My typical keyboard diarrhea has temporarily dried up. I’m not sure why. There are some big changes in the very near future yet every time I sit down to write about it I just don’t like anything I’ve written. I delete and try again and hate that even more.
Wags has taken to jumping in my lap while I am typing my medical records. It makes it a bit harder to do, but I can’t say no to some puppy kisses.
Riding had been blah too. I think it basically boils down to the fact that both Gem and I are bored. I’m bored of doing walk, trot, canter in the pasture in circles and figure 8s. Gem is bored. When I rode her last, she made me laugh by basically running through my exercises on autopilot. I feel very stagnated in my riding right now. After nearly a year of lessons, albeit only twice a month, I’m still working on w/t/c in a balanced manner, still jumping the same height, still trotting my jumps. I know we are both calmer, we’ll typically, and that a lot has changed in the last 8 months, but it just feels like I’m doing the same stuff over and over and over again and getting nowhere.
My mom surprised me with a blow up Frankenstein. She was at my office supervision new carpet being installed while I worked at the hospital and when I came over after work , there was Frankenstein chilling in my exam chair.
I did introduce turn on the haunches to Gemmie. She makes me laugh any time I try something new since her default response is getting pissed off about it. We stood at the halt and I asked her to move that big butt of hers. Her ears immediately got pinned back and her neck went all giraffe and tense, but she did move the way I wanted. She got a ton of praise and asked again. Both directions went fairly well and then we went off trotting again. Mare was angry that I changed up her routine and made her use that big brain of hers but at least the task was at the halt so she couldn’t do her typical escalation of speed.
The new vest is wonderful so far. Hopefully I will get back out on the cross country course this weekend to try it out for real.
I don’t know. I guess I was hoping to be doing something different by now. I am hoping to attend my first HT in December and feel less ready than ever. See? I’m just so very blah about everything right now. I think it is stress. A big work thing didn’t go the way I had hoped which bummed me out and then there is a big personal thing that should be exciting but has just been a lot of work and stress and ugh.
My two point time did double though! I used the dressage saddle again because I just like using that better when doing flat work only than my jump saddle. I got in 1:07 before Gem zigged a way I was expected and my butt touched the saddle. This challenge is going to be more about learning how to steer and control pace with Gem while in two point than about my legs keeping it.
An improvement from the baseline
And that’s about it. It started raining yesterday which killed off my riding plans. I think it should stop tomorrow. We need the rain though so I’m not complaining too loudly. Wyatt is supposed to have his second lesson tomorrow after work and then I might have a lesson myself on Wednesday. I’ve been invited to go cross country schooling on Sunday though and I can’t really justify doing both in the same week plus the hunter pace I went on already this month, so it will be one or the other and I’m not 100% sure which. I really, really want to do the cross country schooling since we need to exposure and experience plus it is with a different trainer to get new eyes on us and with a friend. But…Gem and I aren’t the easiest pair and we have only been trotting our jumps and and and and….so many reasons to feel…sorta inadequate….being out in a group like that. I don’t want to drag anyone else down or be told to basically just go trot around out of sight. So maybe I’ll just do the lesson. I don’t know.
Emma (hey, look I learned how to add links!!) is hosting the two point challenge this month and I am so excited to get to play along this year. Two point in my endurance saddle was nigh on impossible to really do with the long endurance stirrups, so I watched and followed along last year. This year though I am full on participating.
A beautiful sunset over the pasture.
My base line was pretty crappy at only 0:33.
I read all the rules, remember I am a strict rule follower, and while I held the two point longer than that my butt technically hit the saddle at the 33 second mark, so I stopped the watch then and continued to practice after. My biggest issue with this challenge is going to be Gem. Shocker, I know.
Mom! I know you are working, but pay attention to me instead!
I decided to do it at the walk, which I find harder than at the faster more rhythmic gaits, but Gem is also easier to steer and manage at the walk. Well, I got up in my two point position and then Gem began jigging. Its hard to two point at the jig. Its a good learning experience for us both though. She needs to be rideable in the two point with my butt out of that saddle just like she is when I sit.
