Running away to join the circus

So I rescheduled my lessons tonight, and when I explained to my students why they were all amused enough to be kewl with it. Why? Well I went to circus school. Seriously! One of those "well why not?" moments :) Went to learn "aerial silks" at the Centre of Gravity (which has a coffee shop next to it called Sideshow hahaha made me laugh anyways :) Think Cirque du Soleil with long curtains hanging from the ceiling. So after stretching on the ground, we did some strength/familiarity exercises with the silks. The first was to simply reach up, wrap one around each arm, hang and lift your knees to your chest 10 times. The interesting discovery here was just how stretchy the silks are! Not like holding on to a rope, when you put all your weight on these they stretch and you sink! Good to know :) This was followed by lying on the ground and lift yourself up to your feet hand over hand on the silk -- and then back down again. Then the fun stuff began. Lesson one? How to climb! Wrap the silk outside-in (for the horsepeople out there - think opposite of how you'd wrap a polo :) around once and then on the second time around drape it over your foot. Then put your other foot on top, holding it in place; reach up as high as possible; pull your knees up, let the silks slide through your feet (keeping them wrapped the same way) then when there's no slack, stand up. Rinse and repeat! hahaha took me a minute or two to get the hang of it and then I was fast. It was a really kewl feeling. And it seemed to work that way for the others -- either they got it and were really good at it quickly, or they never got more than about a foot off the ground. So next was some balance and coordination exercises. Somehow I ended up being first for everything. Somehow I always end up being first. hahaha with riding I'm ok with it, but here I had no more idea than anybody else what was going on. Sheesh. So holding the two silks together, Coach Emily tied a knot in them, making a swing of sorts. Step one? Get ON the swing! hahaha you basically hold one side of it, then kick both your legs up as high as possible and loop one of them through the silks. Fortunately for me this is not far off how one gets on a horse :) Slight advantage there. So getting in the swing was no problem, then it was stand up on one foot and hold your hands out to the side. Still no problem. Basic balance there :) Made for kind of a fun pic though *g* I have to admit it was sort of interesting watching the others do this. All but one managed it, but there were definite degrees of . The one couldn't manage to get ON the swing, so our coach made a much lower knot so she could step onto it :) After that she was ok. So then the fun and games -- sit on the swing, slide off the swing and flip over backwards. Then let go. ummmm I'm sorry, what??? Personally I liked "It seems counter-intuitive, but the farther back you go, the easier it is" uh huh, but how do I *get* to that point w/o dying? hmmmm Kinda like telling the horse that's bucking to go forward when all you really want to do is stop *g* And sure enough... And then apply core body strength, flip around so you're hanging from your shoulders... Now admittedly they were the two easiest things we did. But the first one required pretty serious guts for that first moment. hahaha So we went from the easiest to one of the hardest. And this one was NOT worth the effort it took cause it didn't look all that impressive. hahaha difficult things should at least look kewl! This was a star -- so stand on the swing, spread your feet aside, push the silks away from you with your arms. No problem. Except that you're on two ropes tied at the top and the bottom, so the wider you spread them, the shakier it gets. My balance and core strength is reasonable, but I was shaking trying to hold that one! After that, Emily took pity on me and told me to hold much higher, this puts the silks closer together and is significantly easier to hold. Watching the others do this after, I was sort of bemused to discover most of the people couldn't move their feet apart. That part was a non-issue for me. So once we finished the star, we moved to the reverse star. This one was really easy to hold, but tricky to get into. Slide your feet back together, then you