Help, I can't get out of bed!

We had the most beautiful spring day yesterday. The weather was in the mid 70's and sunny. Today, not so good, cloudy and cooler. And when the alarm went off at 6:15am to wake me from my night's sleep to get ready and head to the barn, I wanted to shoot it with my husband's 12 gauge shotgun (had it been in reach). Before I had even opened my eyes I knew it was a cloudy day and I was just too tired to do anything productive.

I sat there for some time convincing myself to get up and go. What helps me most mornings is knowing I have a riding buddy waiting for me. It is a good thing that I do, otherwise I would never have made it out of bed.

I drove the 10 miles to the barn the whole time barely driving the speed limit. I just was too tired to push the gas peddle down that far. I get to the barn and pretty much fall out of the truck. I shuffle around to the back and pull out my saddle and the daily carrots for himself. I look down the aisle of the barn to find my ridding buddy shuffling around with the exact same look "why did I get up today?". We ever so slowly tack up the boys and head out to our out door arena. It hasn't been three strides from the mounting block that we discover the two boys feel as we do. Orion stumbles and then Dublin stumbles. Great, they aren't awake either!!!

We warm up and discover it isn't getting any better. So a few exercises are completed and we call it a day. We all stumble back to the barn, but have one eye opening moment when we pass the son of our barn manager, whom is putting mail into the mail box. For some reason the sound of the box being closed caused steady Eddie, Orion, to shy which caused Dublin to do his famous drop the shoulder, sit and spin move. Let me just tell you it requires Velcro to stay in the saddle for that move. The only thing that saved me was the fence he spun into. However the sudden stop of the spin had me crashing into his neck. But I stayed on!!!

We made it back to the barn in one piece but had several more stumbles along the way. The boys were cleaned up and put out in the pasture for the day. Dublin had the look on his face that said, "gee that flake of hay in the middle of the pasture is just too far away for me to care".

My day hasn't gotten much better after leaving the barn. I got home to find that my husband had turned off the alarm and was still soundly asleep. Oh that pissed me off, how I wanted to be snuggled into the bed with the cat on one side, him on the other and the dog on the floor. After kicking him out of bed and getting myself to work, I have managed to stumble, crash and almost fallen around the office. I have asked my boss for a very large piece of bubble wrap. Hoping that if I wrap myself in it I will not likely break or seriously hurt myself.

I have given myself the day off from early morning rides tomorrow. However that is a guarantee that it will be 75+ degrees and sunny. I can't win.

Gymnastic Dressage Training Exercise #1

I have just received my Dressage Today magazine. And in it there is an article on gymnastic exercises for the dressage horse. I believe there are three exercises described.

Today I picked the first one and have started working on it. It is rather simple but requires a little skill. This exercise has you in a working trot, at A or C start a serpentine. The first step is to get a nice balanced trot and suppleness. Then after your three or so loops do a medium trot down the long side back to your starting point. Once this becomes a bit easier and each movement flows then add a walk transition as you cross the center line. So start your serpentine, make your first loop, as you approach the centerline, come down to a nice marching walk for one to two steps and then right back into the trot. Do this through all loops. Again at the end do a good medium trot on the long side and half halt and get a good collected trot to start the serpentines again. Or you can do a medium trot across the diagonal in order to switch sides.

According to the article this will really encourage the horse to step under himself, be supple and learn to push off for the medium. Dublin took to it immediately. We did not attempt the walk transition as we crossed the centerline today. We'll add that later in the week.

The most interesting thing about the article was the "before and after" picture of the horse. This horse had been a nice body but slender before starting these exercises. But after 18 months he had really beefed up. My horse is a long and lean guy, so I am going to diligently work on the three exercises (the others will be described later as I learn them) and see what happens.

1st horseshow under the belt

Well the first horseshow of the season has now been completed. It was so exciting to get started again. It feels like the last show I did was years ago and then on the other hand, just last week.

