Friday, July 30, 2010

Little Kids Crack Me Up!

Okay, how do people not like kids, in general??? I know some people should never breed yet they do and then we as a society must deal with the backlash of their spawn. But some kids are really cool! lol. For example, this one little girl (7) rides at the barn with her mom very Tuesday. They missed their regular lesson so they came Wednesday to ride. I've been helping with Kylie's lesson for about a year on and off. She's one of those students that will do anything, I mean ANYTHING related to horses. And bound and determined to event her lesson pony Dude....preferrably NOW, thank you. So I showed up Wednesday evening to feed and muck stalls and here comes Kylie running up to say hi.
She is too cute. Really. She is so animated and so little, haha. Being so small and only 7, there is only so much she can "help" with. She was sooooo excited to lead the "big" horses. As she led Bubby out someone commented just how freaking cute she is.....which got me thinking.... So Kylie may be riding Bubby in her lesson Tuesday hehehe :D I think it will good for the both of them. She can ride something that she may actually be able to post with (She posts too slow on Dude) and I've always had a feeling Bubby would make an excellent lesson horse.....so we shall see. I completely trust him. He tends to listen to the wee ones more so than me anyway! I think I mentioned in a previous post he LOVES little kids. He doesn't go blank when they work around him or ride him like a lot of lesson horses tend to. He is very attentive :) If I could just find a therapeutic program to try him in next.....
In sucky news, the barn helper quit. Here's the kicker: he wanted to do less work and be paid more.......Does that make sense to ANYONE??? Not to mention, I don't think this guy had any room to negotiate like that....this kinda job helps you to fly under the radar if ya know what I mean. Good news, my boss may have already found a replacement. Here's hoping! And this guy sounds like the real deal. Hoping, praying... I really don't think I can go back to the work schedule I was on pre-Juan. I like having a LIFE thank you. And it would be a step back instead of forward. Maybe others may think that in my position I should work myself to death to get anywhere but I'm simply not doing that. Health wise, no way. I would like to be doing this when I die an old, cantankarous, cat lady in her 90s, thanks. Seriously, the horse world can be so archaic.

I'll have to be sure to get pics of my boy and Kylie. Crossing fingers all goes well!!!
Til next time :-)

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Not Sure I Have An Excuse This Time....

Well, I didn't promise to get this thing written regularly.....right??? This time, I blame the heat ;) Which, in all fairness, was horrible last week. I did ride last week, barely. Ugh, the heat and humidity was >P Summer can suck it. I had an overheated horse both days I rode. And for only 15, MAYBE 20 minutes. The only good thing about my last few rides is my horse is FINALLY picking up his feet! And by that I mean he is now flying through the cavalettis *headdesk*. Be careful what you wish for. But, as the saying goes, in some aspect, better to have too much horse than not enough. I have to say, it IS easier to bring them back from too much suspension, more forward, etc...then to kick and scream at them for more forward, more suspension, etc...
The Ol' Man got a bath yesterday when I was done cooling out Bubby. Bubby hadn't had breakfast yet and Darry was DONE, thank you. They get so cantankerous in old age, haha. He enjoyed the attention. I feel bad I don't do more with him but keeping one show fit is enough for me right now. And it's really hot. I know, broken record BUT he is 30 and out of shape because of the weight gain he needed last year. I don't want to puch my luck. He's happy being retired and groomed a couple times a week :) I figured a bath was in order yesterday. He is awesome to bathe. Anyone who has ever bathed a young and/or impatient horse, appreciates an old pro. He got his puff mints too, much to his enjoyment :D I discovered them a couple years ago when his teeth started going (at 28!) and he was ever determined but having a hell of a time eating star mints. He LOVES mints. Probably ranks up there with jumping and foxhunting on Darryl's favorite things in the whole wide world :D Next on the Darryl-to-do list - mane pulling! lol

Alrighty, in the middle of watching the Deadliest Catch finale :-) Did I mention I have tickets to see Captain Andy, Captain John and Captain Sig in September??? Dork I know, but soooo excited :-D
Til next time!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

A Disappearing Act, haha

Well, its been longer than I had intended, haha. Camp Weeks do that to me. Oh, Camp Week, how I hate thee. Granted this time around we only had 5 girls compared to the 11 we had last camp week. And only 2 were overnighters. I think I would enjoy it more if it weren't so damn hot and HUMID. Ugh. I despise summer. Truly. I do not think I was destined to live in such a climate. How do people live in Florida, or Mississippi, or TEXAS for that matter. No thank you. I was jealous Maine had a 55 degree day a couple weeks ago. That's sad.
Other than weather, camp wasn't too bad. I had a leadline student who is about 5, I think? Very cute. And even though she was extremely quiet and I questioned a few times whether I was making any sense to her, by the end of the week she was doing marvelous :D She was posting by herself with me just leading Dude. She did camp last year and hasn't ridden since this past week. Wow. And she remembered all her horse and tack parts we had gone over all week. I kill for those students! lol. AND she may be taking lessons regularly too :)
I'm starting to REALLY realize the impact I potentially have on the next generation of riders. I try to remind myself what it was like when I first got an interest in horses. I think its true a=of any sport or discipline that you latch onto certain people. And you (and your parents) can only hope that it's someone who knows what they are doing and will be a positive influence. A couple times this week I had to step back and remind myself that its only the really good and the really bad that kids remember. I had to second guess myself a few times. I don't know but to me it's incentive to do a better job each time. Here's hoping.
I FINALLY got to ride as well. My horse, thankfully, who works BETTER with time off. But he was way better than I could have imagined. He has basically been ridden 3 or 4 times in 3 weeks between camp, heat and injury. And Friday he was moving great. Forward and finally picking up that right hind!. Now last week when we went through the cavalettis he was still rubbing them at the walk and trot. I was beginning to have my doubts to say the least. Friday he started collecting himself as he turned for them. YAY! And he hardly touched them. So happy. I rode Saturday with a friend and again, forward and picking his right hind up :D Good way to end a hectic (camp) week.
Random thought of the day: Despicable Me is AWESOME, lol. I never thought a PG film could be SO funny. My inner child loved it :D

