Dee Dee

When I woke up this morning, I was not feeling well at all.  I took Buu out and was greeted by a layer of ice coating everything, and briefly thought of canceling, but a shower helped to refresh me.  I took all of my medications, bundled up, and headed for the barn.

I learned that I would be riding three horses; Harley, Blondie, and a surprise.  I learned during the Harley phase that D wanted me to ride Dee Dee. Argh!  That kind of freaked me out.  She was a wild woman at the Dayton Horse Show, and everyone keeps commenting that she has such a big trot and she's hard to ride. Great.  And here I was not feeling my best.

With Harley, M told me to concentrate on turning my feet way in, keeping my heels down, and my keeping my leg away from the horse. She raised the stirrups up another hole, and is contemplating taking them up one more.  We worked on leg yields, and turning his head, but making him move forward in a straight line. 

Kim and her mom came while I was putting Harley away, and she asked if I would ride Sammy so she would see how he's moving.  I said sure, and before I knew it, a quick spin on him turned into an equitation lesson with Kim as the sensei.  She's a tough little taskmaster, too!  Turn your toes in!  Keep your back straight!  Sit back in the saddle!  Tuck your butt in!  The commands were continually barked at me.  The cantering portion was really funny, because I couldn't do everything at once.  I thought I was turning my toes in, but she said I was pulling my leg up instead. That is one of my biggest problems at the canter.  I can't keep my leg down and away from the horse's side.

I was quite exhausted by the time I was allowed to get off of Sammy.  He is a really nice horse, and I like to ride him. He's what got me interested in saddlebreds to begin with.

Then M and D brought Blondie out, and they both observed the session on her.  They kept it short, and M told me to not let her do anything that I didn't want her to do.  I am in control!  The first time around the far end, she ducked out because the sunlight coming in from under the door freaked her out.  I forced her past it every other time, (M helped by filling in most of the hole) and kept her riding the corners, most of the time.  We didn't canter, just worked on trotting and sitting back more in the saddle.

Then it was time for Dee Dee. M suggested to D that he use a lunge line first, as I was a little apprehensive about riding her.  He assured me that she's slow and mostly broke.  Ok, whatever.  I got on her, and tried putting all of the stuff we have been working on together to keep her walking.  We moved to a sitting trot, and she does have a big trot.  I was bouncing more than I was sitting.  We moved to a posting trot, circled D a few times, and he declared I was ready to be detached from the safety line.  Fear!

Going the first way around, Dee Dee isn't bad.  She is slower than Blondie, but she holds her corners better and isn't spooky.  When we switched to the other direction, however, her trot is up and down and side to side all at the same time.  It took a bit to get used to, and of course I started sitting forward and was feeling that my seat wasn't as secure, but I was starting to figure her out when the lesson was over.  I wish I had been feeling better, as I would have been more up to the challenge.  I'm glad we didn't try to canter, because I was really tired by then, and just wanted to go home and go back to bed.

There's an academy show next weekend, and I know I won't be riding Blondie.  When I asked M who I would be riding, she said she hadn't made up her mind yet.  I'd like to ride Gio, but I don't know if he's going.  Guess I'll find out  Saturday morning...

A trip to the clinic confirmed my fears - I'm sick again!  Unfortunately, I saw the doctor who only prescribes 7 days of a weak antibiotic, so I'll probably be back there in another week.  I'm hoping I can call on Monday and talk to another doctor and get the medication changed.

Needless to say, I canceled my riding lesson.  I was feeling quite awful, and I thought it best to just go home and go to bed.  If it had been a little warmer, I might have considered going, but with the temperature dropping again, I called M and explained the situation.

Buu must have been concerned for me, because when I woke up this morning, his ring was on my pillow.  I'm truly flattered that he was willing to share his favorite toy with me, even though I was asleep.  How he managed to put it there without waking me up is the other question...

There’s actually a hint of spring in the air!! I wonder how long it will last before we get blasted by another bout of cold weather. I was actually excited at the prospect of riding again – it’s been so cold that it has been a challenge to be appropriately enthusiastic.  (Revised - the hint of spring has been replaced by gusty, cold winds)

D had already worked Blondie, and to be honest, I wasn’t expecting that I would ride her again for the group lesson until we get some of the kinks worked out between us. I was given my choice of which horse to ride, and since Gio still had ice baggies hanging from his door, I figured he was out of the running. I decided on Jimmy, because he’s more of a challenge than Harley, and it’s been a while since the last time I rode him.

