Learning a new language

So just a suggestion -- don't go to Staples 2 weeks before school begins. hahaha Absolutely insane.

Insert abrupt topic change here.

Was supposed to go to Caledon to school XC today. Of course rain and thunderstorms put an end to that. Made some comment about it on FB (this is the 3rd or 4th time we've been rained out in a summer of otherwise incredible weather) and was reminded that any time I've gone to *teach* the weather's been perfect. So evidently it only rains when I plan to ride *sigh*. So who here is surprised by this? Yeah me neither >;-P

So just rode at home instead. Easy indoor ride with the simplest little gymnastic in the world. Spent as much time chatting as riding *g* But was really nice. I've been trying to ride in the way my coach introduced in my last lesson. Now part of the entertainment with that is I'm trying to speak to my horse in a language *neither* of us knows. Because of course, I trained her. So all the buttons are where I put them. Which is, sadly, not where I need them to be now. Oops *g*

So my first attempt coach says "talk to her" and see what happens. And the conversation went something like "So, how's the weather?" "Well the daemons from Minnesota are planning to take over Switzerland."

That was day one. Roughly translated to "How bout we trot now?" "Halt, ok." So technically wasn't our best ride in that what I *wanted* to happen, rarely happened... But be were both trying really hard and she was going really well -- just not necessarily where or how I was intending :)

Move on to day two. By now we've figure out some of the basic nouns and sentence structure. Conversations are more like "So, how's the weather?" "Wet." -- we're not winning any Pulitzer prizes yet, but we're at least attempting to speak the same language. This allows me to choose the gait and general direction, but not effect or improve said gait or direction. So we're trotting left. This is good. But the trot is downhill and the shoulders (or fore-quarters as one student declared them the other day :) are considerably ahead of the hindquarters. Less good.

Day three. Well now this was the really interesting one. Because you see, Sienna has now mastered the language. In fact, is significantly ahead of me. Which tells me that this is definitely a worth-while endeavor to embark on since she's clearly all for it. Today when I asked about the weather, I got a PhD dissertation on the effects of tectonic plate movement on weather patterns. I won't bother to retype it here. You wouldn't understand it anyways >;-P But what it meant was, so long as I was avoiding the way I've ridden all my life, I could move any part of her body and entirely control the pace, with essentially a thought. Was pretty friken amazing let me tell you. Have not figured out how to apply this in any way shape or form over fences yet *sigh* but our flat work jumped about two years in about half a week. So yeah, I'm pretty excited about that :)

So now since Sienna's way ahead of me in the new language, when something strange happens I work backwards. "Ok she did A. What did I do to cause A? I did X. So does that mean if I repeat X A will happen again? Yup. Very kewl." Languages have never been a strength of mine, but I have to admit I'm fairly entertained learning this one :) Just kinda wishing I'd done so 20 years ago!

A day off?