have to take one out and wrap it around the outside of the rope -- so you're no longer actually standing with that foot on anything. No problem -- except then you have to do the same with the other foot! So until you get the other foot organized, you have to be able to hold yourself up. Once there though, it was just a matter of slip both arms through in front of the silks and good to go. No strength of balance to maintain this one, but only a couple of us actually managed to get there. Next we had to learn a new skill. Starting on the ground. Take the silks together and wrap them around your leg and foot the same way as to climb (remember WAAAYYYY back to the beginning :) Then you pull down some slack from the top and loop it under your foot (so in essence there's a figure 8 around your foot). Ok. Took me a minute but I figured it out. No problem. Except yeah, you have to do it w/o using your hands *sigh* Ok, still possible. Except yeah, you have to do it in the air. I'm sorry, what? Think this one through -- so far, we've learned to wrap the silk around one foot and hold it in place with the other one to climb. Ok so they said climb up about two jumps (3-4') and then work the knot. But as soon as you move the foot holding the silk in place, you're suspended entirely by your arms -- so how do you get the slack in the silk to wrap the second half of the 8? So basically you jump yourself up the silk so you're in the right place, then you lean way back so that your body makes an L with your legs out in front of you as though you were sitting on the ground, and your body straight up, hanging on to the silks from your arms and using serious ab muscles to hold this position (so the silk makes the angle of a triangle. Ascii art version: L\ THEN let go with the un-tied foot, push it against the now angled silk to create some slack and use that foot to tie the rest of the 8. Then use whatever arm and ab strength you've got left to stand yourself up. Uh huh. Sure. 1st try! hahaha I was pretty proud of that. Esp when only one other person got it at all *g* But I worked for it. And while I'm at it? The reminder to make sure the bottom of the 8 goes across the ball of your foot. hahaha had a good laugh at that -- as if after decades of riding I'd put it anywhere else *g* As if I had that much control at all! I was just thrilled I accomplished something that vaguely resembled what was supposed to happen. So then we moved on. Emily showed everybody how to fake the knot so we could do the next step "except you," she says looking at me, "you should do it properly." Oh gee, thanks. On the one hand, the next couple times were easier because I knew how the logistics work, on the other, by this point my body was starting to object, so I couldn't hold anything very long! Now once you have your knot and are standing on it, bend the other knee up, holding the silk inbetween the leg and the hip, then tip sideways. Seriously. So you're lying parallel to the floor. Hold the bent knee with your lower hand (in my case right knee with left hand) and then let go of the rope. hahaha have to admit this one took me two tries. First time I couldn't get my balance right well enough to let go. Second time everything just felt right and I could've hung out there for a while :) I was pretty proud of that one too! After that there was only one move left to learn (no pics of that one). The scissors. This is not something I'm going to be able to explain well, but if you know how to do scissors in valuting it's essentially the same thing only instead of your legs going behind you over the horse, they go sideways and as you twist, you grab the silks in the process so you end up able to hang. It must've taken me at least ten tries to get this and even then it was so loose I only ended up about 6" off the ground! hahaha One other girl got it much better than I did. Nobody else even came anywhere close. Nobody was taking pics of that one, but for the curious youtube saves the day: So yeah, circus school was an absolute blast. Didn't laugh *quite* as hard as I did the day N and I were on the trampoline (another circus act? hmmmm should I be concerned) but I was much better at this one *g* Perhaps if the riding thing doesn't work out? >;-P I suspect I'm going to be some sore tomorrow...