M warmed him up for me, and she said that he’s a lot like Blondie, only more broke. He has the same issues; if you don’t sit on him, he starts doing the cha-cha and he speeds up. When I got on, she told me to concentrate on keeping him at a steady cadence, and on sitting back in the saddle. After she watched for a while, she said that I was bumping him with my lower leg, which was sending him to a faster pace. The same thing was happening at the canter; my lower leg is not steady, and I keep bumping the horse’s side. This tells the horse to go faster. I seem to have a problem keeping my leg turned in, my toes in, my butt in the saddle, and my back straight. Oh, and my hands steady so I’m not yanking on the horse’s mouth the whole time. I thought that I was coordinated, but I am obviously mistaken.

I haven't been feeling well for the past few days, and today I had to admit that I'm sick.  I hope it's just a cold, because our health insurance sucks now and I don't want to have to go to the doctor.

Anyhoo, I headed off to the barn, an extra wad of tissues tucked into every pocket.  The turbo heater was happily blasting away, so I stand at the edge of it's warm air.  My feet were cold for a change, and even the hand warmers deposited through my clothes did little to alleviate the cold.

The kids got Blondie ready, and then M warmed her up for me.  After I got on, all we worked on was trotting and walking.  For the trotting,  the emphasis was on keeping her corners square and not letting her duck out at the end.  For the walking, M walked next to us to check her if she started trotting. 

I think I did better on her today, but D wasn't out there shaking the bag whip, and she kind of putzed around the ring.  We switched back to a running martingale and two sets of reins.  At one point, I almost ran her up Woody's rearend when D stopped in front of us.  I was using Woody to check Blondie's speed and wasn't quite prepared for when they came to a halt.

I didn't linger after the lesson, as I wasn't feeling well and it was cold out. 

Harley 

Friday's lesson was with Harley on a long line.  As we got started, I asked if I was sitting deep enough in the saddle, and M said that I was.  And I pretty much continued to do so the rest of the lesson.  So it seems that my problem is with Blondie more than anything else.

M said that she and D are trying to work out the best plan for me to overcome my difficulty with the horse.  D thinks I ride better if they just toss me up and he rattles everyone's cage.  M wants to go back a work on some basics.  She thinks that if they warm Blondie up, I won't have such a hard time with her.

This post is late because I didn't want to share my frustrations yet.  I had a horrible lesson that started on Blondie, but because I having such an awful time riding her, I was switched to Sammy.  Here are the hideous details:

Once again, the temps were in the low teens.  It takes total dedication or utter stupidity to go riding when it's that cold.  There were four students, Laurie, Audie, Kim, and myself. 

Out in the arena, we warmed the horses up, and then had a simple (in theory) task:  trot a straight line to the end and stop.  Sounds pretty simple, huh?  Well, none of us could do it!  Blondie kept ducking out at the end, Laurie was having trouble on Wild Child, who for a change lived up to her name, and to be honest, I was too busy struggling with Blondie to see what Kim and Audie were doing.

Poor D!  His students can't even trot a straight line!  You'd think we had never ridden before.  He had us go back to trotting around the entire arena, and again I couldn't get Blondie to ride the corners.  She wouldn't walk for me, or stop for me, and then she wouldn't even go forward for me. 

I was getting so frustrated that I finally stopped by M and asked her what the hell I was doing wrong.  She said I wasn't sitting on the horse, my hands were too high, and my arms were too far out in front of me. 

D had called the other students to the middle of the arena by this time, and when I joined them, he announced that we were switching horses.  Kim got Blondie, I got Sammy, Laurie moved to Harley and Audie would be riding Wild Child.  After we all were remounted, he had us all trot.  He tried having us just work the rails again, but we still all sucked at it.

Then he had just Kim and myself canter.  Most of the time I was riding Sammy I was just trying to get him to slow down.  I wasn't as nervous about him ducking out on me, though, so I was able to focus on riding him and not so much on not falling off.

By the end of this lesson, I was really, really frustrated.  I don't know what the problem is with riding my own horse!  Kim had her looking great, and she was able to drive her into corners.  Argh!  I hated horses at the end of this lesson!

My first class on Saturday was at 10.  The show was pushed back an hour because of the temperatures.  M & D brought their turbo heater, so it was fairly warm by our horses, and their were 2 huge turbo heaters blasting away near the arena.  Too bad they ran out of fuel at about 3!

I arrived at 8:30 to help get Blondie ready.  My first task - taking down her tail.  The horse's tails are braided, and then tied up, then covered with a sock.  Blondie has a beautiful, long tail, and after unbraiding it, I spent about 15 minutes trying to brush it out.  After we got her tack on, D warmed her up, (briefly!), and then I got on.  The warm up area and the ring were very crowded, and when it came time to try to canter, I couldn't find an open spot to do it.  The tangle of horses gets me frazzled, and when I heard there would be 5 horses in my class, I thought I would hyperventilate.  It seemed too small with just two horses; I couldn't imagine what it would be like with 5!