Taken from GRS Blog So I was intending to be away this weekend. As such, I had nothing booked. So when my plans were cancelled, I ended up with a WHOLE day free! Woohoo. So I promptly made a list of all the things that desperately need to be done. Laundry. Clean house. Pay bills. Latin HW. Paperwork. Clean tack. Pull horse's mane. And as I was sort of mentally sorting through the order in which I would accomplish these things, I happened to glance at FB and saw a note about dressage at Palgrave. hmmmmm today eh? Well if dressage is on at Palgrave, my coach will be there. And likely her groom. And some other people I'd like to see... So I look up her ride times; I was already too late to make it there in time to see her first horse go, but her second one was in the aft. Ok so my laundry was mostly done but the rest of the things on that list got scrapped in favour of going to watch her ride. hahaha so I spend all my life at the barn, and on my day off what do I do? Go watch somebody else ride. Obsession? Addiction? Insanity? Possibly all three. But I do know that no horse-person would be even the slightest bit surprised by that choice. So whatever it is, I'm not alone with the affliction *g* hahaha Those who know, cannot explain. Those who don't know, can never understand. I get to the grounds n find her stalls. No people. Ok wander around a bit. Visit the tack store (Sienna now has a new half-pad. The first I've ever bought actually, but her Fleeceworx pad disintegrated so I needed a replacement n figured this was worth a try :). Wander back. Still no people. Pick up a random time sheet -- ok she has a student going in a few mins (yeah for excessively detailed dressage sheets), wander over to 1st level land. No M, but it was amusing me to sit and listen to the various coaches and their students so I hung out there for a while. My fav line: "That was GREAT! At *least* an 11!" and then I guess realizing she might've been a little too enthusiastic, an aside to those around "I'm a judge, so I can decide it's an 11." hahaha - amused me anyways. At one point there were about six coaches all sitting side by side speaking instructions quietly. All to their respective students, clearly wearing headsets. Was sort of entertaining to pick out who belonged to whom :) But then, I'm easily amused. So eventually wander back to the stalls figuring my coach has to reappear eventually since her horse is still there and we're getting close to when she should be riding :) Was just debating where to wander next when her super-groom appeared. N where she is, M will soon be. hahaha So we chatted for a few minutes, and sure enough shortly thereafter she arrived followed by the appropriate getting changed and tacked up chaos. Quite enjoyed watching my coach warmup her superstar horse and evesdropping on her coach's comments. I even more enjoyed watching her absolutely brilliant test. And the look on her face coming out that made it clear it felt as good as it looked :) It's not too often you get to see somebody come out of dressage smiling like that. So we go take care of the horse and watch another of her students ride. Convince a near-by kid to did a ditch to funnel water away from the stalls for when the rapidly approaching storm hit. hahaha he was handy to have around :) And then it's time to go find the scores. Always scary -- what happens if the judge didn't think it was as good as it felt? It *shouldn't* influence how you feel about a ride, but it always does... So as we were hanging out, about to go see, her phone rings... Scores are up. And hers? First. As it should be :) I oh so rudely read through her test (bad Lauren! :) to see a good number of 9s on it *g* Pretty sweet. Anyways so that was a good random horse-show day. Had fun socializing, did some shopping, and watched the friend I went to see ride a kick-ass test. Doesn't get much better than that. So on the way home stopped to ride my pony. N while I wasn't sore at all after yesterday's lesson when I woke up this morning, about two minutes into trying to ride I could feel all sorts of new muscles screaming. hahaha but my horse went beautifully! And we finished just before the rain hit. And just to round things out she did get her mane pulled and the tack did get cleaned. So while the *whole* list didn't get done, parts of it did *g*

My mother always said there'd be days like this; she just never told me there'd be so many!