Riding Ruminations

So I was teaching last night (big surprise there eh?) and when I left my car to start just before 4:00, it told me it was 34 degrees out. By the time I was done teaching @ 9:30, I was cold. Huh??? Car tells me it's 19deg! Boooo. 19's still ok but not compared to 34! Then this morning it was 15. I'm really hoping this doesn't mean summer's already over :( So on a different note, I've been asked a couple times in the last couple weeks why? Why spend all that time, money, effort, and stress for evidently no return. Particularly to those deep in the business world, this is completely illogical. Esp as "you have other options" and "you have a good job, why would you leave that to muck stalls?" Why would you give up 9-5, benefits and vacation time for 24/7 and none of the above? -- and I admit, sometimes I question the sanity of that too. hahaha and yet I'm working very hard to make that happen. There are those who say that those who don't know, can never understand. As though there's a wall and those who get it are on one side, and those who don't will always watch on, bewildered, and not the least bit interested in crossing over. And then there are those whose answer is "it's as important as breathing" which of course gets instantly dismissed as overly dramatic since, let's be honest, very little is as important as breathing. To me, it's not as important as breathing. I rarely go more than a minute without breathing (how long's the average stadium course? >;-P) yet I have, on occasion, gone months without riding - and survived! To me, it's like the perfect summer day. Where it's the ideal warmth -- that you're comfortable being outside but not melting in the sun. When the sky is so blue, if it were in a photo you'd assume it had been inexpertly touched-up since nature never reveals colours that pure. With just the occasional super fluffy cloud riding a gentle breeze passing buy. When you get to experience one of these days, it doesn't mean that everything in the world is instantly right. What it does mean is that the bad stuff doesn't seem *quite* so bad. Life is just a little lighter -- the focus shifts from the petty annoyances to the little things that are good. These kind of days are not necessary to survival -- in Canada we regularly go months without experiencing them -- but when they occur, they make the quality of life so much better. For me, the horses do the same thing. In the times that I haven't ridden, I've missed it of course, but life fills up the time and the money gets spent on other things and you don't really realize there's anything wrong. Until the day you end up back at the barn. And suddenly everything seems so right. And you can't help but smile. Like stepping off a plane onto a Caribbean island in February. Suddenly, the world is just that little bit better, stress is easier to deal with, frustration lessens and smiles come faster. That is why. And when you find that thing which does it for you, you'll understand the passion/obsession/addiction (it's amazing how closely those are linked!) and then you'll find yourself struggling to explain to others "why". And as for teaching? Well that's easy -- it's all about the lightbulb moments. That moment, when you see the light go on, when your student *really* gets it for the first time, and realizes just how different "it" is from what they've always had, that is why. Sometimes I think I'm more excited about these than the student :) hahaha Have had a few of those in the last couple weeks, n it's just the most amazing thing to see. Or there's this version of why...: "Mucking stalls allows me to enjoy clarity of purpose. And at least I know when I've stepped in the sh*t. At work, I don't know that sometimes until I'm knee deep in it." hahaha sounds about right to me :) This video was just too much fun not to share. Enjoy! - Pony Prix What I wouldn't've given to do this as a kid.

Riding Ruminations

So I was teaching last night (big surprise there eh?) and when I left my car to start just before 4:00, it told me it was 34 degrees out. By the time I was done teaching @ 9:30, I was cold. Huh??? Car tells me it's 19deg! Boooo. 19's still ok but not compared to 34! Then this morning it was 15. I'm really hoping this doesn't mean summer's already over :(

So on a different note, I've been asked a couple times in the last couple weeks why?

Why spend all that time, money, effort, and stress for evidently no return. Particularly to those deep in the business world, this is completely illogical. Esp as "you have other options" and "you have a good job, why would you leave that to muck stalls?" Why would you give up 9-5, benefits and vacation time for 24/7 and none of the above? -- and I admit, sometimes I question the sanity of that too. hahaha and yet I'm working very hard to make that happen. There are those who say that those who don't know, can never understand. As though there's a wall and those who get it are on one side, and those who don't will always watch on, bewildered, and not the least bit interested in crossing over. And then there are those whose answer is "it's as important as breathing" which of course gets instantly dismissed as overly dramatic since, let's be honest, very little is as important as breathing.

To me, it's not as important as breathing. I rarely go more than a minute without breathing (how long's the average stadium course? >;-P) yet I have, on occasion, gone months without riding - and survived! To me, it's like the perfect summer day. Where it's the ideal warmth -- that you're comfortable being outside but not melting in the sun. When the sky is so blue, if it were in a photo you'd assume it had been inexpertly touched-up since nature never reveals colours that pure. With just the occasional super fluffy cloud riding a gentle breeze passing buy. When you get to experience one of these days, it doesn't mean that everything in the world is instantly right. What it does mean is that the bad stuff doesn't seem *quite* so bad. Life is just a little lighter -- the focus shifts from the petty annoyances to the little things that are good. These kind of days are not necessary to survival -- in Canada we regularly go months without experiencing them -- but when they occur, they make the quality of life so much better. For me, the horses do the same thing. In the times that I haven't ridden, I've missed it of course, but life fills up the time and the money gets spent on other things and you don't really realize there's anything wrong. Until the day you end up back at the barn. And suddenly everything seems so right. And you can't help but smile. Like stepping off a plane onto a Caribbean island in February. Suddenly, the world is just that little bit better, stress is easier to deal with, frustration lessens and smiles come faster.