Dublin arrived on the grounds and I believe was really excited to be back showing. This is his 4th season. However, we have only been able to show a few shows each season, so he is not that experienced. He just really likes seeing all the activity and seeing his buddies from our last barn again. This show has an extremely spooky indoor arena, but he did not seem to mind it at all. I believe it is because we have such a spooky covered arena at home and this seemed so tame compared to it. Whatever the reason, I was thrilled he took it all in stride.

Saturday morning we were to ride our first dressage Second Level Test One and I was nervous. Dublin, was not. After a long walk warm up and running through a few moves, we went in and made an attempt at moving up to Second Level. It was not a stellar performance, mainly because of me. I had memorized the test, and even had someone read it for me. However, I put the moves in the wrong place and almost forgot the very last canter 10 meter circle. When the reader said it, I had to yank Dublin around to fit it in and almost pulled him off his feet. But you know what, I was really proud. We went in and did it and had some really good comments from the judge. And a lot to work on, but nothing I didn't already know.

That afternoon we competed in First level test 4. This has been a hard test for us in the past due to the leg yield to the left. That move has always been difficult. Dublin usually does a diagonal line versus a true leg yield. But this time he was in the mood and more importantly I was sitting correctly and giving good clear aids. And low and behold... we did it. I almost stopped the test there and said "Thank you I got what I wanted... I'm done". But we rode the whole thing and scored at 61.6%. Not a great score, but a nice pat on the back.

Sunday, the weather was promising to be really bad. There were reports of thunderstorms, hale, tornado's and possibly locust too. I had signed up for the same two test again and my Second Level Test 1 was at 8:09 am. I figured I could at least get that in before the end of the world as we knew it in Easter North Carolina. This time we were outside, and I just kept my figures crossed that the storm didn't come up and blow over the white plastic tent that was over the judge's car as we did our dreaded canter serpentines. Again, Dublin was all excited and looking forward to getting in front of the judge. Don't ask me how, but he knows why he is there and what is happening.

We went in and really did our best. I put the circles in the right places this time and didn't forget the last canter circle. All was looking up. We managed to improve 6% points to receive a 56. Again, not a high score, but one I was VERY proud of. I had gone out and done it, we had taken our first step up in a while and I was thrilled.

To wrap up this very log blog, I have two special stories to share. I scratched Dublin from his last class. He had given me everything so far and he had nothing else to prove that weekend. And we were both very tired. I had a very special moment that reminds me how lucky I am to be with such a wonderful creature. I was so sleepy after having to be up at 5:30 am, that I curled up in a chair outside of Dublin's stall. Someone had given me a blanket and I proceeded to doze off. Sometime later, Dublin rested his head on top of mine and he dozed off with me. It must have been quite the picture, me curled up sleeping and my best friend with me sleeping together.

The second story is about how wonderful and special my husband is (note: he has posted comments to this blog and is known as "horsehubby"). I of course called him and told him all the good news and that I was on the way home. When I FINALLY got home, there he was to help me unload all the gear out of the truck. When we got in I found that he had cleaned the house up, and made dinner. I was told to sit, eat the appetizers and drink my wine. Dinner followed and was wonderful. Then he showed me my surprise, a chocolate cake with "56" written on it. My score for my Second Level test. He was proud of me and what I managed to accomplish this weekend. While he isn't from a "horsey" background and doesn't understand all the ins and outs of this sport, he does support me and celebrates and cries with me through it all. Now THAT is special!

Second Level Dressage Test 1

This morning with rain pouring down, my riding buddy and I ran down to the arena during the lovely downpour that had started back up just as we finished tacking up. This is the last day riding before we head to the show. The boys, Dublin and his stablemate Orion, get tomorrow off except for a little spa treatment.