So some of you might be aware that Sienna and I have been having a bit of a rough week. *sigh* I get that she has just decided she's a teenager, and this is all part of the fun and games, but really???? She's SIX now. We should be about 2 years past this behaviour. Of course we should be about 2 years past her growing too and she's still doing that. Ah well. Last Sat I jumped her around and she was absolutely incredible. One of the best jump rides I've ever had on her. Perfect little hunter pony. Ratable, listening. Hit every spot bang on, gave me every lead I asked for, lengthen/shorten/turn all no problem. Honest and confident. Just wonderful. One of those rides that makes you really glad you threw the schedule out the window and skipped dressage for one day *g* So there's a line about "it doesn't matter how good a trainer you were yesterday, your horse wants to know how good you are today" -- that was our next ride. It got its own post. Something about Why do I ride TBs? Can't remember the last ride I had like that on her. Last time she lost her brain that badly was @ Grandview this spring, but this was different in that this time it wasn't total sensory overload it was just one specific thing that the tiny TB brain couldn't handle. Conveniently it happened when I was feeling entirely patient and I basically kept repeating the question till she figured it out. So of course every day since we've been over the tarp. She's a long way from confident about it yet, but she's getting much better at it. Still wouldn't want to see one in competition though! hahaha not that I'm exactly concerned about that, but anything similar really. So the next day I decide to hop her over some baby stuff. Yeah that was bad. Very bad. It's as though our wonderful tarp school convinced her that A, everything is scary. And B, jumps are optional. Training rule #1: "Never teach your horse something you want them to forget." *sigh* I spent a very long time and eventually got her quietly trotting over a few fences and left it at that. Now you have to keep in mind, this is the *same* course she was jumping like a pro on Sat. Just lower :) But no, evidently in her world that's entirely irrelevant. Next day... Theoretically a schooling jumper show. Yeah no, I know better than that. Not worth screwing her up entirely to go play when things are not going well at home. Instead normal ride. W/u includes tarp. She thinks about it a whole lot but no serious meltdown. The advantage to the whole tarp w/u thing is it *really* brings her back up. Made the following dressage ride pretty seriously impressive. hahaha so yeah, was actually a good ride. She was very strong and a little high and it took a long time to get to the "relaxation" phase of things but when we got there things were quite good. Of course hacking back to the barn we had to shy at everything and end up a bouncing ball of tension. Which resulted in us practicing walking around quietly (much to the amusement of those grazing... "Ummmm didn't you just leave?" "Yeah, we need to practice walking." *sigh*) I was tempted to walk her through the drivethrough, but managed to restrain myself *g* Mostly cause losing it on pavement would be very very bad for my pony :( Eventually though she walked quietly and halted properly and I could dismount. I did end up going to the show -- entirely to socialize. Got talked into being a slightly useless groom (useless cause I kept wandering and talking to people :) but for people who don't actually need a groom so it's all good. Saw a friend and her superstar pony that I don't get to see nearly often enough. Chatted with a few people I haven't seen in years -- also entertaining. Generally not a bad evening. Of course anywhere there's horses and free wine is bound to be entertaining. So then we get to today. Lesson time. I got on w/ enough time to get our tarp-school in before my coach got there. Not *quite* enough time to get her relaxed (he's *always* early!) but close enough. And he asked me how she's going. And I told him. And apologized *g* Figured we should just get that out of the way. So he watches for a minute and comments on her great trot. Well yeah, the plus side of all this is awesome dressage. hahaha So for the dq portion of the lesson we worked entirely on me. And I'm not quite sure how he did it, but he made me tall! hahaha like I seriously felt I was on a horse a hh taller. Was really quite impressive. It was one of those "take all the pieces apart and put them back together differently" type lessons. Where for a little while I felt completely, entirely incompetent (which was definitely not aided by the fact that my incompetency was making me giggle. Ego aside, after the amount of experience I've had feeling like a beginner again is really really funny. Like riding the rolly-polly paint pony western *g* Or vaulting in university -- a sport that should never be attempted after the age of 12!), but by the end the difference was... Wow. Will be interesting to see if I'm sore tomorrow. I noticed it in the lesson, but was fine after... We shall see. Anyways, the end result of fixing the rider was our impressive eventing dressage became real dressage. Like the kind of dressage Zelli used to do all by herself :) Well maybe not *that* good. But far closer than I ever imagined Sienna could get. Only down side? Somewhere in the midst of the beginnerness I happened to mention that a lunge lesson would be potentially useful... That might've been a mistake. We'll find out next week *g* Superpony's never been lunged w/ a rider before. I've no problem galloping her at a 3' stone wall.... But going in a 20m circle w/ a line attached to us? Well that's scary! And I, well I have to admit I love lunge lessons. Of course I also love gymnastics. So yeah, basically I'm insane. You're not new here. This is not news. But, that being said, I haven't had one since I was riding with L... N that was in 2002. hmmmmmm So then we start to jump. "So what do you want to do?" (Wait, I get a choice? ummm I *never* get to choose!) "Something easy." He just looks at me, looks pointedly at the course I designed, and rolls his eyes. "Something easy?" he asks. "Trot fences." I decide. Knowing fully well that cantering and jumping at the same time is a bad combination for Sienna's little brain at the moment. So he watched us trot around and saw some of what I've been seeing from her. I avoided the tarp entirely (having already told him about that game, and already done it that am, he didn't push it), but trotted over everything else. Including the bench (which got an "I really like that jump" from him. hahaha yeah eventers!). Which she trotted over in absolutely perfect form. Her anxiety lowered as we went around. Never got to confident, but got back to reasonably calm and willing, so that's a start for today. We left it at absolutely nothing challenging or interesting, but at least accomplishing point A to point B in reasonable form. As for the show next week? It may well become a dressage show for us. But we'll see. It's all about the positive experience right? *sigh* The trainer side of me agrees with that entirely. The competitive side of me would like to get back to the winning. Like all three phases in one day. hahaha One day. Hopefully not TOOOOOO long from now.