That is why. And when you find that thing which does it for you, you'll understand the passion/obsession/addiction (it's amazing how closely those are linked!) and then you'll find yourself struggling to explain to others "why".

And as for teaching? Well that's easy -- it's all about the lightbulb moments. That moment, when you see the light go on, when your student *really* gets it for the first time, and realizes just how different "it" is from what they've always had, that is why. Sometimes I think I'm more excited about these than the student :) hahaha Have had a few of those in the last couple weeks, n it's just the most amazing thing to see.

Or there's this version of why...: "Mucking stalls allows me to enjoy clarity of purpose. And at least I know when I've stepped in the sh*t. At work, I don't know that sometimes until I'm knee deep in it." hahaha sounds about right to me :)

This video was just too much fun not to share. Enjoy!

- Pony Prix What I wouldn't've given to do this as a kid.

#FridayFlash 41: Ransom

Eyebrows were raised when I said @ 9:30 this eve that I was going to write my Friday Flash. Apparently that seemed to be leaving it to the last minute or something. Clearly not as I still have a whole HOUR left in Friday! hahaha. Even more impressive -- I wrote part of this one twice. Started it, got about three paragraphs in, decided I hated it, deleted all but the first line, and started over. Then I finished this one but the ending didn't match the tone of the rest of the piece, so I rewrote that. Still not entirely sure about it -- suggestions? Definitely not my usual style, but I hope you like it! Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading :) ------------------------------------- Ransom I could've avoided all that trouble if only I'd taken the ransom note seriously. But I mean seriously, who ransoms shoes? I mean yes, they were super-cute summer sling-backs that matched my sexy dress perfectly and made me just tall enough to seem petite rather than short. And yes, they cost me an ENTIRE paycheque. Which, by the way, I'd appreciate you not telling my mother. So yes, when I took them off at Lissa's party and couldn't find them in the morning for the walk of shame, I was more than slightly disappointed. But I had to get home and changed for work, so I left with nothing more than a cursory search. Lissa, being the awesome friend she is, swore to me she'd tear the place apart to find them. She understands how hard it is to find the perfect shoes. Arguably a more important find than the perfect man. And to lose them just as easily. Harsh. Very harsh. So when her text came in a few hours later, I expected a joyous "Found!" or even "U owe me!" -- either of which would've been entirely reasonable. But "Call me asap!" was a bit of a puzzle. Lissa always speaks in exclamation marks though -- that same message could apply because she's being rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery or because she's not sure which shade of nail polish to apply. I didn’t even bother to make an excuse to my boss as to why I was stepping out of the office, just took my phone and went outside. I was reasonably certain this would not be deemed a professional conversation. “What’s up?” I asked when Lissa answered her phone. “They’ve been ransomed!!!!” Even for Lissa, that was excessive. “What? Who’s been ransomed?” “Your shoes!” There was a moment of silence while my brain tried to process that information and form an appropriate response, but Lissa didn’t wait for me to catch up. “I found the note stuck to the closet door. ‘If you ever want to see the shoes again, you’ll meet me at David’s Pub on 44th street at 8:00 on Saturday evening.’ You have to go rescue your shoes!” “Uh Lis,” I wondered how to point out the obvious, “whoever has the shoes probably thinks they’re yours.” Dead silence from my usually verbose friend. “They came out of your closet, at your party. Points for the most creative pickup line ever – but they’ve directed it at the wrong person.” “No way!!!” Lissa stated vehemently, “I would NEVER wear shoes like that!” “Hey! What’s wrong with my shoes? I love those shoes!” “Oh I know you do, and they’re great for you. But for me? I’d look like an elephant walking on stilts if I tried to wear those.” I considered this briefly before conceding the accuracy of the analogy. “But it doesn’t negate the fact that whoever the shoe thief…” “shoe kidnapper!” Lissa interrupted, “or shoenapper? They do intend to give them back.” “Ok whoever the shoenapper is, probably thinks they’re yours.” “All the more reason for you to go then. You get your shoes back AND foil their plans in the process. Perfect!” “Perfect except that I’m left meeting a strange guy in a bar to rescue my shoes.” “Aren’t they worth it?” She had a good point. And so it came to be that on Saturday night I was at David’s Pub, wearing totally uncute running shoes and looking decidedly short rather than sexy, wondering how I would know who was holding my shoes hostage. “I'm glad you came,” the voice spoke from behind me. I turned to see the man I’d spent the first half of Lissa’s party trying to work up the courage to speak to. “I believe these are yours?” he asked, holding up my shoes. My eyes lit up; a petty girlish reaction but I couldn’t help it. They were amazing shoes. But as I reached for them, he held them out of reach. “The ransom is that you have to let me buy you dinner. Then you get your shoes back.” I raised my eyebrows and looked down my nose at him, trying to do my best Mrs. Smith scary middle-school librarian impression. Let me tell you, it’s hard to look intimidating when you’re wearing running shoes and are a foot and a half shorter than the person you’re trying to look down on. “And desert,” he added to his list of demands. Clearly my intimidation attempt had failed miserably. I pretended to consider the situation. “I suppose I can live with that,” I agreed as he led the way to a window-booth. How could I help but be flattered that he’d apparently gone to all this effort for me. Not gorgeous TALL gregarious Lissa. Me. I was starting to regret the uncute running shoes. I should’ve known then. I should’ve realized that anybody creative and dedicated enough to go to all that effort for a first date would turn my world upside down. If only I’d taken the ransom note seriously, I would’ve entirely avoided all the trouble that followed. All the practical jokes. My wedding shoes disappearing (heads nearly rolled for that one!). Learning to fear April Fools Day. But then I would also have missed out on the one man more important than even the best pair of sexy sling-backs.

