-koh-nee-oh-sis] "A facetious word alleged to mean 'a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust' but occurring chiefly as an instance of a very long word." [OED] Apparently the longest word in the English language. Now be sure to go use it in a sentence. You're welcome. For the bored: http://www.lastnightsgarbage.com/ - a different way to reuse the refuse of New York. From inspiration for short stories, to instructions on how to change an old tv into a fish tank, to the history of clam farming. Enjoy (hmmm is that really appropriate for a site about garbage?)

PS

Ok so did you read the last post? Brutal run today. Yeah so then I get to the barn, and somehow I hit a miraculous traffic hole that leaves me with enough time to ride were I so inclined before I start to teach. Thought about that for all of about 10 seconds. So not going to happen. Graze pony instead. I think Sienna's all for the running idea *g*. Next go teach all night. And it's a definite brilliance or disaster night. Somebody set gravity too high and entirely too many people seem to be unintentionally dismounting; yet otoh, several of my students put in the best rides I've ever seen from them. That part was pretty impressive. I'm finally through the last lesson. My legs are basically shaking holding me up (damn quads - stupid short fast miles mutter mutter mutter. Should NOT be so unfit. Ridiculous! ok back to regularly scheduled story). All I want to do is fall into my car and magically transport myself to bed. And then a student who was quite overmounted on a reasonably hot horse comes over and asks me if I could get on and show her how it's supposed to work. All I could think was "no, probably not." I suspect I even said it out loud *g* Filters don't work so well when I'm tired. I wasn't even entirely convinced I could get ON the horse, much less ride it well. But that's my job. And part of the reason my students trust me is that I am entirely willing to get on and show them if they're having troubles (even if they hate me afterwards. S gets the award for that one after I got on and cantered her horse on the "impossible" lead on the first try and all I hear in the bg is "oh F..." hahahha) And sometimes I'll get on to figure out exactly what the trouble is. So the request was fair. But getting on a hot (and now spun) horse when I'm too tired to stand was not high on my priority list. But I did it. Not well by any stretch of the imagination, but I got on n walked and trotted horse around pretty much on the buckle to prove it could be done. N much as I think that horse would be a blast to jump, I had enough sense to know there was no way my body could handle 2-pt *g* so I didn't play over any of the fences. hahaha And now I have earned the right to sleep. Night.

To run or not to run? Quit asking me stupid questions!

And here we learn yet another reason why running is BAD. So I've been running a couple times/wk since... about the beginning of May I guess (ummmm minus the 2 wks of 30deg weather!). I run a 2k loop and usually do either 2 or 4 k (w/ a half-k walk to and from the start of my loop :). If I do 2, I run pretty hard; put some fairly serious effort into it and make good time (ummmm this'd be good time for *me* - not for anybody who actually runs! :) If I do 4 it's usually more of an easy jog *g* Mondays, which always follow my longest non-running break, so I'm generally pretty refreshed, are when I always consider upping it a little. And generally reject the idea :) So today I decided it was time to up it a little. Figured I'd do an easy 6. (uh huh -- I was deluding myself given that I've never run 6k in my life. Same way the 4' square oxer is "only 2'6". I'm good at the mental games :) It's overcast and not too hot. Shouldn't be a problem. Uh huh -- till I get outside and it's super-muggy out. Ugh. Don't even want to walk! Yeah so apparently my brain and my body were not communicating particularly well today. Brain was saying "long slow miles" body was saying "short fast miles". Fine - let the body win, but still, somehow, with thoughts of the 6k in the back of my head. Booted it around 3k with only slight consideration for the fact that this is much farther than I traditionally make it at this speed. But everything felt good. Breathing matched my stride, covering a reasonable amount of ground, happily daydreaming away (a definite sign I'm not working too hard :). All good right? Yeah well clearly the running gods were NOT happy about this. They hit back hard! I rounded the the 3k mark still zipping along in my happy little world (everybody knows me there :) and then suddenly not zipping so much. Hands started shaking, legs felt like I had 80lb weights on them, and I was ridiculously nauseous. Ugh. No fun @ all. And an almost instantaneous change at that. Still not particularly puffing and my heart-rate came back down within a block or two. But the rest. Ugh. So far from making it to 6, I didn't even hit the 4 I usually do. Boooo. 3 fast and 1 walk. *sigh* Cause I definitely walked the last one back -- and if there'd been anywhere to stop and sit on the way, I absolutely would've done so. Man. Cruel and unusual I tell you. And now? A couple hours later? NP so long as I don't try to squat or go up or down stairs. Just as well I'm not jumping or doing gallop sets tonight! hahaha 2 pt would so not be an option. Not sure what tomorrow'll feel like.