Ponies: the only socially acceptable form of child abuse.

One of the guys at work creates ap games for the iphone -- had a lot of fun playing one (not yet released) that he's working on now. Might have to go get me an iphone. Yeah, or maybe not >;-P So I amused myself this morning... I have this new alarm clock. That I'm not a huge fan of, but it's mostly doing its job (although Alarm 2 seems to be optional? Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't?!?!) Anyways I need it to be dark to sleep. My old alarm clock had a wide, flat face -- so I just used to put it face down. Problem solved. This one is a more normal design. So I started by putting a book in front of it, but that just wasn't working because the surface is curved and short. So looking around for something that would work. Found a little stuffed bear (which significantly outlasted the ex who gave it to me! :) Little stuffed bear hugs the clock perfectly and is small enough to fit on the little space there is. Perfect. And for a couple days, the alarm would go off, I'd knock the bear off the shelf and find the snooze button. Worked well enough. But today I discovered that instead of knocking the bear off the shelf, I just hit him on the head. The head is in exactly the right place to hit the snooze button. hahaha so gets rid of anger at alarm clock for waking me up, hand is cushioned by nice soft bear (making it that much easier to fall back asleep -- hmmmm potential flaw there?), I don't have to search for the bear from wherever it got thrown, and like 10 years after the fact, ex becomes useful *g*. All round solution really. Yeah well, we know I'm easily amused *g* I was reading, yet again, about the whole "8 glasses of water a day" thing, and I gotta admit -- unless it's like 30 deg out and I'm working outside, this is nearly impossible for me... I have my glass of OJ in the am. A coke somewhere mid-aft. And usually a bottle of water while I'm teaching (sometimes two :). So total liquid consumed doesn't equal the amount for just water. And I'm not willing to give up my oj or my coke for more water! hahaha Although I suppose it depends on the size of a glass. A very small glass 2 bottles *could* equal 8 glasses (comeon stretch your imagination :) So to start with I'm going to go for two-three bottles a day (instead of one-two). We'll see what that does. A few of my friends posted this on FB today and I thought I'd share... Under the evil pony category: Ed! If you browse you-tube a bit there are other vids of this kid having fun a few years later on a much nicer pony :) Kid'll be an awesome rider if he sticks to it. And just cause it amused me, a random Simon's Cat vid -- I love the fascination with the little scrap of paper he tears off. Definitely a Sherlock move *g*

Tell me something... Why do I ride TBs?