I got a cross country vest!!! I wore it for the firs time while getting my baseline ride in. I’m waiting to wear it a few more times to do a full on review of it, but so far so good.
I’ve been working really hard lately at getting her to respond to my seat and have been playing around a good bit with leaning back more to get her to slow down or maintain the walk. I tend to lean forward all the time, so my feeling of leaning back is actually just sitting up straight. Progress is tough.
Take away this new aide for her and she was a bit lost. We managed though and she kept her brain in her head for the most part. I was also in my dressage saddle and I think next time I do it I will put her in the jump tack instead.
The good thing about a crappy baseline is that i have lots of room for improvement! I look forward to working hard on this and seeing how my times improve over the course of the month.
This prompt was one I was glad to give over to the mother ship as I would have had no clue what to choose. As it is, I’m not sure this pick really fits the prompt because I’m 110% sure my mother had never even heard of the author before and she is the least political person I’ve ever met. But, it was her pick so I read it. At least it was short.
A book written by someone you admire- Trump and Me by Mark Singer
Mark Singer was given an assignment in the early 2000s to get to know Donald Trump. At first he balked at the idea, but his editor held the cards and he had no choice. He spent several months tailing Donald Trump and meeting up with him at various locations trying to get to know the real man behind the facade.
I’m not really sure what the book is actually trying to do. It is 133 pages, per my kindle version, and just never really does much. 90% of the book is dedicated to running the numbers on Trump’s various business exploits, homes, deals and casinos. It focused on times spent while Trump was making a public appearance or playing up to a crowd and make specific note of how he put on a show for the public.
If the author was trying to find the man behind the pomp and circumstance, he never did. Maybe there isn’t one.
The book was a quick read, I finished it in a couple of hours. It failed to shed any light on the man’s routines, his thoughts, his emotions or really anything other than acting as an accounting manifesto for all the business dealings, both in the red and black. By the end of the book, I knew nothing new about our now President and had no additional insights to his personal failings or accomplishments. All I had was a running tally of money.
I don’t recommend this book at all no matter which side of the political line you are on.
Seriously?? Is it October already? Thankfully the weather has started to cooperate some and the mornings are getting cooler.
Time to look back through my goals and see where we are. I’ve been doing a whole lot of thinking lately and haven’t really reached any conclusions, but it was really nice to talk about it during the pace last weekend to confirm some of my feelings of late.
Gemmie Life Goals
FOCUS – With Gem it is going to be all about finding the right balance of being with her and not being away from the family too much.Success!!!
1.) Bring her and Pete home. Yup!
2.) Start riding consistently 2 days a week.I’ve been riding at least two days a week for the past couple of months and it is really working out great.
3.) 1-2 long trail rides a month, preferably with friends. Yes!! it is always more fun with friends.
4.) Make it to 1 lesson a month. Yes again!!!
Wow – that is 100% goal attainment for Gem 🙂
Gemmie Competition Goals
1.) Complete a 50 mile endurance ride towards our decade team award.
2.) Complete a Ride and Tie of any length. 3.) Make a decision on what to do about her 100 mile bronze medal.
4.) Make it to a dressage show and not make a complete fool out of ourselves.
None of the above competition goals matter any more. I’m not chasing endurance miles or doing R&T at this time and have no plans to return to those sports any time soon. Not because I don’t love them, but because they just don’t fit right now into my life and family. If they ever do again I’d be open to rejoin the competition fray, but for now my focus is completely elsewhere.
0% attaintment here, but that is planned and I don’t mind one bit.
Me: Life Goals
FOCUS – For me it is going to be all about striking a better balance in life. Currently, I feel guilty when I don’t ride and guilty when I do. I haven’t taken an actual vacation longer than a long weekend since 2007. This is mostly accomplished. I have no guilt whatsoever in my riding life as things have balanced out nicely. I did take an actual vacation as well as a work trip. Life is good.
1.) Stop feeling guilty about self care time. No guilt remains for now.
2.) Run 2 days a week minimum. I sorta run. Some weeks I fit in multiple runs and others I don’t run at all. I stopped stressing about it. If it fits in and I feel up to it, I run. If not, I hang out with Wyatt or go ride or read a book. So much less self induced stress.