Interesting people...

So I was at Blinds to Go today, looking to pick up some new blinds for work, and this woman storms in the front door "Where's my money?" absolutely livid. No way she's going to wait patiently in line, so the woman helping me turns to deal with her. "I paid you and then you upped the price so I want my money back. That was three weeks ago. I called the cops; if I don't have my money today they're coming with me tomorrow. Theft under $5000." She's going on and on and on and on. This poor sales lady is saying she has no money and can't give refunds here, that refunds have to come from head office. Even tries to call head office but gets vmail. Unhappy customer is telling sales lady she'll be held personally responsible since it's her name on the sales slip and they're going to arrest her for theft. Etc etc. Which seemed highly unlikely to me, but what do I know? I've heard of people threatening to sue before, but this seemed a far more impressive threat. By this point another sales lady has come and discretely led me away to help me on the other side of the store, but the client's conversation was clear, and from her words one could easily fill in what the sales lady must have said. Woman was just nasty -- on top of the over-the-top reaction of dragging the cops in (if that's actually more than just talk) she was personally attacking the sales lady along the lines of "you must be completely useless at your job. You say this was done and did you ever call to see if I got my cheque?" And I'm thinking of all the people who've paid me by cheque -- not one of them has ever called to see if I got it. hahaha and only once have I ever called somebody to see if they got it, and that was *months* after the fact when it still hadn't been cashed. I'm suspect if the cheque didn't make it to somebody, the recipient would track it down. I'm pretty sure that's fairly standard. Most amusing part -- at one point when both sales ladies were turned away from the ranting customer, she turns to me, smiles and mouths "sorry" for holding me up. Made me think a whole lot of this was a rather intense act of the "squeaky wheel" variety. She stormed out just as I was finishing up, having been promised a call from head office whenever they got through to them and threatening to be back tomorrow cops in tow. Almost makes me want to go back tomorrow to see how it plays out :) Random silliness for today: Blank Maps Seriously. Written by the same guy who published a dictionary entirely of one-letter words :) And slightly more serious: History repeats itself - a blog that unfortunately seems to not be kept up any more, but whose archive is worth reading. Takes current (well as of 08) news and finds similar articles from the last century. Read the latest Lee Child book this wknd n have to admit I was really disappointed. I usually really like his Jack Reacher books - great character. And one of them has about the best opening chapter ever. But in this one both A, Jack wasn't nearly as strong a character and B, the bad guy was blatantly obvious right from the beginning. Usually when a character is that obvious it turns out to be some fluke string of coincidences that makes them seem obvious, and the *real* bad guy is this character over here that you overlooked. And that's why I kept reading -- I was waiting to see how he came to be innocent and who the real one was. And was sorely disappointed. Boooo. Ok end of rant. :)