From Graduate Riding School Blog --- Remember the superpony I told you about a post or two ago? The one who was jumping around over scary things like the brave eventer she might one-day become? Yeah I'd like to know where she went and ask her to come home *sigh*. I had a chestnut OTTB mare to ride yesterday. In a big way. To be fair, she had two days off and it feels significantly cooler out (my car tells me it's 29, but it feels cold. No humidity @ all so I'm guessing that's the difference. I can't handle summer ending yet!). Yeah so I should've known when she didn't come to me in the field. She didn't run away from me either, just basically ignored my presence entirely (usually I call her from the gate and meet her half way). Grooming and tacking up she was witchier than usual, but not tragically so. PMSing maybe? Take her out to the sand ring and get on -- she's her usual quiet self. And I *might've* let her wander away while I was getting organized. Technically a bad habit I realize, but one born of always riding in busy locations where there's usually a lineup for the box. Get on and get out of the way. So we're still in wandering/getting organized mode a few seconds later when suddenly we're standing on our hind legs for a few seconds and then promptly galloping the other direction. Ummmm excuse me?!?!?! Fortunately I have both reasonable balance and the ability to react quickly when necessary so got organized *really* quickly and stopped the pony. Ok so what was that all about? Walk her back that direction on purpose this time to find out. Sure enough, stop/snort/up/backwards. Ummmm no. Backwards is not in the contract. Counteracted w/ our friend the dressage whip which promptly led back to up. *sigh* There's a theory about a horse has 6 ways to go: left, right, forward, backward, up or down. And when riding you're supposed to close all the doors except the one you want. But I have yet to figure out exactly how to close the "up" door. *sigh* I can hold her straight, and stop her from going backwards, but to avoid forwards when she's this concerned, she'll pick up. And it's not even a malicious thing -- she only does it when she's genuinely concerned about something. But it's still not a good thing. So we finally compromise with stand still (all four feet on the ground) and snort. She's about a hand taller than usual and her whole body is quivering. The very scary thing she's concerned about? Yeah it's the blue tarp. The blue tarp that she's seen many, many, many times before. But it had been rolled up (it's usually the "liverpool" under one of the jumps) and put off to the side. At about this point one of the other people arrives "what's her problem?" "Chestnut ottb mare." Right. hahaha So I get her to go past it in start-stop-start-stop-shy-bolt fashion. Do that a couple times till we can maintain a straight line and something that resembles a trot. Remember by this point we still have not done so much as a warm-up circle. So I ask the person on the ground if she could possibly take the tarp out of the bushes, fold it very small, and put it between two standards so we can school with it. No rail on top - if it's "just a jump" it defeats the purpose since apparently tarps are only scary when they're by themselves. So there's enough space between tarp and standard that, were she straight, she could walk easily between the tarp and the standard. So this is where we'll start. Uh huh. Yeah that's clearly setting the bar WAY too high. About 10 ft out. Stop snort try to rear and spin bounce in place a bit. Seriously horse? Was actually a reasonably entertaining drama given what was involved. So I get her *almost* to it and she's stretched out her nose as FAR as she possibly could to investigate without getting too close... All good till she snorts on it. It's a tarp. Tarps move when a strong breeze hits them. AND they make noise when they move. And I was laughing too hard at Sienna's reaction to stop her. hahaha. So we had to circle a couple times and get the flight response under control and then come back to it. Repeat this three or four times w/ regaining control after a stride or two instead of the mad gallop and then eventually keeping her straight so we snort and freeze but don't disappear. Ok, progress. Proceed with the "walk by" plan. She's *really* hesitant but at least gets up to it (now it's folded tiny -- maybe 1' across if you stretch your imagination. To put in perspective -- BOs 5yo child would have no problem stepping over this). So given that it's tiny, her head is already past