After Dublin spooked at every possible thing around the arena and we warmed up we rode the Second Level Test 1 all the way through this time. It was not by any way pretty, but I now know where the trouble spots are... ME! I of course got tense and started pinching my upper legs which caused Dublin do a short choppy trot. My friend asked if it was okay to give some advice and then proceeded to correct my seat. I needed to relax through my legs and get my seat under me. Or as she said, feel the back of the saddle on the top part of your butt. Well if someone had said that to me about three years ago, we would have been in a whole different place.

I started the dressage test over again. This time I was getting a much better response from my horse. I could really feel him swing through the back and for once he was NOT focused on everything outside the ring (i.e. jumps where the boogey man hides, the jacket on the railing blowing in the breeze and sure to attack the next passing horse, etc.). I still, and probably will always, have issues with the medium trot. My horse is 17.2 hands and he can really stretch those legs out in the medium trot and it is all I can do not to get bounced right up into the rafters.

We did a nice trot serpentine, 10 meter circle to shoulder in. Even our halt was square to the backing up of 3 to 4 strides. When it came to the canter work, Dublin really shines. He really is very talented, so I have to work hard to show that off. We even got the dreaded Counter Canter Serpentine! Now all we have to work on is when we go across the arena, and do a simple change of leads through the walk, we don't start backing up! Small detail, but I'll get it before Saturday if it kills me.

Well, I am off the blog for a while and will fill you in with all the details of the show when I get back. I will be sure to add a few juicy gossip tid bits if I can dig them up. Wish me luck that we get through this and don't embarrass my trainer and all my friends with my attempt to move to Second Level.

3 more days until the 1st horseshow

There are three more days until the first horseshow of the season. And am I ready.... um...no! But that is okay, we are going just to have fun. This season I am making an attempt to move up to Second Level. And I can do all the moves in the Second Level Test 1, however they are not pretty. So I am going with a we'll see what happens attitude.

Now as far as being ready to go, still not ready. Dublin is shedding hair like crazy (as mentioned in a previous post). However for a horse that doesn't grow much winter coat and one that has been shedding like he has, we still have a ways to go. But he is getting down to the new hair and looking a lot less dull.

I made my annual pre-horseshow shopping trip to the local tack store. I loaded up on the very expensive horse shampoo, the very expensive horse glossy spray stuff and all the other doodads we Dressage Queens can't live with out. Would someone please tell me why I buy the cheapest shampoo made for myself, and then I spend well over $10 on a small bottle for my horse? It just doesn't make sense, even to me!

Tomorrow I'll practice my tests, clean my tack (for the first time in way too long) and wash my show clothes. Oh yeah, and try on that riding jacket and see if it fits. If it doesn't then I am not sure what I will do. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

My horse should be blad!!!

This weekend was dedicated to being a spa weekend for Dublin. This is something that he is sure he was born to participate in. I have never seen a horse enjoy the process more. After all our strange weather patterns (80 degrees one day and snowing two days later) the temperature climb high enough for grooming, mane pulling, tail banging and baths.

Dublin is one that does not grow a thick long hair coat for winter. And now he is releasing all this hair to shed out for the summer. So each morning I leave the barn covered with his hair everywhere, including stuck to my ChapStick on my lips. I hope his hair is considered low carb, if not then that explains the sudden expansion in my rear end!

Anyway I spent several hours on Sunday working the lose hair off his body. When I paused to sweep up some of the hair before I gave him a bath, I had accumulated 1/8 of a muck bucket of hair!!! He should have been bald. I panicked and ran around him check for bald spots.

We have a show next weekend and I am afraid the judge will not be able to completely see us do to the hair cloud surrounding us. You need to visualize Pig Pen from Charlie Brown here. The good thing is she may not be able to see his feet when we don't halt square at X due to the cloud.

It is really too bad there is no way to make a little money on this excess of horse hair. Do they still make furniture with horse hair? If so I am sending them some. Of course they would have enough to either knit another horse, or enough to stuff several living rooms worth of furniture.