3.) Ride 2 days a week. Yes! 4.) Establish with a primary care doctor and get a physical. Uh..yeah nope. Its still on my list of things to do though and the year isn’t over yet. 5.) Figure out just what I want with my relationship with Gem. Is it okay to back off and just putz around? Do I need to have some set competition/training plans to feel satisfied? I think I’ve figured this out. I’m not happy just putzing around. I need goals to work towards and I need to feel like I am learning something new and moving forward. I don’t care so much about a competition schedule or record, but I do need to feel like I am going some where. 6.) Continue with my pen pals. Add two new ones from new countries. This has mostly dried up somehow. 7.) Create a smashbook for Wyatt.Not looking promising since I lost the book when we moved last January and have yet to find it. 8.) Find a trainer that I can work well with in regards to approach, personality and scheduling.Trainer J and I have been working together twice a month sine February of last year.
5/8, 62%. Not too bad.
Me: Competition Goals
1.) Complete a half marathon. Nope and probably not gonna happen unless I just happen to lose my mind and sign up. 2.) Complete a full marathon.Nope 3) Host a Ride and Tie. Nope and not even on my list of wants at this time. Too much time and money is required and I have neither at the moment.
0/3 in this category.
As far as life balancing, happiness, and general care goals are concerned I am doing extremely well. I feel way less stressed these days even with an insanely busy work schedule and our always busy home life. There really isn’t a whole lot I wish to change right now.
When you look at competition goals, basically I suck but that is because my entire focus shifted from one discipline to another after I made my 2017 goals. Nothing like a major shift in direction to make you look like a failure. I’m not stressing about it though. The major thing I learned here is to make some over lying goals for the entire year in terms of self and horse care, but maybe focus on quarterly goals only next year when it comes to competition.
One quarter left to go in 2017 and then bring on 2018!!
Hunter paces are my favorite thing. Typically I’m out there all by myself which is still fun, but everything is better with a friend. When I met KC at AECs and she expressed and interest in hitting one up this fall, I was practically peeing myself with excitement. Blogger friend and a hunter pace? Sign me up!
Gemmie looking gorgeous in her endurance bridle with her jump saddle.
I’m an early morning fool which is usually a turn off for fellow human beings, but KC was game to meet at 9 am for the start and we were the first ones out on course. I love being the first out there as you can avoid some of the etiquette issues that pop up later in the day when the trails get crowded. Plus there is something about riding in the early morning cool air that speaks to me.
Is that a Pilgrim butt I see???
The weather was perfect as we set out following the pink ribbons on the right. Gem isn’t into leading on trail, so we ducked behind and I was sorta a back seat driver helping to point out the ribbons. It was maybe an ominous sign when the guy counted us down and we immediately made a wrong turn. About 2 feet from the start. I’m sure the guy was thinking we would never return.
Yup, that is a Pilgrim butt 🙂
The first section was through the woods leading to the cross country field. We warmed up with some nice trot and Gem and Pilgrim got along pretty well. No pinned ears or fussing and Gem was able to keep up with Pilgrim’s massive stride without an issue. At the trot anyway.
Once we hit the cross country course and the trail became wide open grassy lanes, we let the horses open up into a canter. Or well, Pilgrim cantered. Gemmie had to gallop to keep up. Poor mare was not very happy that she was getting out run by a good bit. Sorry mare, you just aren’t built to race an OTTB!
Gem is very competitive so when we opened them up on the next section, she decided that if she couldn’t out run him she would out smart him. She took off at a gallop cutting through the weeds in a straight line thereby getting from point A to B minus all the switchbacks that you were supposed to do. Little cheating mare! I got her wrangled back on trail and forced her to canter politely until we caught up commenting that Gem was likely thinking that I screwed it all up yet again.
Things were going great. Perfect weather, two game and ready horses and amazing company. We were making good time too and I was figuring that we would be pretty close to optimum at the pace we were going. Then we got a little lost. They added a poker run to the mix and told us that at the various carriage obstacles there would be a bucket with playing cards. At the end we should have five. I saw a bucket off to our left just as we were leaving the cross country field and grabbed the card but then the trail kinda looked wrong. There were markers going both right and left and the ribbons were on our left. Hmmm…we back tracked and easily found our missed turn and got back on track.