it when the feet get there. Remember at this point I'm only asking her to go beside - not over... But she's really unsure, so she's taking these tiny baby steps and throwing dirt all around. Anybody see the problem with this? Yup, as soon as she got close enough to *almost* go bravely by, she kicked dirt on the tarp. Which made noise. And we were gone again. And it made MORE noise as we spun to run away. Which made us leave faster. hahaha such a goof. And we try again. This time when the scary noise hits the tarp I take spinning out of the equation -- so she has up or forward as her options. Since she really doesn't want to stay with the tarp, forward it is. Fast! hahaha. But technically we were past the tarp. Done? No, of course not. Ok so turn around to go over it the other way. Have you ever worked with a horse before? Scary object in the other direction is a NEW scary object. Repeat the above few paragraphs. On the plus side, it was nice to see she can now spin and bolt evenly in either direction (when I got her she used to only spin left - no strength to the right). She picked it up a little faster this way. Either because she'd done it once already or because she prefers jumping that direction in that ring. Turn around and try again. Not so much hesitation this time. Still a bit of a leap and run but getting easier. Repeat this a few times till it feels less like I'm sitting on an explosion waiting to happen. Alright so now we've got the walking by, how about over? We start the easy way but pointing her straight at it this time. Stop, snort... comeon pony... FLYING leap and gallop away. hahaha ok, well technically over it :) Back and forth a whole bunch of times till she's trotting over it and landing in a controlled canter (never got relaxed enough to treat it as a trot pole, but at least somewhat calm and straight. Now I *could* have left it there... But really, it shouldn't've taken me 40 minutes to get her to trot over that. May as well take the desensitizing all the way while we're there. Asked somebody on the ground to please put it back to its normal size (about 4' wide). I thought even in her spinny mode she'd look at it and just way over jump it. Yeah no. Not so much. Remember waaaaayyyyy back at the beginning when we stopped like 10' out. Yeah back to that. Only now it's even scarier because this way it's lighter, which makes it more susceptible to the wind. Which means it randomly MOVES. Yikes! But I started the game, had to finish it. Right back to stop, snort, inspect, walk beside it. Then we did walk part way beside it and flying leap over the corner. Land flying (like to the point that when I get her back to a trot the walk will not happen. Ears up around my eyes. Less good. Get her chilled out again (took a while). Do some walk trot transitions. Reinstall brain. Try again. Going the one way, that was the best I ever got *sigh*. Going the other way I got her trotting it and landing excited but ridable. Had to leave it on that because I had to teach (usually I have time to ride, cool out, untack, and chill for a bit before that lesson gets there. This ride I hadn't even gotten to the w/u yet!). So I got one good trot over it reasonably and left her on that. Went over to the other side of the ring to do some trot loops and take advantage of her back being up nice and high and the power behind the trot for a bit n then let her cool out (despite the fact that we never technically warmed-up!). Now since I didn't have time to put her away, she had to teach with me. Hanging out in the middle is a good lesson in patience so I generally don't mind this, but today was even better because every time student stopped for a break or something, we worked on the tarp. By the end she was walking over it BOTH ways quietly (actually even stepping ON it - albeit cautiously). So I was quite happy that we got there. But man it took forever to get there. So guess what we'll be doing for the rest of the week? When I say she's a little slow sometimes -- these are the days I'm talking about. It shouldn't take more than an hour school to convince her to go over a tarp. And once she's done it, it should get *easier* each time. Or so that's been my experience in the past. Not so much with this one *sigh*. Ah well -- ditch training right? Essentially the same idea. So why do I ride a TBs? Because they're cheap! hahaha nah - most days they're entertaining, but some days I think life'd be easier if I'd gone and gotten something a little more sturdy with a little less edge. Of course then I'd be bored :)