Til next time :-)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

UGH. I'm Moving NORTH

I HATE the heat. Hate hate HATE. And have I heard from the company in New England I sent my resume to??? No. Of course not. >P Oh well. I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets cranky in the heat. Kind of glad that......*knocks on wood*.... I haven't been called back to work, haha. I love going with my trainer when she does teeth but I've already been out feeding 20 some ungrateful horses this morning..... I'm happy being in the AC. Not to mention I got screwed into doing the PM feeding last night and doing the barn by myself. Did I mention the heat makes me cranky??? Oy.
So I have been a lazy bum and haven't ridden this week. One, its unGodly hot and my horse and I both agree that the heat sucks. Plus, if I don't have to wear long pants, I ain't gonna. Two, Bubbys' leg was still swollen Tuesday, our normal lesson time. Better safe than sorry. I think tomorrow I'm going to bite the bullet and ride >P We both need it and I'm just being a wuss, haha.
Not too much else going on which I'm not sure anymore whether its a good or bad thing. Could a full time position somewhere fall in my lap please??? lol. Yeah, right. I need a change but I just haven't figured out WHAT to change to. Oy. I don't like this feeling of suspension, like I'm just floating out there with no direction. Makes me nervous.
Maybe I'll just go make pizza for lunch and forget about it for now. Yes, Karly, thats the solution ;)
'Til next time.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Oy.

Happy Independence Day! Let's face it, I am deeply patriotic but my secret secondary reason for loving this holiday....is food :D Actually, any holiday for that matter, lol. And I do love this quote I stumbled upon that I think explains what I mean:

" You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." ~Erma Bombeck

:D

Maybe one of these days I'll rant about how pissed I get when people BORN HERE can't appreciate the fact that they were BORN HERE. But immigrants that decide to become citizens do AND have a better working knowledge of our history than many of those same people, and from sheer WANT to. OK, mini rant over ;)

In horse news, Bubby's leg has decided to swell up. Thankfully, just around the wound and not the whole leg. Thank God for small miracles. I'm hoping to be back on, on Tuesday but we shall see. AND we were supposed to do conditioning work this week at Unicorn Stables (ie HILLS!). Ah well. We get there when we get there.
I'm also seriously considering taking western lessons at a barn near Fair Hill. I've ridden western before but not to the extent I have english. Maybe maybe. They do bareback lessons too. SWEET. Which is something I personally think I desperately need and I simply can't do on my guys and be successful.
I shall keep you all (HAHA) posted.
Back to watching the Deadliest Catch marathon :)

"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." ~Benjamin Franklin

Thursday, July 1, 2010

May be Time for A New Helmet...

So....I was kind of waiting for something interesting to blog about. Then figured I would just update the usual when I got a chance to breathe...And then my horse and I had a first this morning: our first fall. I've come off my older guy in lessons, about 3 months into riding him. It only took close to 10 years for Bubby and I, haha. Oh, and we made it good too. FACEPLANT. Yep. You see, we've been doing cavaletti work for the last month or so, to get him to pick UP his feet, specifically his right hind (he tends to "drag" it). Well, we were being lazier than usual today (and it was SO nice out, of course) and didn't want to walk properly through them. Translation: we spent 20 minutes walking through them until he was doing them decently. We picked up the trot and got over them a couple times FANTASTIC...... And then......I can't even tell you what happened to his feet. As many riders know, when you fall, there are phases:


  1. you question whether you're actually in trouble ~ example: "Did he trip?"

  2. you think you can save it ~ Try to rebalance him or you, pull him up or give him rein, etc...

  3. you question again whether you have a problem. Also a denial phase ~ "Can we recover???" "Duh, of course..."

  4. you resign to your fate ~ "oh, shit. we're goin down"

Yeah. And it all happens in milliseconds. He had tripped over them earlier, so I sat up and continued to ride it........ Until I felt his front end completely buckle. I looked down in time to see him faceplant. And then I followed in similiar fashion. And I am no lightweight. My chest landed on his occipital bone. Ouch. Thought for a second I bruised my sternum. That immediate adrenaline rush, haha. Overall, not a bad fall. And it reaffirms that I made a great albeit uneducated decision to buy him 10 years ago. I thought for sure he would panic and flip me. Nope. I slid down his head, he righted himself and then waited for me. Totally calm. I heart my horse :D

Injury report: minimal. I have some bruises sort of all over. I do need a new helmet even though I think I just tapped it. I think this is fall 5 or 6 now...... Better safe than sorry. I'm sure I'll have more to report tomorrow morning, haha.


Bubby did get scraped up. A good one on his right front, small one on the left front. And it looks like he caught his hind legs on a cavaletti too. I think the front legs are the ones that got caught up in them. We ended there. I always get back on after a fall BUT I know that I can definitely get back on in a few days, no issue. And, his legs needed to be cold hosed just to be sure they didn't swell. He kept trying to give me his right front leg when I looked him over :( poor boy. Betchya we pick those feet up next time!


Situations like these really make me appreciate my horse. I've gotten flack over the years for having a Standardbred and recently for training him in dressage. But you know what? At the end of the day, we're partners. We're a team. You can take your minimal intelligent, prepackaged warmblood, and keep it. I have a horse that would go to the end of the earth with me and give me his all no matter what. You cann't buy the trust we have for on another. THAT is the horse I want to work with and compete with. Warmbloods in dressage....thats just too easy ;)