Bucking on order today

Well the snow and rain are gone. And we are just left with nice mud everywhere. And today is going to be back up near 60 degrees! I went out this morning to find my horse in his stall and hot to get out. However, not excited at the prospect of going into the wash stall instead of the pasture. Dublin just could not find it in himself to step over the little brick ledge to the wash stall this morning, no matter what I used to bribed him. So today's lesson is in patience. Even if it meant not getting to ride, we were going in that wash stall.

At first I tried the end of a carrot. The only thing that did was show me just how long Dublin can stretch his neck. Then I tried the most powerful weapon, a peppermint wrapper. Again, no luck but at least he was more excited about the possibility. We then moved to a lunge whip carried in my left hand and walking up the aisle to the stall and trying to turn in with some momentum. Again... no luck. Finally I got a chain lead, put the chain over the nose and as he stepped back one good jerk on the chain. That really pissed him off. But at this point I didn't care. We had already been there for 20 some minutes.

With very big eyes and determination not to get jerked on again, Dublin put one TOE onto the brick ledge, then slowly the second. His feet were hanging off but he was trying. I spoke very nicely to him and asked for a little more forward movement, at that point he realized that I just wasn't going to give up. So in he came. And out came the carrot again. Who ever said a carrot on a string in front of a horse would work? Well they have never met my horse. Just to make sure he understood my point we went in and out of the stall like a gentleman at least three times. We got the point.

This whole exercise should have been my first clue in how the ride was going to go! Once groomed and tacked up, we headed to the arena with me lugging a blue plastic mounting block that is actually just an inch or two too short. I found my little bump in the ground that is outside of the arena so I have a hope of reaching the stirrup with my left foot. Did I mention that Dublin is 17.2 hands? So it is not unusual for a mounting block to be just a bit short. Once I struggled into the saddle, Dublin decided that after being pent up in his stall for the last two days while it rained and snowed, going into the arena was not going to be top on his list.

Due to the spins and hops off the ground, I slid to the ground and walked the big guy into the arena. Again, patience had to kick in here. I was NOT going to get angry, this would only make it worse. I tied up the reins and stirrups and locked the gate and free lunged that horse for a good 15 minutes. He was having a ball. I haven't seen bucks like that on some of the best bronc horses. He then showed me the most beautiful extended trot I have ever seen him do. I almost had to sit down in the middle of the ring with my mouth gapping open.

No too long after all of this Dublin starting lunging himself around me as if he was on a lunge line. He listened to voice commands for walk, trot and canter. I knew it was time to stop him and get back on. When I did remount he was the most agreeable I have seen in a while. At that point I could have asked for anything and he would have been happy to give it a try.

There are no great morals of the story here. I just was so pleased to have tapped into my patient side (which doesn't come out very often) and was given several gifts in return. The first being rewarded with entering the wash stall, the next getting to see my beautiful horse just having fun and then showing me what his body and talent can really do, and then his gift of willing to focus on me and work when I asked. So as a gift back I did a few down center line passes with a halt at X. Since he was so willing and did a square halt each time. I got off right there at X and thanked him.

We walked back to the barn together with his head against my shoulder. It felt like he was saying "Thanks" back to me. Oh and we walked right into the wash stall without the slightest hesitation. Now that is "Thanks" for you.

Riding in the snow

This morning as I headed out to drive to the barn it was snowing big fat wet flakes. It's too warm on the ground for it to stick (it was close to 80 degrees on Sunday) but it was beautiful. I got to the barn not sure if I was going to ride or not and then talked myself into it.

Dublin and I headed out to the arena, the snow was really coming down and it brought with it a hush over the farm. All the other horses on the farm were tucked into nice warm stalls and enjoying their morning breakfast.

Once in the covered arena Dublin and I just walked for a long time so we could enjoy the site of the snow falling just outside of the eves. It was as if there was a large white curtain surrounding the arena and closing us off from the rest of the world. Dublin seemed to notice the separation as well, while he was a little nervous, his breathing was deep and relaxed.

