The Lost Week

Well, crap. I didn't get to ride this weekly hardly at all! Monday-Thursday was pure craziness, then Friday I longed him over some jumps at the request of my trainer and couldn't ride as long as I wanted to. Today, I went out to go ride and not a soul was there! I'm not a huge fan of riding completely alone when it's this cold; so I cleaned my stall in the hopes that someone would show up. No, of course not. That would just be too easy ;) So I came home. I will definitely ride tomorrow, but this week just feels like it's been a gigantic waste. I'm beginning to realize that our first event is in not very far away... just the 3 weekend in May! The first XC schooling we'll try to go to is in March. I'm getting very excited, but I'm feeling a little unprepared.

Here's hoping next week goes more according to plan.

The End is Near!

Finally, after a very, very long run of very, very cold temperatures... we're going to have a full week with highs above 30 degrees! I'm completely ecstatic to get back on Val tomorrow and start up with dressage again. I feel like shouting huzzah and dancing around in the streets, I'm so happy!

We should get in a solid week of work on our dressage, and then we'll probably have a lesson on Saturday. For the first ride back, I want to keep it simple and just work on our basics, making sure that we have forward and that he's really connected to the bit.

And you know, I did have plans to go on a snowy trail ride, but I couldn't get out when the snow was still fresh and fluffy. It was so deep by the time we came back from visiting family and there was a crust on the top, so our wonderful snow-trail ride plans were put on the back-burner. We'll have to hold on to hope for a nice, light, 3" of snow that we can go exploring in.

Insanity

I honest to goodness feel like I'm being driven a little crazy. We have had some ridiculously cold weather here- the highs have been below twenty for a very long time now, and the temperatures have been too cold to ride. We've had well over 8" of snow and there are some drifts out at the barn that are at least 18"-24" tall! Even if the temperature does poke its nose above 20, the windchill gladly brings it back down to ridiculous.

The poor horses are going stir-crazy locked in their stalls, and I'm going crazy from being home from school for the past forever without the ability to ride! I love snow, but it's keeping me from the one activity I truly love to do.

To top it off, I keep day-dreaming about going to an event and doing cross country again. I can't get the idea of galloping out of that start box, cool, calm, and assured, out of my head. I can't wait until that moment. I hate that my last cross country round was so terrible, and I just feel like I need to get out there and rectify that.

So, I'm going crazy all around. Just for a weather update, if you're curious:
We're getting another 4-6" of snow tonight. The temperature tomorrow will be around 22. It'll be below 10 on Thursday with a low of -15 and the HIGH will be 0 on Friday, with a low of -12. The wind chill on Friday? -35 degrees! I don't even think I can comprehend how that is going to feel. Luckily, that's shavings day, so I'll have plenty of time traipsing around the barn to truly grasp it.

When the moisture in your nostrils freezes and you're reluctant to breathe in the air, you know it's cold.

Rant over. On the plus side, it might be above freezing on Sunday! All the snow might melt, and I might finally be able to ride again. Fingers crossed!

I am incredibly envious of anyone that's able to ride right now. Enjoy it, you lucky ducks! :)

Mini Jumping Lesson

It has gotten very cold here! I'm not really surprised, though. We never really had hot summer weather, and I predicted that because of our mild/cold summer, we will have a very long and cold winter. As our first freezing temperatures occurred last night (October 10th! The 10th of October!) and we had a chance of snow, I'm thinking I might be right... It's a good thing I like cold weather, I suppose!

I went out to the barn yesterday around noon and grabbed Val out of his stall. After I yanked his blanket off, we went out to our sand outdoor and I let him run off the steam he accumulated the last few weeks. Surprisingly, despite the cold wind and the fact that he hadn't been worked in over two weeks, he didn't really run very fast or buck at all. So, after convincing him to trot/canter from one end of the arena to the other a few times, we went inside and got tacked up. I ran the whip I'd borrowed to encourage him to run back to where it belonged and saw my trainer, who said that if I put my jumping saddle on Val I could use the same exercise she was going to do with another student who was having a lesson. I agreed.

When I put Val in the cross ties and came back with his saddle and accouterments, he looked at me with his ears pricked forward and a happy expression on his face. "We riding, mom? We riding? Let's go let'sgolet'sGO!" It was great to see. With Val all suited up for battle, we went back to the outdoor.

It was so cold and windy that I took my helmet off, put the hood of my hoodie on my head, and then put the helmet back on top! I was incredibly happy it fit; my ears would have frozen off otherwise. Then I got on Val, who felt energetic, but not crazily so. We started trotting around to warm-up, then cantered a bit.

In the middle of the arena, my trainer had set up a series of what would become one-strides with poles in the middle. Before they became jumps, we cantered over them, getting the proper stride length and drive that would allow Val and Stewie, the other horse, to "fit" in them nicely. Val tends to be short-strided, and Stewie has the tendency to go long, so we both had work to do. After a few tries, both of us could do the poles without trouble.

Then, the ground poles became small cross-rails one at a time, until we had 5 altogether with poles in the middle. I was definitely a little rusty, and my position was not the best. I have one particularly awful run when two cross-rails were set up where I got poor Val in the mouth pretty bad on the first one, then landed on his back, and then jumped too far ahead of him on the next cross rail. Fortunately, Val did not dump me on my head as I deserved. Oh, what they put up with from us humans!

Our last 3-4 runs went very smoothly. Val tried the whole time to trot between the first ground poles and the first cross rail, so I had to really push him forward to that, and we got it the last two times through. What was really fun was after the line, making the sharp turn (since the line took up most of the long side of the arena) to the left or right, depending on the lead you were on, and letting Val have a bit of speed, then setting him back on his haunches for another turn to go down the line again.