DQ Games

So Sienna and I headed into DQ world this weekend. Yes on purpose. Sheesh >;-P

We get there (R came with me to help out -- thanks tons!) Unload Miss Sienna, who, seeing the grass, settles almost instantly to grazing :) Leaving her in good hands, I trek off in search of the secretary, get all checked in and find where I'm supposed to be etc. Go to find tack check since I had a technical question, but discover there is no tack check. *g* Gotta love schooling shows :) All good.

Get tacked up and dressed. I think we have to rethink the whole dressage gear thing. Now that we're not in the calvary anymore >;-P I mean seriously, *white* pants? In my case, thick breeches (warmest non-fleece ones I own). And full-seat at that. Ugh. Not fun. Then lets add to that a long-sleeve black jacket. Yeah there's a good idea in the hot summer sun! And tall black leather boots too. Fashion over comfort in a big way here. Alright moving on. If it weren't for the full-seat thing wouldn't've been so bad. Not as though it's not the same gear for eventing :)

Anyways - I was a little concerned that the ride over to the rings might be exciting, but Si was really kewl with it. Yeah hacking pony! She was really quiet, and warmed up well. I took her for a walk over closer to the ring -- what I found really amusing was that she couldn't care less about the flapping tent with the BBQ under it; no problem there at all. But the *rock* on the other side of the road, now that was to be feared!

Footing in the w/u ring was amazing. Just as a random sidenote :) Was pretty happy about that. And the in-gate steward was amazing. Seriously into her job, but friendly about it *g*

So first test we go in. Investigate the scary barrel that R warned me was causing grief. And the tents. And the ads. And the camera person. Then we were all good :) Went in and she did her best test ever. Now to put this in perspective, it did not even vaguely resemble traditional dressage. hahaha but there were entire sections where she was connected. The inverted giraffe didn't even feel the need to come play! woohoo! AND we even got at least one stride with a left bend. hahaha (the tenser she is the more she tilts and curls right -- it's quite dramatic at times). Alright. Sweet.

I was ready to go home at that point. It's hot. We put in a test better than anything she's ever done. First two goals accomplished. Second two, close enough :) All good. But yeah I knew we had to do more. Kinda the whole point.

hahaha so heading back to the trailer after the first test, I ran into a friend I haven't seen in a while. "What are you doing *here*???" he asked with appropriate disbelief. "Do you realize there are no jumps anywhere?" hahaha classic :)

Take her back where she's drinking as the bucket is filling up. Apparently she felt it was hot too. Happy about that though -- the whole drinking away from home thing is relatively knew still so I'm always happy to see that. Let her graze and chill for a bit while I memorize the next test. Hop back on and go for test two.

Easy w/u. Good test. I was thrilled. Still got a little run away with at the canter, but actually accomplished a left bend. Woohoo!