Gorgeous views along the way.
From there it was another few canters, one run in with a rider going the wrong way and turning to gallop off right in front of us, and then we hit a tiny snag.
We came to a creek crossing and Pilgrim said “oh hell no”. Gem plowed ahead and he followed her lead over the water then we paused so KC could school him over it. He went back and forth several times no issue and we moved along to conquer the rest of the trail.
Schooling back and forth over the creek crossing.
We got into a lovely groove of trotting and walking with a lot of laughter and fun thrown in as we climbed up and over a large hill and descended again. The morning was flying by under a beautiful blue sky and I was thoroughly enjoying being out on trail with Gem.
My natural element is being in the woods. Gem agrees.
We came to another water crossing and Pilgrim once again put a hard stop on that. Gem gave the lead, but Pilgrim wasn’t having it. This is more KC’s story to tell but he did go over eventually only to run smack into another crossing about 10 feet later.
Just down stream from the crossing that Pilgrim put his hoof down on.
We spent about 30 minutes trying to get him over. Eventually a couple on TWHs came up and tried to help. It was hilarious. The guy’s TWH must be used to teaching younger horses how to do the trail because he went behind Pilgrim and gave him a hard shove several times in the butt. When that didn’t convince him to cross, he started biting his butt. Duke just stood there calmly behind Pilgrim biting him and obviously telling him to grow a set and just cross already. I was doubled over laughing.
Duke crossing back over to teach that young whipper snapper a thing or two
Unfortunately no amount of coercion worked. The other couple left us to continue on their ride and I took a look at our surroundings. While living in the woods is tempting, I wasn’t so sure KC wanted to plop a tent out there and live there with P for the rest of her days. Fortunately, there was an easy way to pop up onto the paved road that paralleled the trail and it was only a short ways down before the trail re crossed that road and entered the woods again.
This trail took us to the very secluded dressage arena. I saw a vulture circiling over head and joked with KC that anyone who didn’t do well on their dressage ride got eaten. Good luck next week KC!! Lol!!!
The secluded dressage arena. I have no clue how you are supposed to get there from the barns, but I am sure there is a simple trail.
We thought our troubles were behind us and started joking around some more until BAM another water crossing and then another. I’m sure Pilgrim was thinking enough with the water already people!
Showing Pilgrim how it is done
More woods, more trotting and talking and laughing. Around this point Dusty texted me and asked if I had signed up for the slow old lady division. He is used to me being done with these in about 1 1/2 hours and we were over 2 hours at this point without an end in sight. No worries though, I was still having a blast!
This bridge was the only thing on course that gave Gem pause. She isn’t really a fan of bridges to begin with and this one was particularly dicey without any railings and with a very deep pit on either side.
There was one last speed bump at a ditch and I do believe KC threatened to sell P at this point. I’ve been there and done that with Gem many a times. The threat typically helps 🙂
The last bit was back through the cross country course and we made great time trotting through everything. I’m not sure what our official ride time was but I believe we were on for nearly 3 hours. I don’t think we are going to hit that elusive optimum time, but we did end up with a decent poker hand with a pair of aces. Since pretty much nobody found all 5 buckets we stood a decent shot at winning a free entry to another hunter pace. We will find out in a couple of days.
Gem did super well through the entire ride. I forgot my GPS watch but it felt like 8-10 miles. She didn’t miss a beat being off trail for so long although she did pull a typical spook and ran into Pilgrim over absolutely nothing. At the end she was bright eyed and could easily have gone again. I love having a fit and happy mare!
Unfortunately we were well over the time I had planned it to take and we had an important meeting at 2 which meant I couldn’t partake in the lovely lunch they had. I basically washed Gem off with some water and shoved her in the trailer so we could go. I did manage to get asked to jump judge at the HT there next weekend so that will be fun specially since KC is competing in it. I can’t wait!!!
I hope KC and Pilgrim aren’t scared off of future paces with us and that we can go again sometime this fall. Even with the few issues in trail it was a complete blast.