All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream. - Edgar Allan Poe

So I've been having the weirdest dream-within-a-dream thing happening lately and it's just a little bit creeping me out. More creeping me out by the fact that it's happened a few times in succession. The first one was really scary. In that one, I don't recall the set-up but I was in serious danger from something and then something happened that was nqr and I thought "wait a second, that can't be real, I must be in a dream." And then I woke up. But I woke up to a scarier situation that involved something massive falling (I was in a warehouse of some sort and whatever this was was suspended from the ceiling) that was going to squish me and I was trying to figure out how to get out of the way. And right before it squished me I woke up for real. But the way I was facing the shadows resembled the item that I'd been trying to figure out how to avoid in the last one so took a min to realize a, I was really awake, and b, the world was not caving in. Sounds so stupid but my heart was pounding louder and faster than my alarm clock does and I was instantly WIDE awake -- if a little disoriented! The next time wasn't scary at all, and never had the realization of dreaming that the first one did. I just "woke up" in another dream and continued on my merry way until I woke up again. The only reason it registered was because it was so close in timing to the scary one. That and the fact that I can't remember ever having experienced that before. Only other thing I can think of that's ever come close is dreaming that I'm getting up and ready for work/school while instead I've actually turned off the alarm clock and gone back to sleep. And let me tell you, that's a HUGE waste of a late-day. If I'm going to sleep in and be late, I want it to be for a fun dream! hahaha In real life though, things are good :) Business plan is ready to go. I'm still tweaking of course (oh comeon, I'll *always* be tweaking. It's like the website - there's no such thing as done!) but it's presentable at least. Have a few new students lined up for Sept and one old student who just returned last week (welcome back M! :) Always fun. Except she grew up >;-P She was a little kid last time I saw her and now she's about 15 and a real person :) Really it's only been a couple years, but in maturity and personality the difference was pretty kewl. Sent entries for Cedar Run. hahaha could be interesting. We're setting the bar super-high with primary goals of, in order: "keep horse between rider and ground", "don't get eliminated" and "keep horse's brain between ears". Secondary goal is "jump clear". I would like to accomplish all four of those. You'll notice none of them are connected to dressage *g* To be fair, her dressage is actually reasonable these days -- but not when goal 3 is still in the list. Said pony's been awesome lately. But then, we haven't been off the property since June *sigh*. Wonder how many XC schools I can get in in a week and a half? *g* Coined a new term at work today. Basement Nav. As in the navigation at the bottom of a website that's traditionally a site-map but when they've removed pieces thereby making it not much of a map. Also works for the links to legalese etc that you find down in the basement of the page :) And yes it's entirely possible that section already has a name, but I like my version :) And for the curious -- the poem the subject line was stolen from: Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now, Thus much let me avow-- You are not wrong, who deem That my days have been a dream; Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a day, In a vision, or in none, Is it therefore the less gone? All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream. I stand amid the roar Of a surf-tormented shore, And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand-- How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep, While I weep--while I weep! O God! can I not grasp Them with a tighter clasp? O God! can I not save One from the pitiless wave? Is all that we see or seem But a dream within a dream?

What I might do when I can't compete anymore (a lifetime from now!)

Alright so I have to admit to being unhappy that the days are noticeably shorter already. I'm getting up in the dark, and my last lesson of the night each night is running out of light. BIG boooo. But on the flip side -- did anybody see the extreme sunrise this am? Wish I'd had a camera -- was very impressive. A floating line of clouds coloured vibrant shades of red and purple with the blindingly bright orange glow of the sun below and the pale blue of the "not-yet-morning" sky above. So had a lot of fun judging at the Myrddin Short Course yesterday. As always, it was a great show -- newly painted reasonably challenging courses with new fences on XC; including an optional baby bank on PE! hahaha cutest thing ever. I was judging stadium and the first field of XC and so got to see everybody who chose to jump :) Not a bad place to be! Armed with a clipboard, whistle and radio I headed out to the booth early in the am. And then hung out for a while while everybody else got sorted *g* Have to admit I was not the least bit disappointed when the radio died after the first 1/2h. hahaha I like being able to listen to what's going on, but really I don't get along well with them. The one time I tried to use it it just beeped at me (I was told later that's what it does when the battery's dying *sigh*). But then, the only person who really needed to reach me from dressage world on the other side of the property just before we started didn't have a radio. But she did have a cell phone. Problem solved. hahaha yeah for logical lateral thinking *g* Once things got under way the day flowed pretty quickly. As with most well designed stadium courses there was once fence that came down more often than any of the others -- in this case, that'd be fence four. Came down for two reasons -- first, it *looked* like the easiest fence on course (hello people, can we say a warning sign?!?!?) so it wasn't necessarily as respected as much as perhaps it should've been, and two, if the rider cut the corner, they'd get there on a half stride. Every time. Those who rode their corners, no problem, but those who didn't, kept the ring crew busy *g* Took a walk out around the XC course afterwards -- mostly to see Barb's much talked about PE jump. Coolest baby XC jump ever! It's very hard to make low-level xc interesting (jump the log, then the next log, then the log over there, etc) but she pulled it off :) Was a normal panel, but painted with grass and bunnies and butterflies. So it blends well with the grass and keeps completely with the xc idea, but has a slight surreal feel to it. Very kewl. Should've taken a pic. hahaha After the show was over was social hour :) Always fun. Of course having taught there for years, I still know most of the people involved and it was really great to see everybody again -- esp those who don't compete so I never see on the circuit. Also visited for a while with some of the competitors whom I know from other places. One of my favourite coaches was there w/ a super-nice greenbean doing the YEH course so was fun to catch up with him and his crew. There were a couple I was expecting to see who unfortunately couldn't make it. So sad :( Did get to meet some new entertaining people though, so that's always good :) The threatened thunderstorms mostly held off -- other than a 10 min delay at the end of the E division, we were good to go. While still not nearly as much fun as competing or coaching, was still not a bad way to spend the day :)