Moments like this remind me how lucky I am to be in this sport. I get to go and ride a very wonderful animal with a beautiful spirit. Being together I get to turn my brain off from everything else. It seems at times that all I can hear is his breathing and then mine. I really get to stop and slow down and enjoy myself. Wow, what a beautiful day.

Product review: Slick N' Easy

Today I am going to do a product review on Farnham's Slick N' Easy. The name of the product makes my dirty mind go right to the gutter. But I will say the product is a must have for this time of year. What is it? Well it is this porous black block about the size of a kitchen sponge, and you use the corners/edge to go over the horses body and pull of loose hair and bot eggs.

I am going to focus on the hair removal part. I am one that did not trace clip or body clip my horse this year. Mainly because he was turned out at night during the winter and I just couldn't do it no matter how many blankets I put on him.

Now back to the product. So down here in North Carolina it is coat sheading time. And Dublin is dropping hair like crazy. I was introduced to the Slick N' Easy block a few years back and it works wanders. After you do a quick brush over the horse, use the edge of the block and go over him with small stroks. It pulls out the lose hair and the almost lose hair easily and very quickly. When the edge gets dull you just rub the block against a rough surface. You can speed up the time it takes the horse to shead a full winter coat.

State Line Tack has the product listed on their site for $2.69. Go to www.statelinetack.com and enter into the search box product number "051673". (with out the "").

Hot horses

I was riding this morning with my morning riding buddy. And she taught me an important lesson this morning when riding a hot horse. I thought I would share it and help myself remember it for tomorrow's ride.

Dublin is a very talented and willing horse, but he can be HOT. For those of you new to horses when we say "hot" we mean he is excitable and can work himself up into a frenzy, especially if he is trying to anticipate what I want. If you know that about your horse you usually can handle it.

Today we were back working on that counter canter serpentine and after the first loop when we were getting ready to start counter cantering, Dublin would pop up and switch leads and run off the right (we were on the left lead). This caused a bit of excitement and my riding buddy calmly looked over and said two important things, "lean back and get your legs on him".

We had already attempted several loops before this and I had anticipated the reaction and started leaning forward. Bad, bad, bad. This part I know and did the knock on the head "gee I should have had a V8" or in this case "gee I should get my butt in the saddle and my shoulders back" knock.

She also said, "a hot horse needs the security of your legs on him, put them on more than you normally would". So we went back to the rail, picked up the left lead, passed A and went into the serpentine. I got my right should back, my right leg behind the girth and on Dublin's side. My left leg stayed beside the girth but I got my lower leg on him tightly (not squeezing or kicking just there for support). And we got the serpentine. It wasn't beautiful, but it had a nice cadence and we didn't have a fit right in the middle.

What a lesson, sometimes the simplest most obvious things are the ones we forget and the ones that work the best. Thanks riding buddy!!!

Do my riding clothes still fit?!?!?!?

So I have the first horse show of the season in two weeks. In many ways I am ready and more ways that I am not. I am ready for the season to kick off mainly so I can see all my show friends again. It is a very wonderful group of (mostly) women that pack up and haul off to these shows. Everyone is fun, supportive and enthusiastic. It's a good time. Oh and the best about this 1st show is Whimpy's. Whimpy's is an oyster bar. And the only thing they server is ice cold beer, oysters, shrimp, scallops and a few crackers. Nothing else. But it is the best food Eastern North Carolina can server up.

Now that leads me to one of the reasons I am not ready for the season to start. Eating and my show clothes. Last year I lost a lot of weight so I could wear the wedding dress of my dreams and marry my tall, dark, and handsom prince. Then, stupid me, had all my clothes taken in. Well after the wedding was over, I started putting it back on. Ooops. And now I am too afraid to go into the closet and try on my show jacket. Oh PLEASE let it fit. The good news is that it has some stretchy material in the wool. But will it be with in its limits of stretchiness when I put it on? Or am I going to max it out? Will I be able to breath or am I going to have to hold my breath the entire test?