Kim had a problem with my purple helmet and teal sweater; she said the colors clashed.  Have I mentioned that part of this sport is dressing up?  She insisted that we trade helmets.  Hers is blue, which she felt would go better with my attire.  Oh, yeah, she was wearing a purple sweater.  Hmmmm....

They couldn't get the mic to work, so we sat around for about 20 minutes while they farted around with the equipment.  Then it was decided that they would just yell the commands (it's not like the arena is so big we wouldn't be able to hear!).  The mic then mysteriously became operational.

My debut class with Blondie will not go down in the record books as a shining example of saddleseat horsemanship.  Once we got in the ring, the shithead broke from her trot into a canter.  Of course she waited until the gate was closed, and we were being judged, to do this.  I managed to get her back to the trot, but we kept cutting the corners because of all of the traffic.  Then she wouldn't ride the corners at all. Grrr!

She wouldn't flat walk for me, and to be honest, I can't really remember, but I think she picked up the canter the first way when I asked.  She fell out of it when we got into traffic, and then she racked around one full circuit before I got her cantering again.  (I was told she looked very pretty doing it)

The second way wasn't much better.  When we turned, she stopped.  Stopped!  Dead!  She never does this.  Right in front of D - I think she was wishing he was riding her instead of me!  When they called for the canter the 2nd way, I was right behind another horse.  I waited for her to get moving before I cued Blondie, and then her horse quit on her!  Right in front of us with someone coming up on the other side.  I don't think we actually collided, but M said she thought we did.  Blondie trotted around the pile up, and it took a lot of effort to get her to canter.

Needless to say, we were fifth out of five in the first class.  *sigh* When I left the ring, D said that Blondie got really hot.  I don't know what to do with her when she starts getting all pumped up like that, so I was feeling rather dejected.  He told me I just have to let her show - yeah, and she needs to learn how to freaking flat walk!

My next class was later in the morning, and I was the only one entered.  My worst nightmare!  M asked at the official's table if I could switch to another class, and they said that if the other trainers didn't mind, there was no problem.  She picked a 17 and Under class that had 2 entries, and as the trainers witnessed my first attempt that morning, nobody had a problem with me entering.   I was so glad I didn't have to ride in a one horse class!

The second class was similar to first.  We were 3rd out of three, but I felt better riding her and she picked up her canters.  She just pooped out the first way.  Argh!

Kim was in the warm up ring when I came out, and she started kidding me about riding in the 17 and Under class (she's 14, and she should have been in the class!).  I told her that I didn't win because they had to give me handicap points to make up for the age difference.  One of the other trainers asked about the first class, and I admitted that we just sucked for that one. He laughed and said that's why we were there.

One happy surprise just before I left - Roxanne and Dave showed up!  I haven't seen them since July.  I think I might have talked Roxanne into riding in the next academy show.  She has a young horse that she needs to get ready for the show season. 

Hopefully, the plan is that I will ride Blondie more often now, so I can start to feel more comfortable on her.  Part of my problem with her is that I don't trust her not to do something stupid.  I don't know how to correct her when she does, and it makes me frustrated. 

Friday night, I checked into the Howard Johnson on Trowley before heading over to the Pavilion.  It took a little longer than it should have, as I followed the incorrect directions I had just received from the desk clerk.  He sent me in the opposite direction!!

Got to the barn/arena after figuring out my mistake.  Kim was already there, and I helped unload the horse trailer.  D hooked up the turbo heater, and just like magic, we had a little bit of warmth. The barn was so cold.

Had Blondie ready to take on a spin around the teeny tiny little arena a little after 8pm.  Kim rode Sammy, and at first we just let the horses get used to their surroundings. Sammy, being an old pro at this, couldn't have cared less that he was in a new environment, but Blondie was a little jumpy, especially when we moved by the rail were the chairs are set up. 

D had us exit the arena, and then we had a little horse show.  Blondie would not flat walk, and she kept trotting when she should have been walking.  Then she wouldn't canter when I asked. When she did canter, the ring was so small that she fell out of it when I pulled her back to nice, easy speed.  She has a fairly large stride, so the arena seemed even smaller. 

After putting the horses away, a small group of us headed to Stillwater for dinner.  I had the wasabi lime tuna, which didn't taste like wasabi at all.  By the time M and I arrived at the hotel, it was about 11:30 - way past my bedtime!  D went back home, because he had to pick up Sara and Zoe in the morning.

I couldn't sleep at all Friday night, and when M got up at 6:30 to get ready to go feed the horses, I was so tired.  I got up after she left and felt better after a shower and a cup of coffee.  The breakfast buffet at the HoJo was a joke, and I couldn't get my laptop connected to their wireless network.  When I first checked in, there were no supplies in the room (soap, shampoo, tissues), and I am now less than impressed with the chain.  I don't think I'll be staying at another one any time soon.