I'm going to stop procrastinating. Tomorrow.

So today was just a chill day :) Ton of stuff I *should* be doing of course, but I decided to take a day just to play. B and I were getting bored of the old course set up at the barn, so we decided to recreate it. I think she began to question the wisdom of embarking on this project with me when I suggested the bench burred in the weeds on the sideline would make a good jump, but she humoured me :) So we made a really great course with some of everything. Lots of technical possibilities -- if you want them. Or alternate simpler routes for those not quite ready for the tricky ones. Only problem? It was supposed to be a flat day. *sigh* And I did do some flat work. But then I might've had to jump over just a couple fences. Just to test them out you see :) After all, had to prove the bench was jumpable *g* (and the others who tried it did admit it rides well. One of these days I'll have to get them out on xc :)
Si over the bench (jump looks much better from the other side, but such is life :) So yeah, short ride on the superpony today, but she went beautifully. Pretty happy about that. Anyways - since I've managed to do nothing productive today I figure I should get a little work in now.

Ever wanted to be a pilot?

Ok so I admit I might've spent more time than absolutely necessary on this site after stumbling upon it today: Airbus A380 Cockpit Panorama -- but if you zoom in you can see all sorts of fun toys. Is it a bad sign all I wanted to do was push buttons? Maybe it's a good thing nobody's ever let me in a real one *g* And I absolutely love that there are cup holders. hahaha such a mundane necessity appearing in all the gadgetry.

#fridayflash #46: Freedom Fantasy

This one's for Anna and Paula :) ---- As I watched the clouds drift away to be replaced by a stunningly blue sky, I couldn't help but wish I were outside. "The grass is always greener," my mother's sing-song voice chimed in my head. But in this case the grass WAS greener. Literally. And the sky blue. And I was inside a big cement room with a small window that let me see a sliver of what I was missing. I put my hand to the window longingly. But no matter how hard I wished, I couldn't transport myself to the other side. I watched through my window as a child, oblivious to my suffering, played outside -- savoring the last weeks of summer. A bird flew towards me, but veered off at the last second -- clearly repelled by the evil radiating from my prison. A man looked in. I was all excited, thinking he would see me. Human contact! I smiled, and lifted a hand in half a wave. But he ran a hand through his hair and barred his teeth -- checking the mirrored glass for any remains of lunch. I could've told him he looked fine, but he'd never hear me. My eyes drifted shut as the stuffy air began to affect my consciousness. I shook my head to force myself awake. I couldn't afford to sleep. People entered and left my building. None came to my cell. I was abandoned. Forgotten. And outside my window, life went on without me. I wondered where those outside were going as I dreamed impossible dreams of freedom. Time stood still. One leaf fluttered off a nearby tree, drifting on the breeze. The kind of breeze my sealed window would never allow in. And then, finally, my dreams came true. With the big hand on the twelve, and the little hand on the five, I was free to escape the office.