Although I've definitely lost some of my polish in the past month or so, it was really nice to see that I haven't regressed to an absolute pleb. Writing this, I keep thinking about when I first got Val. He used to not want to canter for me because he felt that I was unbalanced, and now this horse does walk-to-canters happily and gallops cross country exuberantly in my hands. Definitely makes me happy looking at how far we've come.
Val and I before our dressage at Briar Fox Farm, where we took 3rd place. Heh, perhaps this blog should be called sleepy-eyed eventers!

Wide Open Spaces

Well, school has been kicking my butt lately. Val is having a well-deserved break. Ideally, I thought I'd still be able to ride every other day of the week, but I've been lucky to get one ride in during the school week.

Obviously, Val is fairly fit. He just came off nearly a year's worth of daily work and a long eventing season. He was only getting 2 or 3 hours of turnout from his stall, and I just wasn't having the time to ride the extra off. It wasn't fair to him, so he was introduced to the herd today.

I know it's best for him, but I feel like I'm giving up on doing my best for him, in some way. On the good side, he gets to stay out during the week, but he can still stay in his stall on the weekends. I know he'll love eating nearly 24/7 and having less work, and I know the rest will be good for his joints. I just hate having to admit that I can't ride my horse 6 days a week and get good grades in my classes. I hate being the person that just goes out to feed her horse every day. I want to be able to spend time with him like I always have, and I really hate having to choose between him and school.

Plus, I'm fully capable of admitting it: I'm scared of what will happen to my riding. Just this first month or so with me not riding him consistently has already affected me negatively. In January, when he's supposed to come back into regular work, how far back will I have slipped?

So, I'm pretty sure he'll be happy as a clam. I just wish I was as chuffed with the situation. I think the best thing to do is just keep a positive attitude the next few months. Whatever I lose in the interim, I can get back. And no matter what, we're going to keep chugging after the 1st of the year. At semester, one of my classes that was only for my first semester is replaced by a study hall, so I should have more school time to work on homework. Hopefully, that means less time spent at home doing acres and acres of homework, and more time spent riding and gearing up for the next eventing season.

I'll still be taking lessons on weekends, but it will be odd having only 1 or, best case scenario, 2 days to practice what I've learned in between them. I'm sure we can adjust.

On the plus side, senior year is going to be a cake walk compared to this year. I can't hardly wait!

My favorite picture of Val and I from Champagne Run this summer:



ETA: I also wanted to add that I am rather absurdly pleased that you can see my saddle shine a bit in that picture. If this was submitted to PH for George Morris' column, he would obviously point out that my feet are pointing out like a duck's and my heels are definitely up in the air. However, we have very conservative turn-out (for eventing!) and my saddle is clean. Bonus point for sure, I would imagine. And because of my awful leg position, he can't see the bottom of my boots! (It always kills me when he scolds people for having dirt on the bottom of their boots.)

A Relaxing Day/ Winter Contemplations

Val had another day off today. I went out this evening, and when I whistled to him while I was walking to his stall, he absolutely screamed at me, like, "Please come over here and feed me!" Silly boy. To his disappointment, I took him to one of the dry lots. I stayed in there with him, and just watched him for a while.

I think it's so interesting how they choose just the right spot to roll in. It can't be just any spot- it's got to be that one spot with the dirtiest dirt of all. I love that now that he's fit he can actually roll himself over- when we got him, he was too fat to get both sides!

When he was done rolling, he shook off the dirt, and I whistled to him. He walked over to me, poked me with his nose, and I rubbed his face a bit. Sweet boy. Then I went and cleaned his stall. When I was done, he got put back inside, and finally he got his dinner! He lives for that grain, I'm here to tell you. I wish I'd brought him an apple, though. I don't think I've filled the apple quotient for this week yet!

I'm really not sure how long he's going to be on this "reduced" schedule. I'm thinking at least two weeks, but I really hate to not ride every day for such a long period of time. I know he deserves his rest, though. He hasn't had a long break since we bought him; sure, he always gets at least one day a week off, but I think he needs the time to unwind a bit. So that's to be determined.

I've been thinking about this winter, and what I want my goals to be. My summer goal was to go to the AECs, and we managed that! I think I want to aim for doing a 3' jumper class, and getting him ready to go 1st level in the spring. Last winter, we did go to a few jumper shows, and we did the 2' and 2'6 class. I remember one trip where he was so charged up, it was hilarious. He was bouncing up and down with energy, practically. That didn't go so well!

There's two dressage shows in the spring, and we'll probably go to at least one. He's definitely ready to move out of training level, but we're not quite ready to show 1st level yet. We could probably do 1st 1 without make ourselves look foolish, but we'd massacre 1st 4! I think we can make a good push in our dressage over the winter.

I also need to practice braiding and pulling his mane. This should be more of a fall goal, though; that way I won't completely freeze my fingers off!

Finally, I want to take him on at least one trail ride in the snow. We did a very short one last year, but this time I want to go back on the actual trails. I think it'd be fun! Of course, we'd either take a cell phone or a friend with us. I love the snow, and he's always happy to go on a trail ride, so that should be fun. :)

Ahh, winter. I can't wait until the first snowfall! The first snow day where I get to go out and ride my horse on a school day. The first time the ponies get to go out and play in the snow. And of course, riding bareback to keep my bum warm! Winter is such a fun time of year.