Last test... hmmm well in w/u she took serious objection to the letter S for some reason. That had me laughing. We'd just been wandering around on a long rein and suddenly we're 10ft away snorting. Classic. I swear she was just checking if I was awake. Test was the best one yet. We had an unfortunate return of the inverted giraffe and as a result had to skip a transition. (ummm cantering right, supposed to trot at C and walk @ M. Inverted giraffe on speed kicked in about H. "We need to go NOW!" just about when we needed to be stopping. So we skipped the trot entirely and came canter to walk rather abruptly (you WILL stop) at M. hahaha as I said, slightly less than traditional :). But the rest of the test was really really good. And the left bend was only slightly more of a fight than the right. Definite progress.

Not competitive yet -- but then, she was never meant to be highly competitive in dressage *g* We were in the ribbons and the top half of the class consistently, but not the top three. Ah Zel spoiled me in some ways. Moved that bar way up there *g* But since our last two or three times out we've been pretty much dead last after dr, this is serious progress!

To review -- goals for the day were:

Mandatory:
1. Keep horse between rider and ground.
2. Don't exit the dressage ring during the test.

Hopefully:
1. Achieve a left bend.
2. Have each round get progressively better.

And you know what? We got em all! So I was thrilled.

Sienna the DQ?

(from Graduate Riding School Blog) So Sienna and I headed into DQ world this weekend. Yes on purpose. Sheesh >;-P We get there (R came with me to help out -- thanks tons!) Unload Miss Sienna, who, seeing the grass, settles almost instantly to grazing :) Leaving her in good hands, I trek off in search of the secretary, get all checked in and find where I'm supposed to be etc. Go to find tack check since I had a technical question, but discover there is no tack check. *g* Gotta love schooling shows :) All good. Get tacked up and dressed. I think we have to rethink the whole dressage gear thing. Now that we're not in the calvary anymore >;-P I mean seriously, *white* pants? In my case, thick breeches (warmest non-fleece ones I own). And full-seat at that. Ugh. Not fun. Then lets add to that a long-sleeve black jacket. Yeah there's a good idea in the hot summer sun! And tall black leather boots too. Fashion over comfort in a big way here. Alright moving on. If it weren't for the full-seat thing wouldn't've been so bad. Not as though it's not the same gear for eventing :) Anyways - I was a little concerned that the ride over to the rings might be exciting, but Si was really kewl with it. Yeah hacking pony! She was really quiet, and warmed up well. I took her for a walk over closer to the ring -- what I found really amusing was that she couldn't care less about the flapping tent with the BBQ under it; no problem there at all. But the *rock* on the other side of the road, now that was to be feared! Footing in the w/u ring was amazing. Just as a random sidenote :) Was pretty happy about that. And the in-gate steward was amazing. Seriously into her job, but friendly about it *g* So first test we go in. Investigate the scary barrel that R warned me was causing grief. And the tents. And the ads. And the camera person. Then we were all good :) Went in and she did her best test ever. Now to put this in perspective, it did not even vaguely resemble traditional dressage. hahaha but there were entire sections where she was connected. The inverted giraffe didn't even feel the need to come play! woohoo! AND we even got at least one stride with a left bend. hahaha (the tenser she is the more she tilts and curls right -- it's quite dramatic at times). Alright. Sweet. I was ready to go home at that point. It's hot. We put in a test better than anything she's ever done. First two goals accomplished. Second two, close enough :) All good. But yeah I knew we had to do more. Kinda the whole point. hahaha so heading back to the trailer after the first test, I ran into a friend I haven't seen in a while. "What are you doing *here*???" he asked with appropriate disbelief. "Do you realize there are no jumps anywhere?" hahaha classic :) Take her back where she's drinking as the bucket is filling up. Apparently she felt it was hot too. Happy about that though -- the whole drinking away from home thing is relatively knew still so I'm always happy to see that. Let her graze and chill for a bit while I memorize the next test. Hop back on and go for test two. Easy w/u. Good test. I was thrilled. Still got a little run away with at the canter, but actually accomplished a left bend. Woohoo! Last test... hmmm well in w/u she took serious objection to the letter S for some reason. That had me laughing. We'd just been wandering around on a long rein and suddenly we're 10ft away snorting. Classic. I swear she was just checking if I was awake. Test was the best one yet. We had an unfortunate return of the inverted giraffe and as a result had to skip a transition. (ummm cantering right, supposed to trot at C and walk @ M. Inverted giraffe on speed kicked in about H. "We need to go NOW!" just about when we needed to be stopping. So we skipped the trot entirely and came canter to walk rather abruptly (you WILL stop) at M. hahaha as I said, slightly less than traditional :). But the rest of the test was really really good. And the left bend was only slightly more of a fight than the right. Definite progress. Not competitive yet -- but then, she was never meant to be highly competitive in dressage *g* We were in the ribbons and the top half of the class consistently, but not the top three. Ah Zel spoiled me in some ways. Moved that bar way up there *g* But since our last two or three times out we've been pretty much dead last after dr, this is serious progress! To review -- goals for the day were: Mandatory: 1. Keep horse between rider and ground. 2. Don't exit the dressage ring during the test. Hopefully: 1. Achieve a left bend. 2. Have each round get progressively better. And you know what? We got em all! So I was thrilled.