I can see it now, enter at A in the collected trot... halt at X to solute. Proceed collected trot, at C turn right and smile at the judge because you know you are going to need to gain points when a button does fly off, hits the trash can beside the ring and scare the begeebies out of your horse and you make an unscheduled depart of the ring, arena and show grounds. After that I can only imagine the comments on my score card, "Nice entry, square halt, nice fluid movement, panic in riders eyes as approaching judge, and slightly pink in the face, extended trot starts off nicely until some object flies off and horse doesn't complete move and runs out of ring. DISQUALIFIED!"

So if you are a judge of dressage and you are planning on judging a show this spring, please be kind to the competitors. They probably have no circulation in their legs from the very stiff dress boots cutting off all blood flow, and the coat cutting off all oxygen to the brain.

Counter Canter Serpentine anyone?

Last weekend we moved to a new farm, one that is much closer to my house and office as well as one with an indoor riding ring. Oh the luxury. Not that I am going to trash the last place I boarded, but it was old and has a very pitiful riding ring. When it rained you could sink down and possibly never be seen again. But I have gotten FIVE days in a row riding. And that may have been the bad news.

Dublin had gotten use to no more than 2 or 3 days in a row. And when he looked up from his flake of hay this morning to see me coming down the aisle... I didn't see the usual puppy dog look of excitement. Instead I got the look "oh you again"? Should have been a clue!

This horse puts in 110% every time I work him, but once every few months or so he just has a bad day. And that was today! He wasn't sure he really wanted to be ridden to the arena, and then once in we were having issues with the chair that sits at the end of the arena. Have I mentioned that it has been there every day for the last five? But each time by we have to look at it like will spring off it's metal legs and throw itself at my poor 17.2 hand defenseless horse.

Once we got going we just galloped around. It felt so good to be in a ring large enough for us to do so and not worry about the uneven footing. Then we started working on counter canter serpentine. What person way back when decided that was an excellent move to teach a horse? Probably the same person that thought it would be a good idea to ride horses in WHITE riding pants. Well, back to the serpentine, he worked hard at it but I had too as well. We could do it but only with our nose (when I say "our" I mean "his") straight up in the air. Not sure we are going to score a lot of points with that move.

Then it dawned on me... as I mentioned before Dublin hasn't been able to be worked 3 days in a row in a while, and he was looking for a day off. The good news is has the weekend off, the bad news is I want to ride so badly that it will just drive me crazy until I can ride again on Monday. I can't believe I am going to say this but... "Come on Monday!!!".

Joining the rest of the world and blogging

Okay, I work at an web and application development company and one of the favorite topics here is blogging. With a bit of pushing from my boss, I decided to jump in and talk about my favorite subject, horses. Yes, I am a 30 something totally obsessed about horses. If there was any real way to make money in the business I would do it. But to feed my habit, and this "habit" really has to be feed... a lot, I must work in corporate America.

The basics, I am in North Carolina, one of the major equestrian states in the US. I ride dressage and I have one horse... Dublin. As mentioned in my profile, he is my four legged soul mate. I have been riding since I was 8 and have had many wonderful horses through out my life. But Dublin is the first one that I am totally connected to. Gross... huh? Can't help it... told you I was obsessed.

For those into dressage, we are competing this year at 2nd level. Our first show is at the end of the month and it should be interesting. Why? Well Dublin was stabled with my trainer who was at a very old barn while she waited for the purchase of her farm to go through. That "old" barn had a less then perfect ring to ride in and we didn't ride much. Now that we are at a new barn (with an indoor riding ring) we can ride almost every day. SO... the things I should have ironed out and be accomplished at, still have a long way to go. But we are going to be brave and go ahead to the show ring and show what we have got... so far! Wish me luck.

Another goal for this site is to discuss things that I come across in training, products, equine health and my mental health. Check back regularly and I'll try to share with you the knowledge I gain along the way, the mistakes I make, the excitements, the rewards and awards.

Thanks!

Here we are...