What is that saying? Tell a gelding, but ask a mare? After nearly eight years together I think I am finally figuring out what that means. You all were right – even a bad ride teaches you something.
Our selfie game needs a bit of work, but she was all cuddles after the ride.
When I swung my leg over Gem Monday evening, the plan was to reduce the pressure and make it enjoyable for both of us. I also wanted to pay attention to what I was doing on my own that has been so successful but isn’t crossing over to our lesson. Gem let me know she had not forgotten our last ride by playing hard to catch, but I could tell her heart wasn’t in it as she circled around me but didn’t take off to the nether regions of her pasture. It took about 15 minutes of gentle pressure towards her, stopping when she did, then repeating for her to stand still and drop her head into the halter but the process served another purpose outside of catching her. It let me show her that I was listening and would back off the pressure when she responded in the appropriate manner and set the tone right from the start.
A little better
Once aboard, I focused on my position and asked for a walk. Gem trotted. I had a few options: I could get after her and make her walk right that minute (what I do in lessons), I could let her get away with trotting instead of walking (what I used to do all the time on my own) or I could try something new which Trainer had me attempt during our last lesson but Gem was too far gone for it to work at that time. I chose option #3. I sat the trot, leaned back ever so slightly and made it difficult for her to trot while making it very clear with my posture that I had no intentions of getting pulled into a trotting frenzy. And it worked!!! After about 5 or 6 trot steps Gem settled back into a flat and even walk without any fighting or fuss. I ignored her attempt at the trot and we continued to walk around warming up and inspecting the pasture ground for any litter or holes to avoid.
Through the ears view
After we were both warmed up at the walk, I gently asked for a trot and she responded in kind with a gentle trot. This is where things got a little interesting for me and I plan on talking to Trainer about it at our next lesson. Gem wasn’t foot perfect. She tends to start off in a gentle trot and slowly work her way faster and faster until before you know it you are zooming around at her endurance pace. The key is to not let her get that far. In lessons, Trainer has me do this by using half halts before she starts to speed up. Basically she has me starting to anticipate the change in pace and checking in with Gem frequently to let her know she is to maintain what we are doing instead of reacting once she has already sped up.
As I rode her at home, I realized that I was already doing this, but the way I went about it was very different. Jumping back to lessons again for a second, we work a lot on the 20 meter circle. We circle around and around with the goal to keep the geometry and pace even and consistent with each revolution, learning where she tends to slow down or speed up and countering that by using my aides effectively where they are needed. A half halt at 6 o’clock, a little leg needed at 11, more inside leg to push her out where she tends to fall in at 2 and outside leg to prevent her going too big at 4.
I’m not sure Echo has enough covers. She does this all on her own and loves to be covered up
It is a cool little exercise, but it is also one that Gem can fry out on pretty quickly. Circling over and over again can drive the mare to distraction at this stage as she gets bored and then begins to question the sanity behind going around and never getting anywhere. That is when the tension comes in and if I am not careful I’ll lose her all together.
At home though, I rarely circle more than once or twice in a succession. Monday night was no exception to my typical way of working on my own whether in the pasture or in an arena, but since I was particularly aware of what I was doing it registered for once. My method is to ask for the trot. If I feel her begin to speed up, I circle or make a large loop, or change direction, or add in a serpentine or go straight if I was on a circle already. Then we hold that new path until I feel her begin to change when I add in a half halt and then once again use the space to help settle her by changing our path of movement. I change direction frequently as well. In this manner, I keep her brain engaged while being insistent that we neither speed up nor slow down as we work around the space. I use half halts to balance her before turns or changes in direction. I add leg when she begins to slow down and get behind me. When we circle, which I have her do frequently, just not repetitively, I try to use my inside leg for bend and my outside aides but I’m not so good at those yet.
Do we reach the same end result? I’m not sure. Using my method, Gem rarely gets tense or braced. However, using my method, we also don’t work consistently on bend and the correct aides for that as we are always swooping and curving and moving about. I really want to talk to Trainer about it and see if maybe there isn’t a way to slowly work the two methods together until we reach a point where we can circle more and more without Gem losing her mind over it.
Gem and Pete enjoyed Irma under the shelter.
