The games ponies play

This morning, I was riding alone in the outdoor arena.  Don't worry, I wasn't alone on the entire property; I won't ride if I'm the only one there.  But, I was the only one riding.  This means that Obe was COMPLETELY distracted, needing to look everywhere and pay attention to everything except me.  It must be the alpha mare in her driving her to feel like she needs to take care of everything.  *sigh* 

The first 35-40 minutes were fantastic.  I got some great canter work, and I then I moved to working on some lateral stuff.  The shoulder-in has improved by leaps and bounds since I've stopped cramming her with my inside leg and, instead, have started opening the outside leg from my hip joint and inviting her to step into it.  Much more fluid. 

After a walk break, I picked the reins back up to work a bit on the timing of my half-halts in sitting trot.  I've been working on making them happen on the upbeat so that I really catch the energy rather than on the downbeat which would kill the energy.  All of the sudden, a corner that we had been riding in for over half an hour became the Lair of All Things Deadly.  Obe absolutely wouldn't go near it.  Her ears were hard and forward; she stopped dead in her tracks, then started back up with that telescoped neck and dropped back that I really hate feeling.  It took all I had in me not to get mad and take it personally.  Seriously, walking around on the buckle, the mare isn't scared of anything.  As soon as I pick up the reins to work, we have the most despicable monsters living in the corners of our arena.  *sigh...again*

This is what she sees in the corners.

So, I walked her a few times through the spooky corner, went to another part of the arena, and worked on my plan...my half-halt timing in the sitting trot.  I actually had some nice collected steps...and the transitions from trot to walk became much more fluid as I really thought about the timing of the half-halt to ask for them.  I have to move my concentration towards the fronts of my thighs and half-halt towards her crest (about where a martingale would sit).  This keeps me riding on TOP of the wave of energy rather than squashing it with my butt.  There's really no delicate way to state that...it's just what it is. 

After my successful school, I dropped the reins back to the buckle, and we walked bravely everywhere.  Silly mare. 

Lesson learned...and still being learned:  Don't take it personally.  She isn't scheming or out to get me.  She's simply acting like a horse...a mare, at that. 

A few thoughts on Aachen...

Not that it really matters what I think in the world of international dressage, but watching the Aachen CDI the other day and reading subsequent articles about the results got me to thinking. 

Steffen's ride was beautiful.  Ravel's half passes were fluid and his transitions were seamless.  The extended canter took my breath away; it looked like he covered the diagonal in three strides.  His ride should have scored better. 

Totilas looked much more pleasant.  Now, I'm not a Totilas basher, per se, but I haven't liked what I've seen.  Sure, he's flashy and bouncy, but the tightness, the poll dipping very low, and the absolute lack of hind end engagement in the trot lengthenings just irks me.  I can't see how he has been scored so phenomenally well.  However, under his new rider (whom I DO NOT envy for having to follow up the Gal/Totilas freak show), Totilas looked much more fluid.  His passage and piaffe were not so extravagant; no hooves flashing up by his ears.  His throatlatch was more open; his frame was longer and more swingy.  Here's an article that gets to the point a little better than I do.

And video of the black wonder horse...

I'm disappointed that Steffen and Ravel didn't score/place better.  I really do love that team.  However, I am glad to see what Rath is doing with Totilas.  The horse looks happy; despite a few bobbles, they were scored fairly consistently across the board and in keeping with the quality of their work.  Well, done, Toto.

Past, Present, Future

Since the Advanced Equine Management course ended in May, I've been pondering what to do with this blog. I thought of using it with my Level I Equine Management class that I'm teaching now, but that didn't materialize. Once I heard that I had gotten a full-time teaching position in the fall, I realized that I could use this blog for personal musings on my own riding, horses and Obe, in particular.

Allow me to set the stage with a little bit of past....

Six years ago, Jim and I were married at the courthouse in Helena, Montana. The Justice of the Peace, Wallace Jewel, asked us how someone born in Colorado met someone born in Tennessee to get married in Montana. We could only shrug and smile our silly, soon-to-be-wed grins that were etched on our faces that day. A few months later, we trekked across the country, moving to Virginia Beach where we both were teaching at a private high school. That gig ended in summer, 2005, and I haven't had a "normal" full-time job since then. I worked for a time as an assistant horse trainer; I was a long-term substitute teacher at a different private high school. After moving to western North Carolina, I've worked for a year and a half as part-time writing program coordinator at a local community college. To make ends meet, I've taught lessons, Equine Management courses, trained horses, and (my bones ache just thinking about it) waited tables. It's been tough...physically, emotionally and financially.

It's that last part that makes the part-time work the worst. You work and work, yet there never seems to be enough money. Add to that the fact that I own a horse...a hobby not for the lean of pocketbook. It's put a substantial strain on us, something that has been a great consternation for my husband. Every few months, there would be a bit of a panic that too little money was coming in and too much money was going out. I felt every word right in those muscles that connect your neck to your shoulders - and when those muscles couldn't hold anymore stress, I would feel it sink heavily into my chest. I was working so hard to keep the horse I love so much...yet it wasn't enough (and I won't go into the whole "not good enough" thing here).

However, with one phone call last Monday (a week ago today), things changed. I'm now, in the present tense, teaching/working full-time at the community college where I've run the writing program. The powers that be were able to find room in the budget to give me a few English classes and bump me to full-time (especially after finding out that I'd applied to a different school for a full-time position this fall). My personal income will more than double starting in August. I know life is about much more than money, but this news alone has made my passion for horses POSSIBLE...not a struggle, but a definite part of my life. My husband didn't know me during those years when I tried to give up horses to convince God to love me more. He didn't know how scared and lost and empty I was. He didn't see the change in me during grad school when I rediscovered my heart in a roundpen at Danada Equestrian Center. He didn't share in the dozens of, yes, mystical experiences in Montana when I found that place where I lost track of time and truly felt at one with God. I think Jim may have inklings of that process...but now, there is no question about my future with horses.

And so, I can look forward to the next few months, instead of dreading the end-of-the-month spiral into fear and stress and heavy weights in my chest. Two days ago, Jim said it..."Don't worry too much about teaching too many lessons. You won't have to, board's not a problem. We don't have to worry about the horse anymore." I can show you where we were...sitting in the car, pulling out of the public parking lot in downtown Waynesville, turning right towards home.