It was another frigid evening, but I thought of a new way to keep warm.  I taped a hand warmer to the back of my vest!  Why didn't I think of using those little wonders last year?  Like on Sunday, only my little fingers were cold; the rest of me was warm as toast.

Tonight's lesson was with Robert, Abby, and Kim.  Abby rode Woody, and she had a hard time getting him to trot, too.  It made me feel a little better.  Robert rode Dee Dee, and Kim rode Sammy.

D helped me get Blondie ready, and then everybody made fun of me when I pulled on my ninja hood (Under Armour hood mine is pink).  I didn't care, because they were all wearing stupid hats.  Kim even managed to get her helmet to fit over a thick, wooly hat.  The colors clashed, unlike my pink and purple ensemble.

One of the boarders decided she needed to lunge her horse during our lesson.  This was not a smart thing to do, as most of the horses surrounding her were rather game.  Abby was fighting with Woody almost the whole lesson, and occasionally they would careen out of control any which way.  The lady and her horse finally left.  I think we made her nervous.

Blondie, who won't canter when I want her to, took off in a nice, pretty canter right off the bat - too bad we were supposed to be trotting.  M told me to just sit back and enjoy, as she looked so nice.  She would burn off some energy, too.

When I finally got her to walk, D asked for a posting trot.  Blondie obeyed, until she saw a horse in front of her.  Then she started to speed up, and before I knew, we were cantering again.  Argh! Stupid, stupid horse!  I got her to trot again, heard a clunk, and D told us to stop.  She threw a shoe!

Normally, the lesson would have been over after this.  D, however, went out to his truck and came back with his tool box.  It took him about as long to get his stuff as it took him to nail her shoe back on.  It's a good thing when the trainer doubles as the farrier.

Besides making us trot forever, and canter forever, D went pretty easy on us.  When he called for the line up, he didn't say which way we should be facing, so it was the ugliest line up ever.  Abby and Woody were the wrong way and Blondie was crooked because she wouldn't stretch forward.  As we sat in the line up, the steam from the horses clouding our vision, D decided we were finished.  Nobody wanted to be there for an hour drying them off.

While we were putting the horses away, I learned that Kim and Sammy are going to the show on Saturday, too.  I wonder who else is going to ride Sammy?  D said that Abby would ride Blondie.  Too bad my class is first.  I would have rather ridden her after she's had a little more exercise.  

Tomorrow (Friday) I'm driving out to MSU to ride in the arena with Blondie before the show.  I made reservations at the Howard Johnson down the road, because I didn't want to have to get up at 5, worry about the weather, and be there by 8.  M emailed me today that they delayed the start time to 10 because of the cold weather.  I guess I'll throw a couple of books in my bag and chill a little since I shouldn't have to be there until 9 on Saturday.

Ok, what kind of idiot goes horseback riding when it's 3 degrees?  You guessed it!  Me!

I did discover the winning combination for keeping warm. I made a mad dash to Dick's yesterday and purchased an Under Armour compression cold gear shirt, balking at the $80 price tag.  80 bucks!  For an undershirt!  I am happy to report it was worth every penny, and I'm going to buy one more.

I also purchased a pair of Mountain Hardwear heavy weight gloves. At 20 bucks on clearance, these were a little more reasonably priced than the UA shirt, but still stupidly expensive.  They are thin, have no-slip strips on the fingers, and are warmer than the Under Armour gloves that I bought at the beginning of winter.  My little fingers got cold, but all the rest stayed nice and toasty.

Decked out in expedition weight thermals, my new UA shirt and 2 other thermals, and with hand warmers tucked in the pockets of my 686 vest, I headed off to the barn.  I even took along the UA hood that I purchased in December, but haven't used because it hasn't been cold enough.  It also makes me feel like a moron when I wear it, but I figured it would fit under my helmet and keep my ears warm.  It did.

I rode Woody first, and he was rearing to go.  D said he works better in the cold.  He gets too hot in the summer. Silly horse; he has it backward!  I had a hard time getting him to trot (again) but eventually got it right.  We slow gaited and racked, and he just flew around the arena.  He is a blast to rack on.  Then we cantered, and I couldn't keep my butt in the saddle.  I hung on for dear life with my knees and thighs, and just hovered in the saddle.  M told me to sit, but D told her I was ok, I was hanging on, and the horse wasn't out of control.  He said he's a lot of horse, and I have to agree.

Next I got Blondie ready while M shivered in front of the heater with Woody.  The ride on Blondie was shorter.  They don't like to work the horses very hard with the weather the way it is. 

Other than a couple of hiccups getting the canter the second way, I had a really good ride on Blondie.  Both D and M said she looked really cute at the trot.  When I got off, D said that she's mental the second way, and I had to admit that I was, too.  He agreed, and lunge line lessons would help with that.  He also said it was a great ride, and maybe I need to fall off a little more often. Heeheee.  That's so funny....