Back to Monday. I rode Gem around the far end of the pasture at the trot. I required that she kept a consistent pace, but changed up our direction and geometry frequently rarely doing the same thing twice. She responded by dropping her head and releasing her tension. When she moves like that it feels like she is floating on air. All it takes is me looking where I want to go and she responds. It is all so light and free that I can’t help but smile and laugh. I could ride like that forever.
Things were going so well that I decided to canter. Cantering isn’t our strong suit, so I made a plan. I’d have her trot coming back towards home, and incidentally Pete who decided to graze in the middle of our work area, turn to corner to go back away and ask her to canter in the corner but not keep her on the circle as that tends to just make the canter fall apart. I started to the right for no reason other than we were already gong that way and she picked up the canter no issues. She seemed really happy to be cantering and I let her make multiple large loops around the pasture. She is no different in the canter than the trot in so much as she likes to slowly continue to speed up. If I am not careful she will begin to gallop around having the time of her life. The one down side to my method of keeping her feet moving in different ways is that it is really hard to do that in the canter when you have no idea how to do a flying change and don’t want to just end up counter cantering half the time, but I made sure to circle, go straight and make large and small loops.
When I asked her to come back down to the trot, she continued to canter. Hmmm…back to trying to think through what to do. The options seemed to be the same as at the trot: force her to trot immediately, allow her to continue to canter, or gently make the pressure escalate until she gives me the correct answer. I once again chose option three this time continuing to use stronger and stronger half halts along with a voice command until she began trotting followed by massive amounts of praise. I’m a little worried this approach is teaching her that she can continue to do what she wants until she decides to stop, but for now I ma going to go with it and hope the nagging pressure and praise for doing what I want will eventually work.
The only issue now was that she wanted to canter. The trot became a bit of a mess with tension and a lot of asking to canter whenever my leg touched her and all I wanted was a trot. Eventually she settled and I let her canter the other direction for as long as she was polite about it and then began the process of getting her to trot again. her trot work is always a bit of a mess after a nice canter. She gets fast and braced and decides that all the slow trotting is not worth her time, but I did my best to not get pulled into the fight. Once she trotted nicely without breaking to a canter for a single large lap around the end of the pasture, I called it a night.
It was a great ride. We didn’t fight. I refused to get pulled into her traps and she in turn stayed relaxed and light. I have a lot of questions as to if this way of working her is producing a horse who won’t actually listen unless she decides to or if it is the correct way to handle miss tension. There are times when she absolutely needs to do what I say when I say it: the dressage court is one, but there are also times out on cross country or when in the arena on a jump course where she just has to rebalance or slow down and I need to know that she will. I’m a bit concerned that by allowing her to continue to canter while I continue to ask nicely to get her to trot is teaching her that she can ignore my request until she feels like responding to it. It is the reason Trainer gets on me for making her trot right now, or walk right now or halt right now.
But the trade off for forcing my hand is a tense and braced mare and a ride like Thursday. I’m hoping that by being consistent in my asking and using a ton of praise for when she gets the answer right, that I’m teaching her that my requests won’t go away so she better just do it. I don’t know. Lots of food for thought and a lot to discuss with Trainer next time I see her.
For now I am going to bask in the feeling of Monday’s ride and the relief that came with knowing I hadn’t broken my trust with Gem.
This was an interesting prompt since it was pretty specific while still allowing room for genre choices. Unfortunately the book I really wanted wasn’t in the library system at all. It ended up being lucky for mey though.
A book set in a hotel – The Grand Hotel by Scott Kenemore
A group of tourists stumble into what appears to be a dilapidated and closed hotel at night. The interior is dark and gloomy with only a hint of past grandeur remaining. This group is an odd mixture of men, women and a single red haired child of undisclosed age.
As they walk through the lobby they notice a man sitting at the front desk. All in the group become awkward – is this man homeless? Surely he can’t be working in this place?
The group draws near to the desk and the man rises, introducing himself as the night clerk and offering up a tour of the Grand Hotel and its occupants. They murmur agreement and what begins is a trip through reality, secrets and riddles.