WAG and #FridayFlash 40: Fish Out of Water

Originally posted for WAG, I'm sharing for FridayFlash too mostly becaue it was one of those ones that left me shaking my head wondering "where did that come from?" and thankful I don't have a shrink to analyze it *g* For those who are interested in such things, the challenge was: Sometimes it’s easy to tell when someone is out of their element. It can be their clothing, their manner, what they’re carrying with them… so many things give them away. This week, observe (or create) someone who is out of place and describe what tells you they’re a fish out of water. Your target can be a tourist, someone who is in an unfamiliar place/situation, someone at a new workplace, or any of a million times in our lives we can end up somewhere we’ve never been before. Let me know what you think! ------- A Fish Out of Water “Like a fish out of water,” the woman said as she walked by. As if she couldn’t hear. As if it wouldn’t hurt. She knew she was different, of course, but would it really be so hard for them to accept her? She expected it from her peers. Children are cruel, and teenagers evil her mother had told her, but when it came from the adults it made the situation seem particularly hopeless. Even if she did outgrow it, there would never be acceptance. “Don’t go near the river.” It was the only truly unbreakable law. But how was she to know that? They’d only just moved in. Oh sure, she’d been told, but how serious a rule was it? I mean compared to don’t take drugs and stay away from strangers, going to see the river hardly seemed tragic. And it probably wouldn’t’ve been if it hadn’t been for the other kids. Teenagers now, but mere children at the time. Picking on the new kid and flirting with danger all at once. What could be better? When they pushed her in, nothing was hurt but her pride. She could swim – and it was only a few inches deep anyways. She’d only swallowed a mouthful. She’d been pleased by the horror on the adults’ faces; thinking for sure her tormentors would be punished. Until she realized the horror was directed at her. She went home wet and alone. Her parents dried her off and assured her it’d get better. They might’ve even thought they were telling the truth. That night she awoke choking. Her lungs screamed as she gasped desperately for air. She faded gratefully into unconsciousness as her father desperately applied the little CPR he could recall from a long ago first aid class and her mother ran for any assistance she could find. They would tell her later what had happened. They would tell her about their elderly landlady insisting they fill a bath tub and put her in it. About how they were so scared of losing her, they tried it. They would tell her how terrified they were by her first transformation and how the wise woman warned them to be there at daybreak to get her out of the water. They had to tell her because she couldn’t remember. And then she remembered all too well, as every night and every morning was met with terrifying suffocation and her days and nights were spent in fear. It lasted until the gills broke through behind her ears. Once that happened she could manage the transformation far more smoothly. With that ability she began to venture out on her own; swimming and exploring the aqua world that was rapidly becoming home. Before long, she was spending her human days longing for her aquatic nights in the river where she was, if not entirely accepted, at least not shunned; she could move about the various social classes being claimed by none but accepted by all. Such was the way of the sea. By day, however, she was treated as though she were less – rather than more – than human. To them, she would forever be nothing more than a slightly unusual fish out of water. ----

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 :)