Along the way the night clerk begins to be drawn to the red haired girl. Could she be the one to open up all the deep truths about the hotel? Will she be able to handle it?
The tour takes the group to visit a series of permanent hotel residents. The first one is a corpse. A very dead, very decayed corpse. While this first visit does set the tone of the rest of the book, after the entire story comes to light it really doesn’t fit in and I was left feeling uncertain why the author included it except for the shock value.
From there the tour group gets introduced to various people, all having a strange tale to tell of how they came to reside at the Grand Hotel. After each story, the night clerk who you learn is named Vick, turns to the girl in the red hair and asks her a pointed question about the story. If she answers correctly, the tour continues. If not, it ends for everyone.
I won’t ruin the book as it is important to keep guessing throughout. The novel is classified as a horror book and while there isn’t any gore or outright terror in it, the residents’ stories are fantastical and with a bit of dread thrown in.
The novel was easy to read and caught my attention from page 1. It is told from the point of view of Vick except for the residents’ stories which are all told in the first person from the story teller. You do not get to know any of the tour group members except for the girl and no names are mentioned. As such, the experiences of each visit is a bit subdued as you get the impression that Vick has heard these stories numerous times. It left me feeling a certain longing to hear the stories as the guests experienced them.
The ending caught me off guard, which doesn’t happen that often, and was a great way to fold it all together. I highly recommend reading this novel.
I’ve re written this post now four times. I was so distraught after the lesson that I texted Emma to talk it out. Thanks Emma for chatting with me!!!! I’m still uncertain what I want to say about it.
Thursday afternoon I had a lesson prior to bringing the horses home. It was so bad that I had tears in my eyes right before I called it a day. At 35. While riding my horse. It was that bad.
I’m not sure the details are that important here. Gem was angry. Who knows why. It wasn’t pain. We weren’t doing anything hard per se: more work on rhythm and balance at the walk and trot with plans to add in the canter although we never got there. We didn’t jump either. Instead we zoomed around while Gem got angrier and angrier and I got more and more frustrated at life.
It’s odd. I wasn’t ever angry with her which is a major change from in the past. I didn’t get scared or tense even when she had had enough and eventually reared for the first time in the seven years I’ve had her. I was just heart broken that I had let it get to that point without speaking up
more firmly on her behalf. That’s my job as her owner. And I failed big time.
I was frustrated with Trainer for the first time ever though even that isn’t deserved. The woman sees us two hours a month. She can only do so much.
It’s just. Well, Gem wasn’t having it with the slow pace on a 20m circle. I understand she should be able to do that, but on Thursday for whatever reason she couldn’t handle the pressure. She told me loud and clear. And I didn’t listen because I figured Trainer also saw it and knew what to do. And maybe her tactic was right and my way wouldn’t have changed the outcome at all. I don’t know. I know what we did just made everything worse.
With a pissed off mare under me going at her best 12 mph endurance trot, Trainer had me work on transitions to get her listening better. I understand the logic. But I know my horse and I know transition make things that much worse. She hates them. Doing them on the circle made her get angrier. Her neck got shorter and shorter and her energy got more vertical with every passing lap and every passing transition. By the end of that she no longer had a walk. She jigged.
Ok. Let’s try something else. We began working on turns in the forehand at the halt. At least that wouldn’t require forward movement. Gem proved a quick study going both right and left. Perhaps installing better lateral aids would help. Nope. Once we returned to our trot work she was still feeling more like a carousel horse.
We then tried trot poles. Maybe getting her mind on those would help? Except we did poles on a bend requiring more circles. And that was the icing on the cake. She tried to escape the constant pressure to circle and bend by cantering and when I shut that down she reared. It was tiny and pathetic but it was a rear and I quit then and there. She was screaming at me to back off the pressure and I had to listen. I should have listened earlier. I knew better.
What she needed was a long trot around the arena on a soft contact with maybe some canter thrown in to loosen her up and let her blow off some steam. She needed a larger work space and a slow gathering to the 20 m. She needed the release of pressure and she never got it. So she exploded and I apologized to her and got off.
I’m frustrated. It was a bad ride for sure but not bad because Gem was acting up. It was bad because I didn’t speak up for her. I didn’t tell Trainer we needed to work on something else. I didn’t ask to jump a little or canter. I was a sheep and Gem needed a wolf.
Gem needed me and I slunk away and hid behind Trainer. That was wrong. I understand and like the training process we are going through, but sometimes the horse just can’t and it needs to be tweaked. As Emma put it “the training pyramid means jack shit if the horse is soured to the work”. I’m not ready to say she is soured to it after one bad ride. She was tense from the get go but I do think that the way we worked her made it worse and not better. We should have given her more space and gotten off the forsaken circle for a while. Maybe came back to it at the end after we jumped or did something else entirely like go out and jump the stone wall she loves so much.
I plan to ride Saturday and see what she is like. Hopefully it was just a small blip and we can return to the fun progress we were making before. Time will tell.
I’m still out of town and the app for WordPress is simply awful to use. I can’t even figure out how to put a caption on my pics 😦 so instead of wrestling with it any longer you get an update on the new furry love of my life.
Wags continues to go to work with me 3 days a week. She hasn’t (knock on everything even semi wood related) had an accident in the last two weeks. She is pretty lazy and this is her typical look when I try to take her outside to pee.
She is pretty well behaved though and has settle into a nice schedule. She sleeps from 8-1130 then wakes up and demands attention which is a bit hard since I see patients until 1230. I take her for a walk over my lunch break which tires her out until 330 when she again decides it is play time. We leave around 5 to get Wyatt. One day I walked back to find her on our lunch table. Bad puppy!
She loves riding in the car with me. For now she likes to sit with her front feet on the armrest between my seat and the passenger. She won’t for there for long though!
At home she is Einstein’s shadow. Mostly he loves it, but he has had to put her in her place a few times when he no longer wants to play and she jumps on his head.
The breed in general isn’t overly athletic so it’s no surprise that she isn’t thrilled with the idea of going for a walk. It’s nice to get out finally though. Dusty is super strict about what age a dog should be out on the town and she has finally reached that point. She has taken to the leash fairly well and so far doesn’t pull at all although she does weave around us a lot.
Waggy remains amazing with Wyatt letting him do nearly anything to her. She follows me around the house and is always, always smiling.
She is incredibly intelligent too but has a massive stubborn streak that drives my husband crazy. She is not the type to do the thing just because we ask. Most of the time she sits and debates whether it is worth her effort or not. I love it. Hubby gets annoyed.
She recently figured out how to jump on the couch so now there is no refuge from her. The other day hubby had a major pile up. Both dogs and Wyatt all on his lap.
Waggy Tails has been a great addition to our household. Yeah it makes life a little more work and adds some stress with house training and her chewing and now leash training but it is 100% worth it all.
Back to the mothership for this choice! I had never heard of this book, which is odd since it was apparently a really big deal when it was published and there is a movie about it.
A book with the month or day of the week in the title- Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Morrie has been diagnosed with ALS. There is no cure and while many assume he would fade away in self pity and remorse instead the lively sociology professor embraces his last days with a vigor few live their best days with.
Mitch was one of his favorite students when he was a student at Brandies university in the 1970s. The feeling was mutual and upon graduation Mitch promised to keep in touch. Like many people though, life got busy and in the way and Mitch finds himself sitting with Morrie after a 16 year absence trying to squeeze in as much time as he can as Morrie’s days run out.
Mitch spends every Tuesday for 13 weeks at Morrie’s home, speaking to him about the meaning of life and trying to find answers to all his burning questions. This is his last class with his beloved professor and the lessons he learns are far more important than any form his university days.
The book is broken down into each topic the two men discuss. As it progresses, the ALS that is taking over Morrie’s body also progresses. Morrie maintains a love of life, passion for people and an against the grain attitude towards culture and the world. He helps Mitch face death directly and in the process helps him face his life as well.
The book end with Morrie’s life with all proceeds from the publication going to his medical bills.
This book is meant to be very thought provoking as Morrie’s theories on a life well lived are laid out. It was easy to read from a time stand point although the concepts were heavy. It is laid out in a way to allow you to think over each topic and digest it as you go. It is worth the read if you haven’t already.
The Roaming Rider 